Sunlight Has Struck a Nerve: Mendacious Michael “Hundreds of Millions” Gottesman Tries to “Set the Record Straight” with More of His Habitual Mendacity

Well, it looks like Sunlight has struck a nerve with Mendacious Michael “Hundreds of Millions” Gottesman.  The progressive zealot and founder of the NJEA-funded New Jersey Public Education Coalition (NJPEC), Gottesman* wrote an article on Substack claiming to “set the record straight” about Sunlight’s entirely accurate reporting on Gottesman and NJPEC’s conduct. As with everything Gottesman does, his habitual mendacity permeates this article.* We will refute his claims point-by-point.

CLAIM #1: Gottesman is called a “liar,” and “bully” by Sunlight in order to “provoke anger rather than understanding.”

ANSWER: Gottesman is a proven, serial liar (see below), and a proven, serial bully (see below).  People can draw their own conclusions from that.

CLAIM #2: Sunlight’s research “lacks independent sources, verifiable information, and credible documentation,” and cites its “own previous work.” Thus, our posts do not “hold up to basic standards of credible reporting.”

ANSWER: Absolutely false. As evidence, Gottesman refers to Sunlight’s October 13, 2025 post “A New Low for Mendacious Michael Gottesman: Going after High School Freshmen and College Kids while Giving the NJEA a Pass,” and claims that Sunlight links to previous Sunlight posts and that “any claims made in those linked pieces direct readers to yet more pieces authored by [Sunlight].”

That is entirely false. In above-mentioned post, we state that Gottesman is “a proven, serial bully” and for the sake of brevity (it was an ancillary point) link to a previous Sunlight report where we write: “Gottesman is a proven, serial bully (see here, here, and here).” Each “here” links to a specific example of Gottesman’s bullying with supporting documentation (and links) from outside sources, including Gottesman’s own words. See for yourself by clicking on a “here.”

Likewise, in the above post, we state that Gottesman is “proven, serial liar,” which, again for the sake of brevity (again, an ancillary point), linked to a previous Sunlight post where we state: “Gottesman is a proven liar. He claimed on NJEdReport that NJPEC was not funded by the NJEA.  That was a lie.  He earned his moniker “Hundreds of Millions” because he told the Star-Ledger that outside conservative groups were funneling “hundreds of millions” of dollars to parents groups in New Jersey. That was also a lie.” As can be seen, Sunlight’s claims are linked to outside sources, including Gottesman’s own words.  Again, see for yourself by clicking on the links.

CLAIM #3: Sunlight claims to be non-partisan but its rhetoric and priorities reflect “a clear political perspective,” with the clear implication that Sunlight is a partisan organization.

ANSWER: False. Gottesman has made up his own definition of “non-partisan” to suit his own purposes. “Non-partisan” is defined by the Google search engine’s AI Overview  as “not affiliated with or supporting any particular political party, candidate, or ideology” and “avoiding actions that endorse or oppose political figures, though they may still advocate for specific policy issues based on their own principles.” [Emphasis added]. That is precisely what Sunlight does.  In fact, Sunlight is prohibited by law from engaging in partisan politics because we are a 501(c)(3). But Gottesman doesn’t let facts get in the way of his (false) accusations.

CLAIM #4: Gottesman says about the above Sunlight post: “[Sunlight’s] claim that Michael Gottesman ‘bullied’ students after an anti-Semitic incident is false.” He speaks of his social media post and states that it “did not mention any students by name, grade, or school year, nor did it call on anyone to contact or target them.”

ANSWER: Mendaciously deceptive. As anyone can see, Sunlight’s post was not referring to Gottesman’s social media post. We were referring to the email he sent to the press corps (which is actually included in Gottesman’s article), which informs them about an anti-Semitic incident at Freehold Regional High School “where several freshmen boys discussed dressing up as Holocaust children for Halloween.” So the facts show that Gottesman did mention the students by grade or school year in the email to the press. This is a window into Gottesman’s m.o.: his claim about the social media post is (perhaps) strictly true but so deceptive that it renders his whole point mendacious. And for the record, as can be seen in our post, Sunlight did not accuse Gottesman of publishing the students’ names, nor did we claim that he called on anyone to contact or target them (although what then is the purpose of alerting the press to the incident?)

CLAIM #5: Sunlight “falsely claims that NJPEC remained ‘silent’ about antisemitism within the NJEA.”

ANSWER: Mendaciously deceptive as well as false. At the time of Sunlight’s post — October 13, 2025 — Gottesman had indeed been silent about the NJEA’s appointment of a “violent, anti-semitic” editor for NJEA Review. It was only on October 14, 2025 — the day after we called him out — that Gottesman called for the NJEA to fire the editor. Of course, Gottesman leaves this fact out. So, once again, what Gottesman says is strictly true but so deceptive as to be mendacious.  In addition, what Sunlight wrote on October 13 was true at the time it was written, so Gottesman’s claim that Sunlight claim was false is itself false. Mendacity on top of mendacity.

CLAIM #6: Gottesman states that Sunlight “falsely claimed NJPEC was funded by the NJEA.”

ANSWER. Clearly and deliberately false. Sunlight stated the truth: NJPEC is funded by the NJEA via NJEA contributions to dark-money Super PAC Education Truth Project (and here). NJPEC’s website at the bottom says: “Paid for by Education Truth Project.”  ETP has also paid for press releases and email blasts by NJPEC. Money is fungible: If ETP is funded by the NJEA, then so is NJPEC. Gottesman’s statement is clearly and deliberately false. Mendacious is too kind a word.

CLAIM #7: Gottesman states that Sunlight’s description of Gottesman’s behavior as “reckless” misrepresents his calling out antisemitism, which is rooted in concern for the well-being of students.

ANSWER: False. As can be seen in Sunlight’s post, we did not use the word “reckless” to describe Gottesman’s calling out antisemitism, we used it to describe his incendiary rhetoric about Turning Point USA in the aftermath of the assassination of TPUSA founder Charlie Kirk. When alerting the press and NJPEC members to the forming of TPUSA chapters in New Jersey high schools, Gottesman described TPUSA as “Charlie Kirk’s hate group” — and specifically identified people that were working with TPUSA.  In the wake of the murder of Charlie Kirk and in an environment of increased political violence, this was highly irresponsible and indifferent to the safety of others.  In a word, reckless.

As this all underscores, Sunlight’s calling Gottesman “Mendacious Michael ‘Hundreds of Millions’ Gottesman is entirely accurate. His m.o. is falsehoods and deceptions. He earned his moniker “Hundreds of Millions” because he falsely stated to the Star-Ledger that outside conservative groups were funneling “hundreds of millions” of dollars to parents groups in New Jersey. That was a lie — one among many — that we will not let him forget.  It’s no surprise that Gottesman wants to try to bully Sunlight into silence. We won’t be intimidated.

Once again, the facts show that Gottesman is is a proven, serial liar and a proven, serial bully as well.

*The piece was initially posted with both Gottesman and Melissa DeFelice as authors (Sunlight has the screenshot), but as the current link shows, Gottesman has erased his own name. We’re guessing it’s because he wants to suggest that the piece is by some sort of neutral, third-party observer and not the self-serving piece that it actually is.  That’s why the article refers to Gottesman in the third-person, implying he is not an author.  Sure looks like more of Gottesman’s habitual mendacity.