US Census: NJ Keeps Its House Seats but Still Could Be Losing Wealth and College Grads to Other States
Posted OnApril 29, 2021 byThe Census Bureau came out with its decennial census count, and it looks like NJ did much better than expected. Contrary to fears that NJ might lose another congressional seat, NJ kept its 12 House seats (down from 15 in 1970). All in all, NJ population grew 5.7% to 9.3 million. This is good news…Read More
NJ Policy Perspective’s “Blueprint” for NJ Aligns with the NJEA and Its Vast Network of Allies
Posted OnApril 27, 2021 byProgressive think-tank New Jersey Policy Perspective (NJPP) released its policy blueprint for NJ. Sunlight is not going to delve into all the policy proposals. Readers can do that at their leisure. Sunlight highlights two facts about the report: NJPP states that it worked in “close collaboration” with many other NJ progressive groups who make up…Read More
Montclair Parent on Mayor Spiller: “It Doesn’t Take a Rocket Scientist to See the Intense Conflict of Interest”
Posted OnApril 23, 2021 byNorthJersey.com had an excellent news story today describing the efforts of Montclair citizens to change from a mayor-appointed school board to an elected school board. As Sunlight readers know, the catalyst for this grassroots groundswell is the massive and judicially recognized conflict of interest embodied in NJEA President-elect/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller, whose appointees now constitute…Read More
Fired Montclair BOE Member Gonzalez: NJEA President-Elect/Mayor Spiller Privileges His Union Over the Public Interest
Posted OnApril 20, 2021 byFired Montclair Board of Education (BOE) member Sergio Gonzalez is angry. As he says in his published letter, he is “angry at being removed from the BOE because I dared to represent the interests of our children, rather than a political machine.” Gonzalez was removed by NJEA President-elect/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller so that Spiller could…Read More
State Pension Report: TPAF Assets Down, Liabilities Up, Funded Ratio at 24.6%
Posted OnApril 19, 2021 byMore bad news on the Teachers’ Pension and Annuity Fund (TPAF), New Jersey’s largest public pension fund currently covering 262,000 active and retired teachers. Last week, we wrote about the Brookings Institute report that both confirmed that TPAF was the worst public pension plan in America and projected that it would become insolvent in the…Read More
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