NJEA President Spiller Fails to Qualify for the Gubernatorial Debate, Yet NJ Teachers Are Forced to Spend Millions of Their Dues on His Personal Vanity Project

New Jersey Democratic voters are clearly not interested in NJEA President Sean Spiller’s candidacy for governor.  It’s almost April and Spiller’s fundraising still lags far behind the five other candidates for the Democratic nomination.  In fact, Spiller’s fundraising is so far behind that he is the only candidate not to qualify for matching funds, and now he is the only candidate not to qualify for the second gubernatorial debate, according to New Jersey Globe.  So Spiller won’t even be on the stage when the other five candidates debate.  What a telling rebuke to Spiller that exposes his run for governor for the personal vanity project it is.

But New Jersey teachers will still be forced to send millions of their hard-earned dues to support Spiller’s personal vanity project — without teachers’ knowledge or consent. You read that right: via the NJEA’s Super PAC, Garden State Forward, NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) has already sent $17.25 million to Working New Jersey, a NJEA-run “Spiller for Governor” Super PAC, after previously sending $5 million to Spiller’s Super PAC, Protecting Our Democracy, which was the platform for Spiller prior to his official announcement to run.  That makes a jaw-dropping $22.25 million so far.

But that’s not all: Working New Jersey’s filings indicate that they intend to spend $35 million backing Spiller, so the total will come to $40 million.

ALL of this $40 million will come from teachers’ regular, annual dues because, as NJEA VP Steve Beatty admitted, Garden State Forward is funded by the annual budget, which is funded by $135 million of teachers’ regular, annual dues. Teachers have no say in the matter. Their dues are being appropriated by a small group of top NJEA execs, including the obviously conflicted Spiller, in an opaque process that has never been explained to teachers.

Even worse, NJEA leadership (including the conflicted Spiller) hides the existence of Garden State Forward from the very teachers’ whose dues are funding it.  As a result, the vast majority of teachers have no idea that millions of their regular dues are backing Spiller’s vanity project.  The secrecy shrouding Garden State Forward’s activities stands in stark contrast to the NJEA’s traditional PAC, NJEA PAC, which is a model of transparency.  NJEA PAC is funded by a separate, voluntary dues stream that teachers must opt into, and teachers have been deceived into believing that NJEA PAC represents the sum-total of the NJEA’s political spending.  How convenient for Spiller.

As Sunlight has documented, Spiller is a deeply flawed candidate who has been rebuked twice for his conflicts of interest and had a scandal-plagued, single term as Montclair mayor. Had he run again, he would have lost badly. He was the subject of a whistleblower lawsuit that had to be settled by Montclair for $1.25 million and remains under ongoing criminal investigation for misusing state health benefits.  Indeed, Spiller had to plead the 5th over 400 times due to his legal jeopardy.  Is Spiller really the sort of candidate teachers’ would choose to support?

If public reaction to Spiller’s candidacy is any indication, the answer is clearly “no.” The facts show that Spiller is a weak candidate who trails the rest of the Democratic field by a wide margin.  He cannot even make the debate stage! Yet New Jersey teachers are being forced to spend millions funding his personal vanity project.  It’s a scandal in plain sight.