In two weeks, delegates attending the National Education Association’s Assembly in Denver, Colorado will select NEA’s next president from a field of three candidates. One of them, familiar to many New Jersey residents, is Sean Spiller, former NJEA president, former Montclair mayor, and former gubernatorial candidate.  Spiller is running against Princess Moss,  NEA’s current Vice President, and Kate Dias, president of the Connecticut Education Association. The winner will be crowned head of the largest labor union in the country representing 3 million educators,

Ann Marie Pocklembo, a long-time teacher in Hamilton, NJ, has concerns about Spiller’s potential elevation because of what she says was a misuse of teacher dues for his run for governor as well a series of scandals that track back to Spiller’s mayorship in Montclair. Currently she and another teacher, Dr. Marie Dupont, are suing Spiller and NJEA, alleging they covertly funneled over $40 million in teachers’ dues through union-affiliated political groups, including NJEA’s super PAC called Garden State Forward. While members were told their PAC support was voluntary, their money was used without their permission. (Spiller did poorly, winning only 10% of the vote; Politico called the whole fiasco ”a $40 million flameout.”) Pocklembo agreed to be interviewed in advance of the NEA delegate vote to explain her opposition to Spiller being president of an organization which plays an active role in the Democratic Party and in public education in America.  She notes she is a big supporter of labor unions and believes strongly in collective bargaining. But, she explains, “I’m not down with corruption.”

Here is the interview, lightly edited:

If you had a voice in Denver during the Delegate Assembly, what would you tell your fellow NEA members?

I want them to know that while Spiller was president of NJEA – a full-time job! — he was also mayor of Montclair and he didn’t have a heart-felt allegiance to either. He was never helping educators and he was mismanaging Montclair. I think he was just prepping himself for a bigger stage. Then once he decided he couldn’t win another term as Montclair mayor he decided to run for governor, using NJEA as a stepping stone. Is that what we’re looking for in leaders? Do we want a self-serving egotistic individual or someone who is immersed in education, dedicated to supporting teachers and students?

I also want the delegates to think about New Jersey, where politics and education are so intertwined. Is that how you want NEA to be run? Ever since Spiller’s campaign NJEA members have been begging for transparency, for honesty, for a clear description of how our non-voluntary money was spent to indulge Spiller’s ambitions. But when we voice our concerns we’re shut down because the corruption is so deep. We are just used for our money. Imagine this happening at the national level.

Why do you say you were used?

We all knew early on that Spiller couldn’t win but NJEA went ahead and used $40 million of our dues. His platform was “it’s the teachers’ turn to run things” but who would vote for that? I’m not just a teacher, I’m a taxpayer! The [NJEA] delegates had to mostly agree to support him. I’ve been teaching for 33 years and this is just unprecedented. 

Anyway, I never agreed to bankroll a politician. It’s an obvious conflict of interest when the union president benefits from backroom deals to fund his own campaign with members’ money.

What happened when you protested the use of your dues or Spiller’s candidacy for governor in general? 

In the beginning of 2025 when Spiller announced he was running, there was a lot of activity on the NJEA Facebook page. I made a comment, “I’m not sure about Garden State Forward” [NJEA’s super PAC] and “I don’t think they’re supposed to be using our money like this.” That night I was blocked and I’ve never been allowed back in. They even blocked me from the public NJEA website for a while. They just threw me in the wastebasket and told me to start “being a team player.” 

Meanwhile, everyone is getting emails from Spiller, actually coming from NJEA, pleading for more money. [Sample below.] We pay the highest dues in the country and the super PAC is giving you $40 million or more! Isn’t that enough?

How do you want this resolved?

In the lawsuit Marie and I filed, we argue NJEA broke its contract with us when they said our PAC donations were voluntary. We want NJEA to honor its word and its contract with its members, and be transparent about how it spends our money. My hope is they’ll do a forensic audit to investigate this and I’d love for them to put in writing that they erred and mismanaged our dues.

But the real point is this: let’s make sure the debacle of Spiller is contained to a small piece of New Jersey history. Don’t let the corruption in NJ spread into the national union. Teachers and students deserve better than that. 

[Ed. note: The nonprofit New Jersey Policy Institute has asked the IRS to investigate up to $114 million in potentially misreported dues transfers from the NJEA to a super PAC and for New Jersey officials to examine union campaign donations that may have exceeded state limits.]