With all the corruption within SAIF, it's amazing that it still provides a cheaper alternative (sometimes) to Liberty's workman's comp. That reflects badly upon both organizations. It's oh-so-tempting to disband SAIF and start over, but then we'd be vulnerable to a monopoly. The SAIF disinfection is taking way too long.

Neil got $40,000 a MONTH?!

I'm impressed. It's nice to know that SAIF has too much cash laying around. But SAIF can't justify that much of an expense. I'd like to be proven wrong, but I doubt it.

Forget about SAIF the institution for now. Go after the individuals who broke the rules first. There's no statute of limitations excuse on this one.

Has anyone actually been busted for hiring 'consultants' for too much money? Even if SAIF was a 100% private company, Neil's pay seems unreasonable.

Let's start with willfully destroying documents under court order to produce, if that in fact is what occurred.

As for NG's pay, of course it was ridiculous. But not if you're Tony Soprano.

The document-destroying is a slam-dunk. Only the state that screwed up the New Carissa would let it fly. But PDX is just big enough for something like that to be excused, sadly.

And of course, Tony Soprano shouldn't receive his level of pay in PDX. But, sadly, he does.

PDX politics wouldn't be so sad if this town wasn't so poor. But it is. And that just make the would-be 'power players'. that much sadder by comparison.

Hidden treasures abound in any government enterprise, whether characterized as public or private, that escapes accountability. I cannot help but draw parallels to the structure of PERS. If we can forget PERS in particular and focus on pension obligation bonds generally then we can look to Bear Stearns in particular; one of the chief proponents of sticking it to the locals to prop up stocks. The Wisconsin Journal Sentinel has a series of seemingly hard-hitting pieces on pension obligation bonds with a special focus on back room dealings. Meanwhile The Oregonian, by comparison, is too busy counting all the stars in the heavens or some such other fools errand. Mr. Edwards gets extra credit for calling for an investigation and Ms. Goldschmidt gets to use public resources to trumpet the OIC’s sage advice in picking winners even though PERS contributions are not voluntary. The power players in SAIF and PERS and yes, the unwitting dupes trumpeting borrowing on the margin to pump-up-the-volume of real estate values under the guise of Affordable Housing, blend together like a crazy quilt. The latest volley from the Wisconsin arena involves references to federal investigations and destruction of documents by public pension officials. Meanwhile Mr. Edwards is unabashedly (late August) asking congress for more info on company donations to political stuff while simultaneously seeking an advisory role on the NYSE. Why does he need this info other than to expressly, behind the scenes, base investment choices upon political alignment so as to place conditions before investing, on behalf of, the private dollars of teachers, firemen, policemen and public attorneys?

It seems that “ask and you shall receive” could be twisted to ‘seek and you shall find.” The difference between corruption and public service is in the eyes of the beholder. The Oregonian today points to the need to oppose private monopoly with regards to SAIF but openly finds predatory pricing by SAIF an acceptable practice if conducted by a public monopoly. Mr. Edwards needs to have a title such as Pawn of Bear Stearns, with more ambitious goals than even those dreamed of by Neil. The rise of public pensions as the modern equivalent to a Mutual Aid Society, to hold our collective wealth in lieu of decimated local banks, makes the SAIF discussion look like peanuts. Why must we content ourselves with venting our rage by scurrying around the edges of the corrupt blob? The power players are not confined to just one game, nor should the roto rooter’s be confined when trying to get the toilet to flush properly.

The only rational, rather than accidental, explanation for the document destruction is the potential link to the bigger PERS game. Like with Enron, the destruction should be a bigger problem than the content of the destroyed documents. The prospect of jail terms would hold more value to the public than does a silly multi million dollar fine. So what if The Oregonian paints the primary advocate of Liberty, as compared to SAIF, as a snake, that might be exactly what is needed to clean out the toilet.

The Oregonian needs to start their research by looking at a real journalistic approach to discovering the truth. The link to the latest of a series of seven from Wisconsin is here . .
http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/sep04/256614.asp
Newsweek has finally hit the nail on the head by noting that the pension system is finally dying from assumptions on earnings (derived from stock speculation). They note, saliently, that 45 million people have a vested interest in the current system. By implication, as the numbers of folks with a continuing interest dwindle so too will the voter base opposing a genuine fix dwindle as well. I just wish we still had local banks and did not owe so damn much money to outsiders on our overvalued homes. The State Treasurer is leading the sheep (us) to slaughter and he does not even have a clue.
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5915501/site/newsweek/

The focus on SAIF and PGE in isolation and at the behest of the State Treasurer and Governor is a diversion; they are sacrificial lambs to appease the masses. The big enchilada is still PERS, and is the very reason for the sacrifice. It is damage control to preserve the basic corrupt structure.

(And yes Jack, I think it relates to condos downtown but that would be too attenuated for discussion here – at least for now. Sorry for the long post.)