An analysis released last month by a non-partisan watchdog organization found that Montclair, New Jersey Mayor Sean Spiller’s mayoral campaign was funded through hundreds of thousands of dollars from the New Jersey Education Association, where Spiller serves as president.
Citing New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission data, the New Jersey Sunlight Policy Foundation published a report in September detailing the record amount of cash raised by Spiller.
Most of the funding came from the NJEA, the largest teacher’s union in New Jersey, or its allies.
Spiller, who beat out Renee Baskerville by only 450 votes to win Montclair’s mayoral race in May of last year, was elected president of the NJEA in March. He served as vice president of the organization during his mayoral campaign.
In total, Spiller’s campaign spent $310,329 – 30 times as much money as his opponent. And a whopping 74%, or $230,560, of Spiller’s financing came from the NJEA and its allies, according to the Sunlight Foundation.
Spiller’s campaign spending set a record for most in a Montclair mayoral run, dwarfing the previous high set in 2012, when Robert Jackson spent $84,361. In fact, Spiller’s campaign cost more than all previous mayoral runs combined: $310,329 to $230,654.
Meanwhile, Sunlight Foundation president Mark Lilley has a theory on why the NJEA shelled out so much money to get Spiller elected.
“The NJEA has a lot invested in Spiller. He is the president of the organization. He has been paid millions of dollars as a NJEA officer. He is the most famous graduate of the NJEA’s Political Leadership Academy, which trains NJEA members to run for public office,” Lilley wrote in an introduction to the Sunlight Foundation’s analysis.
“It would therefore come as no surprise that the NJEA would be all-in to get Spiller elected mayor, and all-in they were,” he added.