During Sean Spiller’s toxic tenure as mayor of Montclair, between May 2020 to June 2024, collusion and corruption have been normalized as reported on extensively by the Montclair Local (“Local”) starting with the May 12, 2020 election.
As reported by the Local, the Montclair post office closed four hours early on May 11, 2020 that “impacted voters ability to get their ballots postmarked by the deadline”. “There were 674 votes not counted due to: late postmarks, no postmark, or being received after the May 14 deadline.” Spiller won by the thinnest of margins (195 votes) even though he outspent his opponent, Dr. Renee Baskerville by $315,000. By contrast, Baskerville spent $6,300 in total of which more than half was in-kind.
Spiller’s Montclair mayor campaign expenditures were primarily funded by the NJEA and related entities, all of which he has a conflict of interest with.
In the aftermath of the 2020 Montclair mayor election a group of Montclair residents, including Dr. Renee Baskerville, filed a complaint questioning the integrity of New Jersey’s first ever, mail-in ballot election. Spiller mounted a heavy defense paying McCarter and English over $55,000 to combat the pro se complaint filed by concerned citizens. The $55,000 payment was cobbled together with contributions from NJEA to Spiller’s 2020 and 2024 campaign funds and Bob Russo’s 2024 campaign fund.
Spiller’s 2025 Governor campaign fund had only raised $136,000 through the third quarter of 2024 making it unlikely that he would reach the minimum $580,000 threshold to qualify for State matching funds. On the other hand, Spiller is likely undeterred by his underperformance since he already outspent any other candidate with weekly mass mailings and web ads paid for by the NJEA via the misnamed and misclassified Working New Jersey (See NJEA Fraud).
Despite the conflict of interest with the NJEA and the illegal transfer and use of NJEA funds for his own personal benefit, the authorities do nothing.
No surprise then, that the Spiller administration is rife with scandals and graft.
Montclair Progressive or Corrupt 