Stuff in the ‘Political Spending and Influence’ Category
NJ101.5 Gets It Wrong About Healthcare Premium Hikes for Teachers: Property Taxpayers Will Pick Up the Tab
Posted On09/20/2022 byUnfortunately, a recent news story by NJ101.5 got it all wrong about an increase in teacher healthcare premiums. We have nothing against NJ101.5, which usually does a good job reporting, but they failed to do basic research here and have obscured rather than clarified the facts. The first sentence of the NJ101.5 piece reads: “New Jersey…Read More
The Recent Government Employee Healthcare Protests Explained: NJ Taxpayers Will Lose Again
Posted On09/15/2022 byGiven the protests in Trenton and the loud public outcry, Sunlight will weigh in on the health benefit premium hikes for New Jersey government employees, if only to clarify matters for our readers. There was a protest yesterday by state and municipal employees about the 20% rate hikes for their health insurance benefits. It was…Read More
NJEA President/Montclair Mayor Spiller Is Now All about the Parents and Kids but the Facts Show Otherwise
Posted On09/06/2022 byNJEA President/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller penned an op-ed in the Star-Ledger today in an obvious attempt to reshape the NJEA’s image after the broad pushback against its anti-parent ad campaign. Several themes are worth noting. First, the NJEA is now all about the parents. After the NJEA was forced into a public walk-back from its…Read More
The Data Is In: School Closures Hurt Kids. Remember that Teachers Unions Pushed for Closures.
Posted On09/02/2022 byLearning loss from school closures was widespread and severe, and the teachers unions pushed for those closures. That’s the upshot from two recent commentaries on the results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as “the nation’s report card.” The 74 appropriately titled its piece “Two Decades of Growth Wiped Out by…Read More
New NJEA Tax Return: ELC, NJ Policy Perspective and NJ Working Families Continue to Take Lots of NJEA Money
Posted On07/01/2022 byMore from the NJEA’s 2019 tax return, this time on the NJEA’s network of allies. Sunlight’s readers know that the NJEA’s generous funding of its allies is a big part of how it wields its dominant influence over New Jersey’s political system. These allies help execute the NJEA’s agenda by giving it the appearance of…Read More
NJ Teachers’ Highest-in-the-Nation Dues Are Secretly Being Used to Fund Murphy’s Political Ambitions
Posted On06/23/2022 bySome things never change. Teachers and New Jersey citizens are being scammed again. Northjersey.com revealed that the NJEA has contributed $750,000 to a Stronger Fairer Forward (SFF), a dark money Super PAC supporting Gov. Murphy run for president. This is a continuation of the role the NJEA played in Murphy’s 2021 re-election. During Murphy’s first…Read More
Deb Cornavaca, the NJEA and Gov. Murphy: A Revolving Door of Special-Interest Influence
Posted On05/18/2022 byWell, well, well, as night follows day, a NJEA political organizer cycles into the Murphy administration as a senior officer and then cycles right back to the NJEA. Murphy’s Deputy Chief of Staff Deborah Cornavaca is leaving to become the NJEA’s Director of Government Relations. Recall that Cornavaca was an NJEA political organizer before she…Read More
Harvard Study: NJ Among the States with the Most School Closures and Learning Loss. What Will Gov. Murphy Do About It?
Posted On05/17/2022 byWhile the NJEA wants to claim that learning loss did not really occur, a new study by Harvard University’s Center for Education Policy Research sheds some much-needed light on the severity of learning loss due to pandemic-related school closures. While the authors passed no judgments on whether a state’s COVID policies were justified, their conclusions were…Read More
The NJEA Proudly Boasts About Its Quid Pro Quo Relationship with Gov. Murphy
Posted On04/22/2022 byAs our readers are well aware, Sunlight’s mission is to shine a light on the special-interest-domination of New Jersey’s political system, led by the most powerful special interest of them all, the NJEA. Sunlight has also highlighted Gov. Murphy’s strong and unbending ties to the NJEA: the NJEA supports Murphy’s campaigns with millions of dollars…Read More
NJEA’s 2021 Financials: Leadership’s Pensions Very Secure; Super PAC Awash with Dues Money; Membership Declining
Posted On04/19/2022 bySunlight had a chance to look at the NJEA’s latest financial statements (for the fiscal year ending August 31, 2021) and there were some interesting nuggets of information: NJEA Leaderships pensions continue to be gold-plated and very secure. Sunlight did an extensive report on the NJEA leadership’s gold-plated, well-funded pensions – as contrasted with the…Read More