Spiller Doubles Back to Take a Jab at Chris Christie
Sean Spiller talked about the damage Chris Christie did to teachers.
Mikie Sherrill said this year is a chance to stand up to Donald Trump.
Spiller and Sherrill, two of the six candidates seeking the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, attended events the end of last week in Morris County.
Spiller certainly draws political strength from his “day job.”
He’s president of the state teachers’ union, or formally, the New Jersey Education Association, a group often called the “most powerful union” in the state.
But do voters like the NJEA?
Spiller was asked precisely that last week while attending a gubernatorial forum at Fairleigh Dickinson University. The FDU program offers all candidates a chance to speak to guests exclusively. Last Thursday was Spiller’s turn.
Spiller said that if the NJEA has a bad image, it goes back to the days of Gov. Christie.
When Christie became governor in 2010, he quickly set his sights on the teachers’ union, seeing rising salaries as a main reason for high property taxes.
This was time for over-the-top rhetoric – like when Christie said teachers treated students like drug mules when they asked them to help support the annual school district budget. Really.
Spiller said the then-governor did a lot of harm to the teaching profession. So, going forward it’s important to stand up for teachers and education in general. And he suggested that Donald Trump’s antipathy to public education could be similar to Christie’s.
Two days later, Sherrill appeared at a “town hall” meeting hosted by Morris County Democrats in Randolph.
“I expected this to be bad and it’s worse than expected,” she said of the first few days of the Trump administration.
The obvious reference was to the pardoning of Jan. 6 defendants and the warrantless search of a Newark business as part of an immigration crackdown.
The good news – so to speak – is that this year’s gubernatorial race gives Democrats and like-minded individuals a chance to stand up to the Trump administration.
“As Democrats, when we don’t win, vulnerable people suffer,” Sherrill said.
Republicans remain enthused over Trump’s win and his good showing in New Jersey. That has given the GOP confidence for 2025.
Sherrill isn’t buying it. She said:
“I want everyone to know New Jersey is undeniably a blue state.”
Sherrill isn’t buying it. She said:
“I want everyone to know New Jersey is undeniably a blue state.”
I wouldn’t be so sure about that. If these activist mayors and organizations insist on fighting Federal deportation efforts, it will further erode (D)emocrat support state-wide. These policy positions are not popular amongst the wider NJ electorate.
Also, no, we don’t need an NJEA acolyte running state.
When you point the finger at someone ,three fingers point back at you. The blame game is exactly what voters are tired of hearing. Unfortunately, hardworking , valuable teachers are stuck in the middle and used as the excuse in this game of political football.
New Jerseys high property taxes is the real issue and many have tried to come up with clever ways to fix the problem , only to have the can kicked further down the road. New Jerseyans want lower taxes but also like home- rule.
The next governor of the great state of New Jersey will need to address this issue head on. Mr. Spiller, the president of the NJEA needs to be “sincere” and come clean with the truth – which is that New Jersey’s school system is, “Best in the Nation” for a select student population and many children are struggling .
What teachers in NJ need to know is that Sean Spiller, the President of the NJEA, earns $2 MILLION DOLLARS PER YEAR off of the backs of teachers’ union dues. He doesn’t care about the teachers. He supports Governor Murphy’s new law bringing in uncertified, non-degree “teachers” to teach NJ children. Spiller claims NJ’s education system is the best in the nation, but a cursory look at the failure rates in math and reading in the big cities, like Newark, Paterson, Jersey City, Trenton, Camden, show that the children cannot read, write or pass math, especially high school seniors that can’t meet 8th grade levels.
We don’t need Spiller as governor. He can’t figure out how to run NJ’s school system so that the children can pass basic skills to graduate, yet he can figure out his annual salary with clarity.
As for Mikie Sherrill complaining about the Trump administration, let’s not forget that Sherrill was quick to deny the J6 prisoners any semblance of Due Process, and allowed them to be jailed without trial in the grossly disgusting D.C. jail for all 4 years of the Biden Administration. Even Nazi prisoner of war camps in WWII were more humane.
And, Sherrill rails against Trump about his ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION stance of raiding businesses known to harbor ILLEGAL ALIENS. Sherrill is the one who supported the Biden Administration and IMPEACHED DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas to allow an ILLEGAL ALIEN invasion of our country by ILLEGAL ALIENS from over 170 countries–including known and unknown terrorists that have come into the U.S. during Biden’s four years.
Sherrill should be disqualified from running for governor on this alone. She’s a traitor and insurrectionist!!!!!!
Pathetic Insider – AGAIN!
NJEA must be a site sponsor – are you ever going to ask Spiller a tough question?
Fred, Max – next time around ask what teachers think about $40 million in dues going to this Spiller campaign, that is a whole lot of for teacher development or recruiting more teachers in NJ that money could be going to. I thought the press was there do ask tough questions? You guys are really lacking credibility. Start covering the issues!
Just take a look at the ” The Nation’s Report Card,” recently released. The reading scores are at an historic low, even after the massive investment of federal COVID-19 dollars.
Sean Spiller and whomever else is thinking about running for Governor of New Jersey needs to get real with these numbers. They are not good.
New Jersey is trending purple due to parents being red with anger that reading is not a propriety in the schools. We learn to read so that we can read to learn is a saying batted around by many in academia as well as the saying, reading is fundamental.
There are many reasons for the high property taxes: the cost of schools, 65%, of every tax dollar is certainly the biiiigglyist. How about charging each household for each kid that goes to the school system? Just like going to a restaurant buffet- you pay per head. I’ll bet most couples will more carefully consider how many kids to have knowing the cost for the public school system and future vocational or college tuition.
Headlines:
– “NJ students still struggle to make up pandemic learning loss”
– “New Jersey NAEP scores show reading, math remain stagnant, but gaps widen”
– “The Nation’s Report Card Show Decline in Reading….”
– “Heartbreaking test scores show US children falling behind on reading…Damning nationwide test shows US kids’ reading levels plummeted to lowest level in 32years”
– “Hot Takes on NAEP- and What Jersey Needs to Do”
A sincere question for Mr. Spiller, the President of the NJEA:
Where is the disconnect between these headlines and the familiar claim made by the NJEA that New Jersey schools are “Best in the Nation” – Can you tell us what this exactly means? Ras Baraka, the Mayor of Newark, a former teacher, school administrator and candidate running to be the next New Jersey Governor, seems to have a more honest interpretation.
The NJEA under Spiller has been lying to New Jersey taxpayers for years, in order to drive education/ property taxes into the stratosphere. It’s time to go back and look what New Jersey taxpayers are getting for their money involving education of their children. As of right now, they’re getting nothing. Time to adjust the education/property tax calculus and reduce the education taxes by 50%-70% for the NJEA’s failure to give our children a 12th Grade education to graduate (let alone get them to pass out of the lower grades with basic skills).
The NJEA has been fudging the numbers of those passing basic skills of reading, writing and math. Many NJ schools can’t pass their students out of high school with at least a 12th grade education. So, what about the lie that New Jersey has one of the best education systems in the nation. I guess that doesn’t bode well for the states (all Blue States) that claim they are ahead of New Jersey on education–except when you look at worldwide trends. The United States has fallen to the bottom of the pack as far as educating their children, and New Jersey is leading from behind AGAIN!!!!!