Stuff in the ‘Political Spending and Influence’ Category
Excellent California Policy Center Piece on the Problems with Government Unions Could Have Been Written About New Jersey
Posted On12/03/2020 byNote: Bolded print added by Sunlight Policy Center for particular relevance to New Jersey. Why We Fight Government Unions By Edward Ring of California Policy Center November 24, 2020 The California Policy Center, established in 2013, exists to expose and undermine the destructive power of government unions. Most Californians still don’t understand the threat these unions…Read More
NJEA VP Sean Spiller Eyes the Governor’s Office: Will Special Interests Actually Run NJ?
Posted On11/23/2020 byJust as Sunlight speculated in its report “Councilman Spiller, Mayor Spiller, Governor Spiller?,” NJEA Vice President and Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller appears to have his eyes on the governor’s office. The NJEA trained Spiller to run for office and declared its hope that one of its members becomes governor some day. That day may be coming…Read More
Gov. Murphy’s COVID Bonds: More Money Now to Benefit His Public Union Pals Costs Future NJ Citizens Hundreds of Millions More
Posted On11/20/2020 byThe ever-vigilant BuryPensions blog has provided valuable information on NJ’s COVID bonds – the $4.5 billion that Gov. Murphy is borrowing to plug budget gaps and allow for a record $4.7 billion payment into NJ’s broken and unreformed public pension system. The sad truth is that Murphy is doing the bidding of his public union pals,…Read More
250 More NJEA Members Run for Office; That Makes 1,560 from 2015-2020
Posted On11/04/2020 byThe NJEA Political Leadership Academy (PLA), which trains NJEA members to run for public office, must have had a busy 2020. The NJEA reports that another 250 members ran for political office in NJ in 2020. That makes a total of 1,560 NJEA members that have run for office from 2015 to 2020. The NJEA’s…Read More
NJEA All-In for Murphy Again Because Murphy Has Delivered for NJ’s Most Powerful Special Interest
Posted On10/29/2020 byNJEA Secretary-Treasurer Steve Beatty said it all about the NJEA’s endorsement of Gov. Murphy for re-election: “There is no governor in the nation who has worked as closely and collaboratively with public employee unions than Gov. Murphy.” Another way to put it is: special interests dominate New Jersey politics all the way to the very…Read More
We Don’t Have $55 Million for Body-Cams but We Do Have $4.7 Billion for Our Broken, Unreformed Pension System
Posted On10/20/2020 byNorthJersey.com reported that Gov. Murphy has conditionally vetoed a bill that mandated body-cameras for all uniformed police because the source of funds – civil forfeiture proceeds – is too small. All in, the body-cams would cost about $55 million. The legislature passed the bill by wide margins and the governor called the cameras a “wise…Read More
Public Sector Union Pals Pay Gov. Murphy Back with New Direction’s TV Ads
Posted On10/15/2020 byAs reported in InsiderNJ, Super PAC New Direction New Jersey (NDNJ) has cut a new ad touting Gov. Murphy’s COVID response and his recovery plans. Sunlight just wants to remind NJ citizens that NDNJ is 80% funded by the public sector unions (70% by the NJEA). Just a little more back-scratching between Murphy and his…Read More
Gov. Murphy: “Labor is at the table in New Jersey unlike any other state in America, and that will always continue to be the case.”
Posted On10/06/2020 byWell, there you have it from an excellent report by NJ101.5: a perfect, one-sentence description of NJ’s political status quo, delivered by our state’s top elected officer. Gov. Murphy was elected with the strenuous support of the public sector unions – a.k.a, our most powerful special interests – and continues to work hand-in-hand with them…Read More
Star-Ledger’s Moran: “More taxes, more spending, more borrowing! It’s party time in Trenton!”
Posted On09/28/2020 byThe Star-Ledger’s Tom Moran’s title succinctly captures NJ’s FY2021 COVID budget. Moran notes that despite the negative impact of COVID, spending will be increased 4%. NJ citizens and businesses are tightening their belts, but not our special-interest-friendly state government. Gov. Murphy and his legislative allies are also making a $4.7 billion pension payment – as…Read More
NJSpotlight Headline Says It All: “NJ lawmakers find millions for pet projects in budget that borrows billions, raises taxes”
Posted On09/24/2020 byJon Reitmeyer hits the nail on the head in his NJSpotlight article. Despite past words to the contrary, Gov. Murphy is acting as if nothing has changed with COVID. Government spending and payrolls certainly haven’t changed. A record $4.7 billion is pouring into an unreformed and broken public pension system. Throwing (our) good money…Read More