Kudos to Joey Fox of New Jersey Globe for an excellent report on the news that NJEA leadership has already spent a staggering $42.5 million of teachers’ regular dues on NJEA President Sean Spiller’s vanity run for governor. And the campaign isn’t over yet!  The $42.5 million includes $37.5 million via pro-Spiller Super PAC Working New Jersey and $5 million to Super PAC Protecting Our Democracy, which was Spiller’s platform for his gubernatorial run before he officially announced his candidacy.  This is an unprecedented amount for a Democratic primary election, and the $42.5 million is more than all the other Democratic candidates have spent combined!  ALL of this money comes from teachers’ highest-in-the-nation annual dues without their knowledge or consent. It’s a scandal of the first order.

Fox makes several key points:

SPILLER’S ENTIRE RUN IS BEING FUNDED BY THE NJEA: Working New Jersey is essentially Spiller’s entire campaign operation. His own campaign has no staff and raised virtually no money. Because he has raised almost no money, Spiller failed to qualify for matching funds and the final two Democratic debates.  We would add that Working New Jersey is run by former-NJEA officers, so this is all part of a NJEA plan.

SPILLER IS A VANITY CANDIDATE: Spiller’s is a vanity run for governor.  Fox notes that he has only ever run for office in the town of Montclair, and in this race, he has “typically placed near the bottom of the pack in both independent and internal polls and some have even shown him losing ground compared to earlier in the year [despite the tens of millions spent].”  We would point readers to the Montclair Local‘s recent article describing Spiller as a “controversial” mayor, whose questionable ethics got him in legal trouble (which continues) and whose broad unpopularity meant that he could not run for re-election.  We would also note that Spiller’s anemic fundraising reinforces how little popular support he has.

ALL THE $42.5 MILLION COMES FROM TEACHERS’ MANDATORY, ANNUAL DUES: And yet New Jersey teachers are being forced to fund Spiller’s vanity run. Fox notes that Spiller and the NJEA have “come under scrutiny – including from some of its own members – over whether Spiller’s campaign is the best use of teacher’s union dues.”  We would add that last week a Roselle teacher published an open letter to Spiller asking him why he’s spending millions of teachers’ dues on his run while Roselle teachers work without a contract. Tellingly, the open letter remains unanswered by Spiller, who has never come clean to teachers about this use of their dues.

NJEA LEADERSHIP (INCLUDING THE CONFLICTED SPILLER) HAS HIDDEN THE TRUTH: As Sunlight has amply documented, NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) has hidden the truth about this use of regular dues up until a month ago when they were finally forced to admit it.  Fox quotes Ocean Township Mayor John Napolitani, a teacher and union leader in Asbury Park: “I’m sure that if the average NJEA member knew that, I think they’d probably blow a gasket.”  In other words, the average NJEA member did not know that.

This is a scandal of the first order.  As Sunlight has documented, Spiller is likely violating the NJEA’s own conflict of interest policy, and NJEA leadership is complicit. NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) has hidden the truth from the very teachers who are being forced to fund Spiller’s vanity run.  When they finally learned the truth, rank-and-file teachers have spoken out, only to be ignored by the brazen Spiller.  Sure looks like the NJEA has become Sean Spiller’s own teacher-funded political machine.