Montclair Local: Sean Spiller Was a “Controversial” Mayor with a “Tumultuous Tenure” and Questionable Ethics. Why Are NJ Teachers’ Being Forced to Fund His Vanity Run for Governor?

Once again, the excellent Montclair Local is providing factual, unintimidated coverage of former-Montclair Mayor/NJEA President/gubernatorial candidate Sean Spiller. The Local knows Spiller well from his 12 years as a Montclair elected official, and its recent article, entitled “All Eyes on Montclair’s Controversial Ex-Mayor in Bid for Governor,” delves into Spiller’s “controversial,” single term as mayor. Ultimately, the article underscores what a weak candidate Spiller really is and thus the vanity nature of his run for governor, which makes his unprecedented, surreptitious use of teacher’s dues all the more scandalous.  The other Democratic candidates and most of New Jersey’s news media have shied from these facts.  The long tentacles of the NJEA reach deep into New Jersey politics and media, but they haven’t compromised the Local.

In particular, the Local spoke with numerous former and current Montclair officials, who experienced Spiller’s governance and observed the tumult and discontent in Montclair.  They were in a position to know and their comments are revealing.

TUMULTUOUS TENURE AS MAYOR: The Local describes Spiller’s single term as a “tumultuous tenure,” noting the whistleblower lawsuit claiming that Spiller unlawfully obtained state health benefits by certifying he was a full-time Montclair employee while he was actually serving in part-time role.  At the time, Spiller was also a [full-time] senior officer of the NJEA making $439,000 a year.  The town settled the lawsuit for $1.25 million — paid by Montclair taxpayers.

In some new information, the article mentions a workplace investigation by an outside firm that found a “toxic, negative and embarrassing” culture in the municipal government under Spiller.

The article quotes former-Mayor Robert Jackson, who commented on Spiller-led council meetings packed with unhappy Montclair residents:

I don’t think anyone is happy with the way things turned out [with Spiller] — all the acrimony and vitriol … it’s not serving residents and we are not seeing effectiveness.

Here’s former-Councilman David Cummings’ piquant take:

The fish rots from the head, and [Spiller] was the head of our council … it comes down to, really, he has no moral compass.”  [Emphasis added.]

The report also quotes former-Mayor Jerry Fried saying that Spiller “was not a beloved mayor” and that, as a result, he did not believe Spiller would not have won a second term had he run.

As proof of Spiller’s unpopularity in Montclair, the article observes that [despite being a Montclair elected official for 12 years] Spiller has held no public campaign events in Montclair, while other candidates have.

[We think that Spiller’s unpopularity in Montclair and dim re-election prospects were major reasons why Spiller chose to run for governor in 2025].

MULTIPLE CONFLICTS OF INTEREST: As Sunlight amply documented at the time, Spiller’s career as a Montclair politician was marked by multiple conflicts of interest.  The report notes Councilman Spiller’s 2016 removal from the Board of School Estimates by a Superior Court for his conflict of interest. Spiller then ran for mayor in 2020, which was an even larger conflict of interest because at the time the mayor appointed the school board. Spiller was soon stripped of this power by a town referendum, which former-Mayor Fried attributes to Spiller’s massive conflict of interest.

CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION OF SPILLER CONTINUES: The report delves into the ongoing criminal investigation of Spiller for misusing state health benefits. Former-Mayor Bob Russo had this to say:

Are you doing a serious article about the Spiller failures as mayor and the ongoing AG investigation of health care benefits he abused …?

In a helpful update — given the otherwise complete silence over the investigation by Spiller’s pal, Attorney General Matt Platkin — the Local reports that the AG Office’s spokesman confirmed that the investigation “continues” but “no updates are available.” [Sure looks like Platkin will sit on the investigation until Spiller’s gubernatorial run concludes, if not forever].

Regarding Spiller’s pleading the 5th over 400 times, Fairleigh Dickinson Professor Dan Cassino calls this “the most damaging thing” in Spiller’s record, noting: “Voters absolutely think if someone pleads the Fifth, they’re guilty of something.”  [Unfortunately, the other Democratic candidates, who both fear the NJEA and want their backing in the general election, have been silent on this issue].

FRAUDULENT CAMPAIGN FOR WEAK CANDIDATE: The article notes that it is now widely known that Spiller is using teachers’ regular dues to fund his candidacy. Again it quotes Russo, who criticizes Spiller’s “unprecedented” use of teachers’ dues to fund his “fraudulent campaign.”

Cassino weighs in on Spiller’s anemic fundraising [Spiller has raised only 1% of all the money raised by the Democratic candidates], which he sees as a “standard test’ of the strength of a candidacy: “So, it does make Spiller look weak that he is not able to raise money …”

SPILLER’S EGO UNDERSCORES THE VANITY NATURE OF HIS RUN: Former-Councilman Cummings described Spiller as a smart and capable politician but “Sean’s ego gets in the way …”  Further, with Spiller, there was always a hidden, self-serving agenda:  “about what he wanted to get done to benefit Sean.”

[We think this echoes noted journalist Matt Yglesias’s description of Spiller’s run as a “weird Spiller ego trip” and underscores Sunlight’s characterization of it as a “vanity” run for governor].

The Local‘s reporting underscores that Spiller was a failed mayor with questionable ethics, who still has a criminal investigation hanging over his head.  In other words, he’s a weak candidate whose run appears to be driven by his outsized ego.  All of which makes his unprecedented, surreptitious use of teachers’ regular dues to back his vanity run a major scandal.