SUNLIGHT POLICY CENTER PRESS RELEASE

Over the last two weeks, since our launch, the Sunlight Policy Center of New Jersey (SPCNJ) has shined a strong light on two important issues related to the powerful NJEA.

We showed, with each step clearly sourced, how the NJEA leadership funds its powerful political machine through a unique system based on billions of taxpayer dollars.  We have also highlighted the political professionals who have specifically benefitted from all that money, whether it be the millions in political contributions to elected officials or the millions more to NJEA headquarters staff, including six one-percenters who make ten times more than their union membership.

This week, we continue our investigation into New Jersey’s most powerful special interest by outlining the many loopholes, disguises, and smoke screens the NJEA leadership uses to mask their spending to dominate our political system.

So, let’s cut to chase…. what did we find?

Well, the tally is in – and based on conservative estimates – from 1999-2017, NJEA political spending was as much as ten times larger than the reported amounts, totaling $884 million.

According to New Jersey’s election watchdog, Election Law Enforcement Commission (ELEC), the NJEA is by far the top political spender in the state when it comes to reported spending at both the state and local levels.  No other political spender event comes close.  And this is well known….

…but “reported” political spending is only a fraction of what the NJEA spends on politics.

In the third report published by SPCNJ, entitled, “Follow the Money: What the NJEA Really Spends on Politics,” we uncover and detail a far-reaching organization that cleverly exploits various loopholes, so that most of their actual political spending goes unreported.

Yet New Jersey citizens and even its own members are largely unaware of how much the NJEA leadership actually spends on politics.  Well, now you can find out…read the new report.

The SPCNJ’s purpose is to shine a light on these facts….again, as you will read in the report.

It’s time to empower New Jersey citizens with facts.

Read the report – only then can the enormity of the NJEA’s influence on the state’s political system and economy be fully comprehended.

Every statement is factual and sourced.