NJEA Spends Teachers’ Dues to Tilt the Scales in the Cinnaminson School Board Race, Creating Potential Conflicts of Interest

A friendly teacher alerted us to what’s happening in the town of Cinnaminson, NJ.  Once again, NJEA leadership is using its Super PAC, Garden State Forward, to tilt the scales in a local school board race in favor of its preferred candidates. Once again, the NJEA is backing candidates with potential conflicts of interest, which voters should be aware of. And once again, the NJEA is spending teachers’ dues on politics – while hiding the truth from teachers.

The NJEA has spent $8,700 backing Bramhall, Tadley, and McGough. According to the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission, the NJEA has spent $8,700 backing the slate of Michael Bramhall, Mary Tadley, and Bob McGough for Cinnaminson school board: $5,700 for internet ads and mailers by Garden State Forward (see below); and $3,000 contributed to the campaign by the NJEA’s traditional PAC, NJEA PAC.

Social media ad from Garden State Forward:

One of four mailers from Garden State Forward (see “Paid for” notice in the upper left corner).

Potential conflicts of interest. We note that McGough is a teacher in a nearby district and a presumptive NJEA member.  While McGough’s candidacy is legal, the conflict of interest in clear: Not only is he a NJEA member, his candidacy has received substantial backing from the NJEA. Has McGough received political training from the NJEA? Did McGough or his slate make any commitments to the NJEA in exchange for the monetary support? Whose interests will he represent when the school board engages in collective bargaining negotiations with the local NJEA affiliate?

In addition, Tamara Beatty is the president of the Cinnaminson Education Association (the local NJEA affiliate) as well as the spouse of NJEA President Steve Beatty.  Will she be sitting across the negotiating table from the new Cinnaminson school board?  Would this have any effect on Bramhall, Tadley, or especially McGough if they were elected?

$8,700 is a lot of money in a school board race.  $8,700 may not seem like a lot of money when compared to the $45 million of dues wasted (via Garden State Forward) on former-NJEA President Sean Spiller’s vanity run for governor. But $8,700 is a lot of money in a school board election in a small town like Cinnaminson. Typically, the NJEA-backed slate is opposed by a parent slate, where the candidates largely pay their own expenses. In that context, $8,700 is a lot of money and gives the NJEA-backed slate a large advantage.

The $5,700 expenditure by Garden State Forward is funded by teachers’ dues.  Once again, we remind everyone that the $5,700 expenditure by Garden State Forward is funded by teachers’ highest-in-the-nation regular dues — without the knowledge or consent of teachers. That’s true of all these school districts (along with the amount of Garden State Forward’s expenditures):

• Cinnaminson: $5,700
• Franklin Township: $5,700
• Montgomery Township: $5,700
• Old Bridge Township: $5,700
• Jersey City: $159,422

So that’s another $182,222 of teachers’ dues spent on politics without teachers’ knowledge or consent.  What a scam.