Dr. Marc Gaswirth is a retired public school administrator who has written extensively for more than 40 years about public sector bargaining and school human resources.

Among six highly competitive candidates vying for the Democratic nomination for governor next month is Sean Spiller. If unsuccessful, he could think of returning to his former position as a classroom teacher. But, as the outgoing president of the formidable New Jersey Education Association, which has seen much legislative success both before and especially during the eight years of the Murphy administration, it is a future job he would likely prefer to pass up.

By the way, Spiller is the only candidate in the race with an office in Trenton, a three-minute walk almost directly across West State Street from the state Capitol in Trenton. With the possible exception of Steve Sweeney, one of his primary competitors and former long-standing Democratic state Senate president, the union chief has probably spent more time in the city over the last decade or so than any of his four other rivals.

Power or being close to power for years and now running for the state’s highest office with 35 million dollars of union dues driving his campaign can be both exhilarating and intoxicating for anyone. Spiller should be no exception, as he is unlikely to find it professionally satisfying to return to the admirable but relatively anonymous role of teacher.

A man on a mission for recognition and power, Spiller, despite his current public appeal to middle class voters, will have no other choice but to remain steadfast and beholden to the interests of the 200,000 member union he now heads. That is simply the way he is conditioned and what no doubt he truly believes.

Amid the avalanche of political ads on area television and cable stations are Spiller’s, whose name recognition may now match his competitors who currently hold or held positions at the federal or state levels or who now lead large municipal governments.

The education policy prescriptions advanced by Spiller and his opponents in both parties have been interesting to read. None have forcefully come out supporting major reforms that would change the course or direction of learning for many New Jersey public school students. There has been only limited discussion about the racially segregated nature of the state’s public schools (presently in litigation), the desperate need for greater school choice, and the financial burden that nearly 600 operating school districts impose on the state’s taxpayers, to name but a few.

Instead, we hear mostly about commitments to advance opportunities and services to the state’s approximately one million students through adequate state funding levels, increased student counseling support and tutoring, and continued full-funding of pensions, or vague efforts to address wasteful school spending.

Noteworthy during this current primary season is how gentle Spiller’s opponents have treated him, his campaign and union and how benign, anodyne, and sterile their own educational policies are. The reason, simply stated, is that they don’t want in any way to appear to block or upend the NJEA’s agenda since the ultimate winner of the primary, including Spiller, will almost assuredly go “Hat in Hand” to the wealthy union for financial and staff support against the Republican candidate.

A Spiller primary win both in the June primary and general election in November, however uncertain but not implausible at this point, would represent a seismic shift in the dynamics of the state’s electoral politics. To wit, a political unknown with substantial financial resources unauthorized by his union’s membership nonetheless defeats five formidable and well-recognized Democratic Party officials and a major Republican gubernatorial nominee. Now, that’s national news!

Even more significantly, it would represent a hostile takeover of state government by a private organization that already has a long history of having its way in the halls of the legislature.

As for Spiller’s future, he need not be concerned about returning to a teaching position. After rigorously campaigning for the past year while on the union’s payroll, he is too young and ambitious to fade from the public scene. He has plenty of time to run again for another political office.  Any of his primary opponents, if victorious, might also give him a pick of prominent assignments in state government if that is what he wants because the NJEA has at its disposal what they all desperately need to win: a highly-feted endorsement, enormous financial reserves, and an army of ground support troops to help in the general campaign.