Teachers Sue Union Over $40M In Funds Paid To Failed Political Campaign

TRENTON, NJ — Two New Jersey teachers say the New Jersey Education Association and its former president, Sean Spiller, diverted more than $40 million in dues paid to the teachers union to fund Spiller's failed campaign for governor.

In a lawsuit filed Monday in Superior Court in Mercer County, Marie Dupont and Ann Marie Pocklembo allege they were not told their dues would help fund a political action committee that Spiller also headed and that the money would be sent to support his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor.

Spiller, a former mayor of Montclair, finished fifth in the Democratic primary in June behind nominee Mikie Sherrill, gaining just 10 percent of the vote to Sherrill's 34 percent.

Dupont, a teacher in the Roselle school district, and Pocklembo, who teaches in the Hamilton Township schools, said a portion of their dues were allocated to the political action committee Garden State Forward, in spite of the state union leadership's assurances otherwise.

The NJEA "negligently misrepresented to them and other union members that only voluntary contributions, as distinct from regular membership dues payments, would fund the union’s political action committees," the lawsuit alleges.

The women say they agreed to pay regular membership dues based on those assurances.

In addition, Spiller was one of three union executives who controlled Garden State Forward and directed it to send the dues to two other political action groups — Protecting Our Democracy and Working New Jersey — that Spiller "knew would (and in fact, did) spend the money in support of his own campaign to become New Jersey’s Governor," the lawsuit said.

Spiller was chairman of Protecting Our Democracy "and, in that capacity, exercised control over that organization’s decision to contribute the money to his own campaign," the lawsuit said, and as such "as NJEA’s then-President, put his own interests above the best interests of" the union's members.

The teachers also allege Spiller and the NJEA "deliberately and concertedly took steps to conceal the

existence of that PAC" from union members, "even going so far as to misreport contributions on
tax filings in support of its concealment efforts," a breach of the union's fiduciary duties, the lawsuit said.

The lawsuit alleges that by spending the money on Spiller's campaign, assistance for union members' needs was not available.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified monetary damages or asks the courts to, as an alternative, "order Defendants to provide Plaintiffs with an accounting of the use and status of NJEA membership dues for 2024 and 2025, the years in which Spiller planned and carried out his gubernatorial campaign.

In addition to the lawsuit, Dupont launched an online petition on Sept. 16, urging fellow teachers and others to support her efforts to gain transparency into how their dues money was spent.

"As NJEA members, we trust our dues will strengthen classrooms, support teachers, and benefit students: not bankroll political campaigns," Dupont wrote on the petition. "But last year, $45 million of our hard-earned dues was diverted into Sean Spiller’s failed run for governor. That’s money that could have put $225 into the hands of every teacher for classroom supplies or funded real professional development across our schools."

The petition also demands an apology from the NJEA and that the union put in place rules that will prevent something similar in the future.

After Spiller's loss in the primary, state Sen. Vin Gopal told Politico the $40 million in spending was "concerning" and that teachers in Monmouth County, where his district is based, were "pretty frustrated" by the spending.

The NJEA, which has about 200,000 members, has long been seen as powerful political entity in the state. Gopal, who chairs the Senate Education Committee, said Spiller's loss calls into question the union's strength.

"How does it not?" Gopal said.