Stuff in the ‘Political Spending and Influence’ Category
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 On07/06/2021 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 On06/29/2021 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 On06/21/2021 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 On06/17/2021 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 On05/26/2021 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 On05/20/2021 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 On04/08/2021 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 On02/25/2021 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
Gov. Murphy’s Budget: The Special Interests Win, NJ Loses
Posted On02/24/2021 byGov. Murphy is out with his FY2022 budget. Four facts stand out: Murphy is increasing spending to $44.8 billion, a 10% increase over last year. Murphy is devoting over 14% of this budget – $6.4 billion – to shore up NJ’s worst-in-the-nation public pension system. While making the full payment may seem like the right…Read More
Oscar James: Newark Superintendent Roger Leon is the Union’s “Puppet” and Is Hurting Newark’s Kids
Posted On01/15/2021 byYesterday, Sunlight blogged about Newark’s student absenteeism scandal and asked where Superintendent Roger Leon stood on the matter. Today, Newark’s Oscar James blogged an answer on Newark Neighborhood View. James excoriated Newark Superintendent Roger Leon for his abandonment of Newark’s kids by kowtowing to the Newark Teachers Union (NTU) and its president John Abeigon. Sunlight…Read More