NJ Teachers Are Being Forced to Back Democrats and NJEA President Sean Spiller, Who Remains Under State Criminal Investigation

The NJEA’s “Spiller for Governor” Super PAC is in action.  Per New Jersey Globe, Working New Jersey has spent $639,000 on select Democrats running for federal office and … NJEA President Sean Spiller, who is running for governor in 2025.  And NJEA leadership is forcing New Jersey teachers to pay for it.

Here are the amounts:

$275,000 for Harris/Walz

$275,000 for senate candidate Andy Kim

$46,000 for House candidate Herb Conaway

$41,000 for House candidate Sue Altman

But the Globe notes that “the vast majority of the [Working New Jersey] mailer is devoted to expounding on Spiller’s life story and his plans for leading New Jersey.”  But even this $639,000 is a “drop in the bucket” compared to the $35 million Working NJ plans to spend on Spiller’s run.

ALL of these candidates are Democrats, and ALL of them are being supported by the NJEA’s own Super PAC, Garden State Forward, which is funding Working New Jersey.  And Garden State Forward is funded by New Jersey teachers’ highest-in-the-nation regular dues without their knowledge or consent.  In effect, teachers are being forced to support these Democrats and Spiller.  

Here is the breakdown of registered voters in New Jersey:

Democrat: 2,258,917, 38%

Republican: 1,611,688, 24%

Unaffiliated: 2,440,927, 37%

That’s 61% of registered voters in New Jersey who are not Democrats.  Even accounting for the fact that NJEA members may lean Democratic, surely a very large number of the NJEA’s membership are not Democrats.  And regardless of party affiliation (or not), how many teachers simply don’t want to spend their hard-earned money on politics?   As we noted last week, voluntary teacher contributions to the NJEA’s traditional PAC, NJEA PAC, are down 22% from years past.  In other words, the vast majority of teachers don’t want to spend their money on politics.

And then there’s the issue of using teachers’ dues to fund the personal political career of Sean Spiller, a highly controversial candidate who is still under state criminal investigation for possible misuse of state health benefits.

We ask: Is this how teachers would choose to spend their hard-earned money?  Is it fair for NJEA leadership to use teachers’ dues in this way without their knowledge or consent?

No wonder the NJEA uses Garden State Forward for political spending and then hides its existence from the very teachers who are forced to fund it.  If teachers knew the truth, they wouldn’t like it.

What a scam.