NJEA President Sean Spiller is running for governor and, despite the obvious conflict of interest, he has not been shy about using his union to assist his political ambitions.  That’s why Sunlight previously characterized the current NJEA as one, big “Spiller for Governor” Super PAC.  We’ve just seen more signs of how true this is.

We recently received reports from friendly teachers telling us that district-run professional development sessions are being used to push teachers to support Spiller.  As the name indicates, professional development sessions are supposed to help teachers improve their craft, not politick for Sean Spiller. This comes on top of an earlier report about NJEA officers visiting school districts ostensibly to speak about teachers’ pensions but then using the occasion to “drum up support from teachers and staff for Spiller for governor,” according to a teacher who was present.

In the most recent (February) edition of the NJEA’s monthly magazine for teachers, NJEA Review, there are no fewer than four “Spiller for Governor” entries: 1) The “President’s Message,” in which Spiller promotes his candidacy. 2) The “NJEA Report” section on pension legislation where there’s an ad for Spiller “who will fight for your pension!” along with a QR code to volunteer for his campaign. 3) An article on how the “Minority Leadership and Recruitment Committee Stands with Spiller” for governor. 4) A full, stand-alone article “Sean Spiller will be a governor for all New Jerseyans,” followed by another pro-Spiller ad with a QR code for volunteering/donating to his campaign.

Four is a new record for pro-Spiller content, but “Spiller for Governor” entries have been in every NJEA Review for the last six months, with multiple entries for the past five months. This is essentially free advertising for Spiller’s campaign to the 175,000+ membership of the NJEA.

And of course we cannot forget the money. When all is said and done and the NJEA follows through on its spending plans, the NJEA will spend $40 million backing Spiller’s run for governor, and this does not include in-kind contributions like member-staffed call centers and other GOTV operations, nor the free advertising and politicking mentioned above.  To put it in context, $40 million is about 30% of the NJEA’s $135 million in annual dues revenue.  Yet NJEA leadership (including Spiller) continues to hide this truth from the very teachers whose dues they are spending in secret.

Sunlight must point out what a massive conflict of interest this is for the president of a union to use it as a Super PAC for his personal political ambitions. Spiller has a long history of ignoring his conflicts of interest, so this comes as little surprise, but it surely raises additional questions about Spiller’s already-questionable ethics.