Matthew Frankel has lived in Montclair for 20 years.  He has served in the Clinton White House, Press Aide to House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt, and served as Press Secretary to a variety of US Congressional offices and political campaigns across the country.  He is the founder and CEO of MDF Strategies. 

Right now, an overly ambitious, clearly challenged man with delusions of grandeur continues to eye higher office. A constant string of lawsuits, ethical complaints, and attacks on the press hover over our daily lives. It has been a taxing few years when it comes to our politics and discourse, and many of us are plagued with distress, as there never seems to be a break or pause from unnecessary drama and division.

Rightfully, for the majority of Americans, Donald Trump represents the very worst of our politics, but shockingly, the narrative I describe concerns a Democrat in Montclair, New Jersey.

When Sean Spiller was elected Mayor of Montclair four years ago, he chose to replicate a Trump-like leadership model in our community. Thankfully, within the Township, Democrats, Republicans, and Independents joined together to call for his ouster. With political winds blowing against him for some time, Spiller announced last week that he would not run for a second term as Mayor.  

To be clear, Spiller’s policy priorities and belief system are far from being in the same category as Trump’s. However, his leadership style and approach to governance have been eerily similar, and his tenure in office has shown the same lack of competence.  

Trumpian Election Drama

Like Trump, Spiller was barely elected to office, winning the Mayoral election in Montclair by only about 100 votes in 2020. The vote tally was marred in controversy, as Spiller outspent his opponent by about 50-1.  With the election taking place during COVID, there was also mass confusion on the vote-by-mail rules and deadlines. Like Trump, a series of court challenges followed the election. Charges of conflict of interests also began to swirl as voters learned that Spiller had used his perch as President of the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA), the most powerful special interest organization in the state, to move the union dues of New Jersey teachers to support his own personal campaign for office.  It’s important to note that New Jersey teachers never approved this NJEA financial support, it was a decision made by Spiller and his executive leadership in Trenton.

Trumpian Ambitions

Spiller also sent an early signal to our small, civically active community that he had far greater future ambitions than the duties of Mayor. One of the first things he did after taking office was alter the Township’s letterhead to include his smiling face. Shortly after being elected, he lobbied the New Jersey congressional delegation to pressure newly elected President Biden to appoint him Secretary of Education. Unlike the Montclair Mayors before him, he not only prioritized political spending, personally outspending in one political year the total of the last five Township’s Mayors combined, but also used his new clout to prioritize a war chest, hosting big-time political fundraisers for himself and creating a dark-money PAC to assist his future endeavors — actions that caused widespread protest.

Trumpian Conflicts of Interest

Spiller’s conflict of interest as NJEA President became equally apparent and concerning to those in Montclair when he sided with the union he serves during COVID. The result was that the community quickly organized and, in an unprecedented and historic vote, took away Spiller’s ability to select school board members, previously one of the Mayor’s key powers in Montclair.

Trumpian Rules

Spiller’s most Trumpian move, and the one playing the most significant role in his demise, had to do with his arrogance in assuming basic rules did not apply to him. In recent months, a river of concerning ethical lapses has plagued Spiller, including allegedly taking illegal taxpayer-funded health care benefits and pushing for rigged no-bid town contracts.  He presided over a deeply concerning toxic work environment, which came about publicly only through the bravery of a whistleblower.  The entire tenure made governance almost impossible in Montclair. After it was made public that he pleaded the fifth over 400 times in one of the cases that involved him, it was evident Spiller’s political career in Montclair was over, and announced a short time later he would not seek re-election.

The fact that Spiller is not running for re-election relieves many in Montclair who just want to move on – it is well known he could not even get elected dog catcher right now. Few showed support for a Spiller reelection, and privately, elected officials and community leaders in Trenton, Essex County, and Montclair, who watched this mess from the sidelines, had it as well.  

However, as President of the NJEA, Spiller sits on over $100 million a year in New Jersey teachers’ dues and continues to have the power to move that money to support his own interests.  Immediately after announcing that he would not seek re-election as Mayor, the NJEA-funded Super PAC he created to promote himself released a self-promotional ad reminiscent of Matthew McConaughey’s bizarre Lincoln car commercials.  Regardless of his future ambitions, Spiller’s short-lived political career now must own a record of being in way over his head as Mayor and, at some point, if he were to run again, has a record he will need to defend somehow.

After this crazy four-year roller coaster ride, Spiller’s departure provides Montclair with a valuable and well-needed inflection point. The entire political slate he ran with four years has also chosen not to seek re-election, providing an opportunity to bring in a needed new generation of leaders who have witnessed firsthand that the Spiller playbook of conflicts of interest, ethical concerns, and self-serving priorities is not the right way to serve voters.

Spiller’s quick and deep demise also provides a needed ray of light in a state clouded by Soprano-like tactics, backroom deals, modern-day political bosses, nepotism, and an overall approach that has seen a series of New Jersey Governors, Senators, and other Mayors leave in disgrace.  

The people of Montclair showed that electing a guy like Spiller, whose political positions were aligned with the majority, including my own, is not nearly as profound as electing good, honest people to serve in office who are focused first on the people they serve.

We are already seeing ripple effects from the activism that helped create needed change in Montclair this year, with other neighboring communities challenging political orthodoxies and new statewide political candidates willing to take a stand. As New Jersey moves forward this election year, Democrat, Republican, and Independent voters are beginning to question the status quo and demand that we change a system that enables people like Spiller. As a loyal Democrat, I hope my Party in New Jersey will realize it’s time to take a hard look in the mirror.  Spiller’s failure shows us a potentially far larger problem. We must do more than elect candidates who may say the right things only to focus on the potential personal gain of politics once in office. The question for each of us is whether we dare to turn these current ripples into waves this November.