|
Association of Ameritech/SBC Retirees Blue Bulletin Vol. 1, No. 4.
(November 3, 2006)
Proudly
representing retirees from the new AT&T Midwest Region, SBC Midwest
Region,
Ameritech, as well as the five Bell Companies in
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin
AASBCR as a
non-profit organization has a responsibility to provide our members
with the data and tools
that they can use to
evaluate
candidates.
We believe that we have attempted to
do that for the upcoming elections by asking potential candidates
several questions that we believe are relevant to the interest of our
members. The thrust of these questions has to do with Medicare Part
D enhancements, healthcare costs, and pension plan improvements. Many
candidates responded to our list of questions while others chose not
do so at all or only responded to those questions that they wanted
to. Responses are also on the website (at
www.aasbcr.org) and
we believe they are telling how a
candidate might treat retiree legislation.
The basic
points when considering and
evaluating a candidate that you are considering voting for seem to be
at minimum:
1.)
Did the candidate respond to the AASBCR questions?
2.)
What were his/her actual responses? That is, were they consistent
with our organization and membership goals of preserving healthcare,
pensions and retiree benefits that we earned while employed?
In addition,
as former employees of one of the
greatest industries ever, we’ve all had to account at one time or
another for performance. So
perhaps an additional consideration of an incumbent’s performance
should also play a part in the voting process.
While retiree
issues play a pivotal role in your decisions, there could be
additional critical issues that some may consider in addition to the
individual candidate response to help measure ones choice. One might
use a rating function like most newspapers do with baseball teams to
measure performance. But obviously the skill/measured items would be
different.
I wish you all
the best. And, thanks for getting out and voting. Your vote is
extremely important.
Ray Sternot
VP –
Legislation, AASBCR
"We in America do not have government by the majority. We have
government by the majority who participate.
"
-Thomas Jefferson, third US president, architect and author
(1743-1826)
We have the right to vote. We have the right to not
vote. But if we do not vote, we should forfeit our right to
complain!
AASBCR, a non-profit organization, was formed in 2002 to represent
Ameritech retiree issues to SBC, renamed AT&T as part of the recent
merger of SBC and AT&T. For more information on the organization
please check the web site at
www.aasbcr.org.
Please share this newsletter by e-mail with your Retiree and
Near-Retiree friends. Send
them to
www.aasbcr.org
to join. We need volunteers to help carry out our work.
|