Your Property Tax Dollars at Work: NJEA Crushes the Lobbying Competition

New Jersey citizens, your highest-in-the-nation property taxes are at work … helping the NJEA to stay the most powerful special interest in NJ’s special-interest-dominated political system.  Led by the NJEA, 2019 special interest lobbying expenses topped $100 million for the first time.

According to the Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), the NJEA crushed the competition by spending $6,240,028 on lobbying, which includes so-called “grassroots lobbying” to mobilize support for or against legislation using TV, radio, digital and other media.

But that’s not all.  The second-highest spender was New Direction New Jersey (NDNJ) at $3,911,200, the erstwhile dark money group that is about 70% funded by the NJEA (rising to 85% funded if its allies are included).  NDNJ pushes the NJEA’s and Governor Murphy’s shared agenda, so it’s fair to say that the NJEA really spent $8,947,781.  To compare, that’s $2.5 million more than the next eight top-spenders combined ($6,392,143).

That money comes from your property taxes and funds the political activities of a special interest that calls for even higher taxes: Your tax dollars being used to raise your taxes.

See the full ELEC report here.