Previously Unreported Filings Shows $56.99 was spent for each Spiller vote versus $1.97 for His Opponent, Dr. Renee Baskerville
When Sunlight Policy Center first delved into the NJEA’s support for its current president, Sean Spiller’s, mayoral run, we determined that Spiller had raised $57,000, of which $36,000 came from the NJEA and its allies.
WE WERE WRONG! VERY WRONG! IT WAS MORE, MUCH, MUCH MORE!!
NOW, after reviewing updated ELEC filings, Sunlight has a more comprehensive estimate of what Spiller actually raised and spent, and more importantly what was spent on his behalf.
The ELEC filings indicate that NJEA was all-in for getting its then-vice president into the Montclair mayor’s office. Montclair was awash in NJEA money and blanketed with professional video ads, waves of daily mailers and well-funded get-out-the-vote efforts by NJEA-paid political operatives.
HERE ARE THE FACTS:
- Sunlight estimates that $310,000 was spent to elect then-NJEA Vice President Spiller, with as much as $230,000 (74%) coming from the NJEA and its allies. His opponent, Renee Baskerville, spent $10,000.
- No Montclair municipal election has ever seen this level of spending. Spiller’s 2020 mayoral run cost $80,000 more than the LAST FIVE mayoral elections combined.
- To give you a better sense of how the NJEA tipped the scales: $56.99 was spent for each Spiller vote versus $1.97 for Baskerville.
To Learn the Facts – Read the full Report
As always, every factual assertion is sourced and footnoted.
Why all of New Jersey should care about the Montclair mayor’s race: We now have a political system where a taxpayer-funded, state-level special interest can throw unlimited amounts of money in support of favored candidates in purely local elections and potentially overwhelm the political efforts of ordinary citizens.
The question for all of us: what are we going to do about it?
Step into the light with Sunlight Policy Center.