NJEA President-Elect/Montclair Mayor Spiller’s Conflict of Interest Spreads to the School Board
Posted OnApril 16, 2021 byThe Montclair Local reports that NJEA President-elect/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller has appointed three new members to the Montclair school board. That now makes four-of-seven school board members appointed by Spiller, so his appointees are now a majority. Spiller’s judicially-recognized conflict of interest has now spread to the school board. First, Sunlight would like to say…Read More
New Brookings Report: NJ Teachers’ Pension Fund on Path to “Near-Term” Insolvency
Posted OnApril 14, 2021 byIn the wonky world of pensions, a new report by the Brookings Institution made some news because of its rather optimistic take on the fate of America’s public pensions. The authors argue that due to recent reforms, in the long run, most plans are sustainable with relatively modest adjustments. Except for New Jersey’s Teachers’ Pension and…Read More
New Direction Is Now Essentially an NJEA Super PAC with Gov. Murphy as Spokesman
Posted OnApril 8, 2021 bySunlight admits that this is not new news, but because it was released on Christmas Eve-eve, we missed it. But we found the InsiderNJ press release that reveals that Super PAC New Direction New Jersey (NDNJ) is now almost entirely funded by the NJEA. That’s right, from late 2019 to late 2020, the NJEA pumped $6,000,000…Read More
Parents Are Forced to Fund Their Own Lawsuits While Their Property Tax Dollars Pay for the Unions’ Legal Fees
Posted OnApril 5, 2021 byThe Wall Street Journal reported that parents in Scotch Plains – Fanwood had raised $40,000 for legal fees involved in their suit to reopen schools. This $40,000 comes from the parents’ own pockets. Parents in Montclair and South Orange-Maplewood also had to raise private money to pursue their own lawsuits. In each of these towns, the…Read More
NJ Economy Underperforms in the Pandemic: 8% Fewer Jobs, 6th Worst in Nation
Posted OnApril 1, 2021 byPew Charitable Trusts updated the COVID job loss in all 50 states, and sadly NJ came in 6th-worst. Sunlight compared the job-loss numbers with the Tax Foundation’s rankings of states’ tax climates for businesses. Note that eight of the bottom ten states for job-loss are all in the bottom third for tax climate. Only Nevada,…Read More
Senate President Sweeney Regrets Borrowing $4.3 Billion in Very Expensive Bonds
Posted OnMarch 26, 2021 byIt’s the rare occasion when a New Jersey politician is honest with the public, so kudos to Senate President Steve Sweeney for telling it straight. NorthJersey.com reports that Sweeney now regrets the 2020 issuance of $4.3 billion in bonds in expectation of COVID-related revenue shortfalls. And rightfully so. Even though the $4.3 billion in bonds…Read More
A Big Conflict of Interest Gets Bigger: Montclair Mayor Spiller Will Be NJEA President
Posted OnMarch 25, 2021 byThe Montclair Local reports that Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller will be the next president of the NJEA. Sunlight has been monitoring Spiller’s manifest conflict of interest, and in our piece “Councilman Spiller, Mayor Spiller, Governor Spiller? NJEA Members Run for Office,” we noted that Spiller would likely become the next NJEA president. And so he has….Read More
Sunlight in Montclair Local on Mayor Spiller Becoming President of the NJEA
Posted OnMarch 25, 2021 byThe Montclair Local cited Sunlight’s reporting on Mayor Sean Spiller massive conflict of interest – which is now even bigger as Spiller will become the president of the NJEA.Read More
USNews Rankings Revisited: NJ #1 in Education but #49 in Fiscal Stability
Posted OnMarch 22, 2021 byLast week, Sunlight posted a blog entitled “USNews Eduction Rankings: Good News for NJ but Still Not Accounting for NJ’s Excessively High Spending.” Sunlight’s point was that NJ does have a very good education system but that NJ also spends an excessively large amount on education, which USNews did not factor into its education rankings….Read More
WHAT IS BRENDAN GILL DISCUSSING WITH NJEA VP/MAYOR SPILLER AND THE PRESIDENT OF THE MEA?
Posted OnMarch 17, 2021 byA concerned Montclair citizen captured quite a trio having an off-the-record discussion in the middle of Montclair’s school re-opening dispute: NJEA Vice President/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, Montclair Education Association (MEA) President Petal Robertson and Essex County Commissioner Brendan Gill. Sunlight has focused on the photo’s memorializing Spiller’s judicially recognized conflict of interest, but Gill’s presence…Read More