The status of the pension fund (I know that's not exactly what it is, but
it's close enough) is of practical importance only when someone retires, or
quits and withdraws the money. I know people who have done both. (Probably
better than you do, since I worked with them at one time.) Is there anyone
who has requested money and not received it? Is there anyone who is entitled
to money and has not received it? If not, going public in this manner seems
like a grandstanding publicity stunt.

I am particularly disturbed by your reference to the Ethics Committee.
Didn't we have enough of this last year? The proper function -- the only
legal function -- of the Ethics Committee is to regulate the conduct of
players in tournaments. It is not a judiciary or a superlegislature. Last
year it was stretched -- wrongly in my opinion -- to cover conduct by EB
members and candidates. Perverting it to apply to USCF office employees is
utterly preposterous.

There are (or at least were) serious problems with "pension program," but
these were (are) internal problems for the Board and ED to deal with. Donna
deserves credit for the work she has done on this. But her behavior here has
to call her judgment into question.
John Hillery
rfeditor


Donna Alarie deserves commendation not disingenuous attacks.

John Hillery's statement that
"The status of the pension fund (I know that's not exactly what it is,
but it's close enough) is of practical importance only when someone
retires, or quits and withdraws the money." is a demonstration that he
doesn't have a clue what he is talking about regarding the profit
sharing plan OR about the full disclosure laws which surround it.
Since the passage of ERISA back in the 1970s, pension and profit
sharing plans have been under federal scrutiny.
Employees have a right to their funds when leaving or they have a
right to pledge those funds (under certain circumstances) while they
are still being held by USCF or they may be able to borrow those funds
directly from USCF. Most of all, employees and former employees have
a right to know the current disposition of their assets.

John Hillery's see no evil view/hear no evil attitude is the very root
of USCF's ongoing problems.

That the membership and employees cannot trust politicians like
Hillery who would brush every legal violation under the rug is no
surprise. More than 10,000 of us who are life members watched our
Life Member's Account wasted out of existence by the John Hillery/Don
Schultz/Bill Goichberg's. For the life members, the LMA was our
little pension which was supposed to pay for our future benefits. In
Hillery's view, this is something that should be left to the
politicians and the Donna Alarie whistleblowers should have their
judgment questioned.

This situation cries out for someone to make a federal complaint so
that the justice department and department of labor can straighten out
John Hillery's behavior and his judgment.

http://www.dol.gov/ebsa/erisa_enforcement.html is a good place to
start for anyone who has been denied their benefits or employees who
just want to know where their assets are.

Richard Peterson