NJEA President/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller’s Run for Statewide Office Begins and New Jersey Teachers Are Forced to Pay for It

Apparently brushing off potential legal troubles in Montclair, NJEA President/Montclair Mayor Sean Spiller’s campaign for statewide office has begun in earnest.  Below is a recent mailer from Spiller’s Super PAC, “Protecting Our Democracy.”

Note that the mailer talks about a campaign to “safeguard personal freedoms, preserve voting rights and create an economy that works for everyone” — issues that sound like poll-tested Democratic campaign slogans beyond the remit of the mayor of Montclair.   And it calls on “[p]eople all over New Jersey” to join the campaign. Can there be any doubt that Spiller has ambitions to run for statewide office?

Recall that the Super PAC’s activities will include (per the New Jersey Globe):

• “The multi-pronged campaign will include a substantial seven-figure omni-channel media buy;” [Emphasis added.]
• “supporting pro-democracy policies and candidates,” and
• “building out an advanced data-driven organizing effort.”

Sure sounds like a statewide campaign for higher office.

And recall that Spiller’s NJEA is the “founding donor” of the Super PAC, almost certainly via the NJEA’s own Super PAC, Garden State Forward.  So it sure looks like Spiller’s multi-million-dollar campaign will be funded by New Jersey teachers’ highest-in-the-nation dues.

How is this fair to New Jersey teachers, who have no say in the matter?  What if a teacher is not a Democrat or doesn’t want to play politics or doesn’t want to fund the personal political ambitions of Sean Spiller?  Too bad for them: The NJEA leadership, led by President Spiller, has decided to spend their dues on Spiller’s personal political ambitions.

Once again, as in his Montclair political career, Spiller’s conflict of interest is manifest.  As NJEA president, Spiller has a fiduciary duty to represent the interests of his members, but how is funding his own political ambitions in the interest of New Jersey teachers?

Clearly, Spiller doesn’t care, but New Jersey citizens should be asking themselves if they want this walking conflict of interest in a statewide office.