In the past three years, New Jersey’s largest teachers union has poured more than $15 million into its effort to reelect Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy. That number dwarfs contributions made by any other group in a state long dominated by special-interest politics.
But with the gubernatorial election between Murphy and Republican businessman Jack Ciattarelli appearing to tighten in its final days, the New Jersey Education Association has pulled out a weapon maybe more potent than cash: feet on the ground.
Thousands of rank-and-file “Members for Murphy” have mounted one of the largest voter outreach campaigns by the teachers union in recent memory.
Since mid-September, local and regional NJEA units in every county have staged phones banks, mass Zoom meetings, town halls, door-to-door canvassing sessions and assorted “labor walks,” “women’s walks,” get-out-the-vote rallies and special “members of color” events.
Of some 203,000 dues-paying members of the NJEA — teachers, custodians, cafeteria workers, retirees and their families — it seems most have been on the street at some point this fall, especially in the heavily Democratic north Jersey towns where turnout is the key to Murphy’s hopes.
Among NJEA’s ‘biggest efforts’
“It certainly is among the biggest efforts the teachers have ever made,” said Micah Rasmussen, a former Democratic strategist and official who is now director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University. “I can’t recall a time when they’ve been more engaged, and they’ve got the infrastructure to make a huge impact.”
NJEA’s organizational clout is built on hundreds of tight-knit local chapters that have drawn even closer in recent years under the derision of former Gov. Chris Christie and his budget cuts, salary caps and property-tax freezes.
The union maintains 29 regional offices, each staffed full time with professional negotiators, organizers and local education consultants paid partly by the National Education Association, which expects to take in more than $370 million in revenue during the 2021-22 school year, mostly union dues.
In an interview with NJ Spotlight News, NJEA President Sean M. Spiller said the union’s street power would make the difference in a narrowing race as volunteers flood the electoral zone in the coming days.
Credit: (John O‘Boyle, courtesy of NJEA)Asked about the NJEA’s aggressive leveraging of campaign cash and alliances with dark-money political groups that shield the identity of donors, Spiller said he would make no apologies. The union’s allegiance to Murphy, he said, comes down to a simple word.
“Respect,” Spiller said. “You had a governor who was bad-mouthing this profession for eight years. Now we have someone who actually appreciates what teachers do. He’s brought respect back.”
Murphy also kicked $7 billion into the teacher’s pension fund, after decades of underpayments by both Democratic and Republican governors.
Spiller: ‘We’re not going to apologize’
On Monday, Spiller was part of the state contingent that greeted President Biden in North Plainfield as he appeared at a transportation event with Murphy. Later, the NJEA president hosted a town hall event with the governor’s wife, Tammy.
“We’re not going to apologize one second for the work we do on behalf of this candidate,” Spiller said. “We have the best schools in the nation not just because of what our members do at school, but what they do after hours as well — knocking on doors.’”
The NJEA’s get-out-the-vote operation extends from corner to corner of New Jersey and relies heavily on the rank and file who finance the union through annual dues which have risen steadily in recent years as the union’s power has grown.
Currently, active teachers pay $999 a year in dues, up from the mid-$700s less than a half-decade ago. Inactive members, retirees and other supporters pay less. The dues add up: In 2017, the most recent year for which the union has disclosed financial data, the NJEA took in most of its $144 million in revenue from member dues.
Salary and compensation
The steady stream of dues makes it possible for the NJEA to reward its leaders: Ten of the top 12 executives at the union were paid more than $300,000 in salary and compensation for 2017, according to the most recent data.
Spiller’s salary has not been released. In 2017, however, Spiller, who is also the first-term mayor of Montclair, was paid $310,457 in salary and other benefits for his former role as NJEA vice-president.
Spiller is one of a handful of New Jersey mayors who enjoy the power to appoint members of his town’s school board, a legal quirk that prevents voters from having a direct say in how Montclair’s school board functions. A referendum that would change the school board’s structure and strip Spiller of his appointment power is on the local ballot Tuesday.
“How can the mayor possibly do right by the taxpayers of Montclair and serve the teachers union at the same time?” asked former school board member Sergio Fernandez. “This is a union that has grown too powerful, that’s just the fact.”
Other critics of the union, including many top Republicans, say the CEO-level compensation packages enjoyed by top-level NJEA officers like Spiller are unconscionable, especially as the working public reels under stagnant wages and inflation. They argue that the union’s aggressive tactics amount to a protection racket for Democratic incumbents and a massive drain on taxpayers.
Mike Lilley, head of the New Jersey-based think tank Sunlight Policy Center — which has long been critical of the NJEA — pointed out the union’s power flows from its ability to drink from a stream of tax dollars via union dues.
Lilley has also been critical of the union’s increasing reliance on nominally independent super PACs (political action committees) that have no contribution limits and limited disclosure practices. Garden State Forward, the NJEA’s PAC, has become a major financier of such dark-money groups, he said, wheeling tens of millions to committees allied with Murphy and other Democrats over the past half-decade.
‘What’s wrong with this picture?’
“Taxpayers pay the teachers and the union deducts dues right off the top of their paychecks,” Lilley said. “Then they turn around and use the money to buy politicians who work against the taxpayers. What’s wrong with this picture?”
The NJEA is far from the only state labor union to run its own political action committee and use member dues to fund political operations. Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman challenging Murphy, has also benefited through large donations funneled through independent PACs by wealthy individuals and corporations.
After being rebuffed for the NJEA’s endorsement in April, Ciattarelli made a direct pitch for teacher support via a “Jack Chat” Facebook posting appealing to the union’s rank and file, which he claimed were shut out of the endorsement process.
Ciattarelli addressed the “teachers, bus drivers, para-professionals, custodians, nurses, librarians, security staff and administrative workers,” and said “the truth is they [the NJEA] were never going to endorse me. They don’t even want you to know I exist.”
With only days to go before Election Day and some New Jerseyans already casting ballots via early voting, victory for Murphy, experts say, could come down to his ability to run up big wins in populous urban counties that tend to vote blue.
Can the NJEA’s turnout machinery prove the difference?
“It very well could,” said Ben Dworkin, director of Rowan University Institute for Public Policy & Citizenship. “In the NJEA, the governor has a built-in get-out-the-vote organization in all the places he needs to win. And there’s no doubt the NJEA is going to use that advantage. They’ve got a track record.”
Even with the steady stream of money and its staff and members, the NJEA doesn’t always back winners. The union’s $5 million campaign in 2017 to unseat Senate President Stephen Sweeney, as well as its effort to reelect New Jersey’s last ex-Goldman Sachs governor, Jon Corzine, fell flat.
In addition to backing Murphy, the union has officially endorsed 30 Senate candidates and 67 Assembly candidates in this year’s election. Eighty-four endorsements were for Democratic candidates and 13 were for Republican candidates.
“The NJEA can’t guarantee victory,” Rasmussen said. “But you can be one hundred percent sure they will do everything possible to bring their power to bear. Like no other interest group in New Jersey, the NJEA puts its money where its mouth is.”
