Stuff in the ‘Political Spending and Influence’ Category
Federal Money Shores Up NJ’s Budget, But Gov. Murphy Opts for Election-Year Spending Rather than a Sustainable Path
Posted OnJuly 21, 2021 byThe gusher of federal money has certainly been a boon to New Jersey as well as other states. This has had a number of positive ramifications, most importantly filling state coffers so that even perpetually in-deficit state governments like NJ’s are now running budgetary surpluses. This has allowed NJ to increase spending (in an election…Read More
NJEdReport: Gov. Murphy Takes Care of His NJEA Pals Over Kids in Poor School Districts. Where Is Mark Weber and NJPP?
Posted OnJuly 15, 2021 byNJ Ed Report published an excellent report today about how the NJEA’s Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is sending unqualified teachers to teach in high-poverty, Abbott districts. Thankfully, NJ Ed Report is a trusted outlet for NJ Department of Education (DOE) whistleblowers who blew the whistle on teachers being allowed to teach all-important physics classes…Read More
NJEA’s Beatty: Gov. Murphy Is Best in the Nation When It Comes to Collaborating with Public Unions – and This Year’s Budget Proves It
Posted OnJuly 6, 2021 bySunlight could not have said it better. Supporting the NJEA’s early endorsement of Gov. Murphy, NJEA Vice President-elect Steve Beatty said: “There is no governor in the nation who has worked as closely and collaboratively with public employee unions than Gov. Murphy.” (June NJEA Review, p. 16). Just so. The record $46.3 billion budget Murphy just signed…Read More
The Special Interests Win Again: New Legislation Would Increase Public Union Power … and Property Taxes
Posted OnJune 29, 2021 byThe Press of Atlantic City reports that Senate President Steve Sweeney is sponsoring a bill that would broaden public employee bargaining rights. Both the NJ Association of Counties and League of Municipalities oppose the bill because it would expand collective bargaining to issues that had previously been non-negotiable, such as personnel transfers and assignments. Proponents…Read More
Does the NJEA Care About Learning Loss for Minority and Low-Income Students?
Posted OnJune 21, 2021 byRemote learning during the pandemic has indeed taken its toll on NJ students. The New Jersey Globe reported that based on interim tests 37% of NJ students were below grade level in language arts and math. What is even more alarming is that more than half of Black and Hispanic students were below grade level…Read More
Because It Can, the NJEA Spends $198,000 in Support of Republican Betty Lou DeCroce
Posted OnJune 17, 2021 bySunlight must admit that this came as quite a surprise: it appears that ASW Betty Lou DeCroce, Republican Assemblywoman from the 26th legislative district, received massive support from the NJEA for her 2021 Republican primary election campaign. All told, the NJEA’s Super PAC, Garden State Forward spent $198,000 on mailings and digital ads in LD26…Read More
Quid Pro Quo: SEIU Joins the NJEA in Endorsing “Enthusiastically Pro Union” Gov. Murphy
Posted OnMay 26, 2021 byTo no one’s surprise, public union SEIU endorsed Gov. Murphy for re-election, following in train of NJ’s most powerful public union, the NJEA. In doing so, they describe Murphy as a “enthusiastically pro union governor, who has “enacted policies that significantly improved the lives” of public employees. This sounds a lot like what NJEA Secretary…Read More
New Direction Spent $13.2 Million Boosting Gov. Murphy, with $10.5 Million from the Taxpayer-Funded NJEA
Posted OnMay 20, 2021 byPolitico’s Matt Friedman reported in his New Jersey Playbook that NJEA-funded Super PAC New Direction New Jersey(NDNJ) has spent nearly $13.2 million over the past three years to boost Gov. Murphy. Friedman points out that the $13.2 million is almost as much as the $15.6 million the governor would be permitted to spend if he…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
Kudos to the Record’s Charlie Stile: Borrowing $4.3 Billion to Make a $6.4 Billion Pension Payment is POBs All Over Again.
Posted OnFebruary 25, 2021 byThe Record’s Charlie Stile is one of the very few people in NJ who recognize that Gov. Murphy is effectively reprising the disastrous 1997 Pension Obligation Bonds (POBs) of Gov. Whitman. The $2.75 billion in POBs will ultimately cost NJ more than $10 billion. That’s the reason the legislature subsequently banned POBs. Per Stile: “Yet, Murphy’s rescue…Read More