Magistrate recommends returning removed member to teachers' pension board

Gov. Mike DeWine did not have the authority to replace his investment expert on the board of trustees of the State Teachers Retirement System, and the man he ousted should be returned to the

panel, an appellate court magistrate recommended Tuesday.

If the 10th District Court of Appeals in Columbus agrees, G. Brent Bishop would be removed from the 11-member panel and the man he replaced, Wade Steen, would return. Mr. Steen was entitled to his full four-year term, Magistrate Thomas W. Scholl III said.

“The governor had no power to make an appointment of an investment expert member to the board for a term of either less than or more than four years,” he wrote. “DeWine appointed relator to a term beginning Nov. 24, 2020, and ending Sept. 27, 2024, and [Mr. Steen] was entitled to hold that

appointed office for that four-year term.

“Therefore, there was no vacancy for the governor-appointed investment expert member on the board on March 5, 2023, the date DeWine announced he was appointing Bishop to replace [Mr. Steen],” the

magistrate wrote.

Read Jim Provance's article online at Toledo Blade.com.