According to election spending reports filed with the New Jersey Election Commission – NJElec, Phil Murphy spent one-third more on his 2017 campaign than his 2021 campaign. He raised $35 million in 2017 including $16 million out of his own pocket.
But he only raised $24 million in 2021 and he did not contribute a dime. How did he win spending $11 million less?
| 2017 | 2021 | |
| Public contributions | $9,716,329 | $9,395,855 |
| NJ matching campaign funds | 9,300,000 | 14,600,000 |
| Murphy personal wealth | 16,312,451 | – |
| $35,328,780 | $23,995,855 |
This page takes a deep dive into quasi campaign funding, through a continuous stream of advertising promoting Murphy, and a network of entities with close Murphy ties that received funding from the New Jersey Education Association (NJEA) through the NJEA’s dark money super PAC Garden State Forward, an Independent Expenditure Committee.
Public contributions to Murphy’s campaign are consistent between the 2017 and 2021 campaigns, while matching public funds increased by 57%, more than half. Murphy did not loan any money to his campaign in 2021. So how did he manage to win?
New Jersey Education Association
Over the course of more than a decade, from September 2013 to 2025, the NJEA funded its dark money political action committee, Garden State Forward, with over $120 million of New Jersey teachers’ union dues. As reported on website pages NJEA Fraud and Teachers’ Lawsuit, there is significant evidence that this practice is illegal.
Over the course of its existence, Garden State Forward made both direct campaign expenditures to vendors as well as indirect campaign expenditures to other dark money political action committees or Independent Expenditure Committees, or other vaguely defined Section 501(c)(4) organizations.
This page focuses on expenditures made by Garden State Forward to other Independent Expenditures Committees or Section 501(c)(4) organizations that are related to Phil Murphy, his campaigns and his campaign staff. In the public accounting world these relationships present conflicts of interest and for reporting purposes, transactions with related parties collapse.
Identifying related party transactions and conflicts of interest, and either disclosing the transactions or collapsing the transactions, prevents financial reporting fraud. In Murphy’s case, an elaborate structure of entities has been created to avoid detection of the extent of Murphy’s campaign/political advertising expenditures funded by the NJEA. There are layers of entities and individuals involved, but they all have a direct connection to Phil Murphy and his campaign in common. The transactions cannot be classified as arms-length as there is no distance between the NJEA and Garden State Forward or between Phil Murphy and NJEA.
Sean Spiller held a position of authority in the NJEA, from 2013 to 2025, and during that period, Garden State Forward reported expenditures of almost $23 million to multiple Independent Expenditure Committees (IEC) or Section 501(c)(4) organizations with Murphy connections.
Murphy connected entities funded by Garden State Forward
| Entities funded by Garden State Forward | 2017-2018 | 2019-2025 | Total |
| Committee to Build the Economy | $2,800,000 | $3,000,000 | $5,800,000 |
| New Direction NJ | – | 9,500,000 | 9,500,000 |
| New Jersey United | – | 2,750,000 | 2,750,000 |
| Our New Jersey | – | 2,500,000 | 2,500,000 |
| Stronger Fairer Forward | – | 2,250,000 | 2,250,000 |
| $2,800,000 | $20,000,000 | $22,800,000 |
Committee to Build the Economy
Committee to Build the Economy was formed in 2017 by Ed Farmer as an Independent Expenditure Committee. Filings with NJ Elec report expenditures in the 2017-2018 election cycle of over $7.7 million for Polling, TV and Cable advertising, Digital advertising, Canvassing and direct mail. The bulk of these funds were expended between mid-September and late October 2017 in the run up to the November 7, 2017 statewide election. Forms filed with NJ Elec are missing critical data including election district or municipality, political party, office sought, and election type.
| Insider’s Name | Committee to Build the Economy Position | Related parties |
| Ed Farmer | Chairperson | Millennium Strategies |
| Ethan Andersen | Treasurer | Andersen Political Services LLC Princeton Strategic Communication |
| Gary Gruver | Accountant | |
| Matt Krayton | Strategist | Publitics Solutions LLC |
| Henry deKoninck | Strategist | Publitics Solutions LLC |
Garden State Forward provided $1,650,000 in funding to Committee to Build the Economy, representing 25% of total contributions received by the Committee for the 2017 campaign. The only other donor giving as much as Garden State Forward was Growing Economic Opportunities, funded by Laborers Eastern Region Organizing Fund, another union PAC.
| Name | Company | Relationship | Amount paid by Committee to Build the Economy | Campaign |
| Stephen Hill | Switchboard Communications | Murphy Campaign Finance Director | $608,187 | 2017 |
| Diana Marquez | Donohoe Partners Inc. | President | $1,750,000 | 2021 |
| Matt Krayton Henry de Koninck | Flashpoint Strategies | Murphy Strategist | $750,209 | 2021 |
| Brendan Gill | BGill Group | Murphy Campaign Managert | $237,500 | 2021 |
The likelihood that Committee to Build the Economy made independent expenditures without consultation with the Murphy campaign is not credible. Switchboard Communications, run by Stephen Hill, Murphy’s campaign finance director, was paid $522,270 by the 2017 Murphy campaign and another $608,187 by Committee to Build the Economy, a total of $1.1 million. These are Murphy campaign expenses hidden from the public by a maze of “dark” money political action committees masquerading as “independent” expenditure committees to which campaign reporting rules do not apply.
Anyone can give any amount to independent expenditure committees. This is the legacy of Citizen’s United. While it is true that Citizen’s United grants unions the right to spend as much money as they want on political campaigns, those funds then become subject to taxation. The NJEA did not pay this tax and that is the root of the fraud that has been committed.
Between the Murphy campaign and Committee to Build the Economy over $1.1 million was paid to Switchboard Communications, a provider of digital tools for democrat campaigns, run by Murphy’s own campaign finance director. How could Committee to Build the Economy have paid Switchboard Communications without consulting with the Murphy campaign?
As Murphy’s 2017 campaign manager, Brendan Gill was paid $998,000 through his lobbying company BGill Group and another $65,430 as administration personnel. Gill’s wife, Alixon Collazos was also compensated as a consultant to the campaign.
Ed Farmer of Millenium Strategies signed all forms filed by Committee to Build the Economy with the Internal Revenue Service and NJElec. And, according to the Publitics website, the principals, Matt Krayton and Henry de Koninck, along with Brendan Gill and Ed Farmer teamed up “to maintain turnout in Democratic base areas to counter increased Republican support and shifts in suburban voter priorities to ensure the re-election of Phil Murphy in 2021.”
Garden State Forward provided another $3 million in funding via Committee to Build the Economy. The top vendors paid were a shadowy entity, Donohoe Partners for $1,750,000, Flashpoint Strategies, owned by Matt Krayton and Henry de Koninck of Publitics, for $750,000, and Brendan Gill for $237,500.
Committee to Build the Economy is registered as an Independent Expenditure Committee just like Garden State Forward. It stretches credulity to believe that Garden State Forward along with Matt Krayton, Henry de Koninck, Ed Farmer and Brendan Gill “devised a data-driven and targeted direct mail program to help increase turnout” for Phil Murphy, without “the cooperation or prior consent of, in consultation with, or at the request or suggestion of” the candidate, Phil Murphy, using the teachers’ union dues to do so.
Ethan Andersen’s Princeton Strategic Communications (PSC) bio specifically states that he was “treasurer for Committee to Build the Economy, a super PAC backing Murphy’s 2017 gubernatorial campaign”, and he appears on the roster of New Direction NJ, another Murphy connected entity funded by the NJEA.
New Direction NJ
New Direction NJ was formed as a 501(c)(4) in 2018 by Kathryn Weller Demming. New Direction NJ ’s Form 990, on file with the Internal Revenue Service, claims its purpose is to advocate for policies that support economic opportunity for New Jersey’s middle class.
What value did the teachers receive in exchange for $9.5 million of union dues used to fund New Direction NJ?
| Name | Company | Relationship | Amount paid by New Directions NJ |
| Joel Benenson | Benenson Strategy Group | Murphy campaign pollster | $136,750 |
| Brendan Gill | BGill Group | Murphy campaign manager, Essex County Commissioner, Chair Montclair Dems | $180,000 |
| Rafi Jafri | Jafri Strategies | Murphy Campaign Finance Director | $168,000 |
| Brad Lawrence | Message & Media | Murphy media team | $4,549,200 |
| Steve DeMicco | Message & Media | Murphy media team | |
| Steve DeMicco | New Way for New Jersey | Murphy media team | |
| Stephen Hill | SB Digital | Campaign Finance Director | $750,000 |
| Stephen Hill | Switchboard Communications | Campaign Finance Director | $790,000 |
| Stephen Hill | America Works USA | Campaign Finance Director Democratic Governors Association, Chief Financial Officer Our New Jersey, Treasurer | $315,000 |
| Total | $6,888,950 |
In October 2019, Insider NJ reported that New Direction NJ launched a $2 million promotional advertising campaign called “stronger and fairer agenda” promising a $15 minimum wage, paid family leave, property tax relief, lower healthcare costs and many other policies.
Insider NJ also described the ad buy as an effort “to make him (Murphy) appear effective and leaderly at mid-term”.
Now that we are at the end of the Murphy administration, I think we can all agree that the advertising campaign was not a success. Murphy spent a lot of taxpayer funded public school teacher salaries to run a virtue signaling campaign that was never reported to the teachers.
Joel Benenson, political strategist, worked on multiple presidential campaigns including Obama, Clinton and Buttigieg, and is part of the core group Murphy hired for his 2017 campaign including Julie Roginsky (Comprehensive Communications Group, New Jersey United), Steve DeMicco and Brad Lawrence (Message & Media, New Way for New Jersey) and Brendan Gill (BGill Group). All of the Murphy team members, except Julie Roginsky is part of New Direction NJ, but she makes an appearance in the next Murphy/NJEA connected entity, New Jersey United.
Multiple entities controlled by Stephen Hill, were paid nearly $2 million.
America Works USA
America Works USA files Form 990s with the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(4) organization, claiming as its mission “to promote advocating for public policies that will lead to fiscally responsible government, economic development, and job creation”. There are only two people on the nonprofit’s board, one of whom, Stephen Hill, is Murphy’s Campaign Finance Director. In 2019, the year America Works USA received payment from New Direction NJ, it reported spending $1.8 million on grants to Kansas Values Institute, $2.2 to Democratic Governors Association, $1.2 million on direct mail, and other expenses for a total of $6.5 million.
It is difficult to make sense of how spending $6.5 million advanced the mission of America Works USA or New Direction NJ, especially knowing that Stephen Hill is the Chief Financial Officer for the Democratic Governors Association which received over $2.2 million. America Works USA forms another layer of the Murphy political money laundering machine.
Past and present Board Members of New Direction NJ
All the past and present individuals reported as Board members reported on New Direction NJ’s annual Form 990 are also Muphy insiders.
| Name | Title | Relationship |
| Lisa Martinez | President 2018 – 2019 | Millenium Strategies, Director of Operations |
| Ethan Andersen | Secretary 2018 – 2019 | Princeton Strategic Communications, Managing partner Committee to Build the Economy, Treasurer |
| Kathryn Weller Demming | Treasurer 2018 – 2022 | Montclair Board of Education, Sean Spiller appointee Protecting Our Democracy, Sean Spiller is Chairman [ NJEA Fraud] Essex County Tax Board Commissioner Montclair Dems, district leader |
| Cary Chevat | President 2021 – 2022 | Sponsorship Resources, Owner Montclair Dems, Corresponding Secretary Montclair Dems, district leader |
| Ingrid Collazos | Secretary 2021 – 2022 | Alixon Collazos sister |
New Direction NJ purports its tax-exempt mission as advocating for policies that support economic opportunity for the middle class. One must wonder how paying political operatives equates with support for economic opportunity policy to benefit the general public, let alone the teachers who are the primary source of funding.
New Jersey United
Julie Roginsky formed this 501(c)(4) entity with the vague mission of “Issue Advocacy” in 2018.
You might be familiar with Ms. Roginsky through her role as a member of the “Friendly Fire” duo, a regular column in the Star Ledger also known as NJ.com
Ms. Roginsky was a key member of Murphy’s 2017 campaign staff, who exposed harassment within the campaign, and based upon reporting at the time, for which she suffered retaliation. Retaliation is a common theme in the Democrat’s political machine. [Spiller Retaliation]
Comprehensive Communications Group
Roginsky’s company, Comprehensive Communications Group, was paid over $1.6 million by the Murphy 2017 campaign, the cost of mailing literature of $1.3 million and Roginsky’s fee of $334,000.
According to the NJElec website, Comprehensive Communications Group, was paid a total of $2.4 million between 2009 and 2022 from all campaigns, including $1.6 million from the Murphy campaign representing more than two-thirds of the fees she was paid by every campaign she ever worked on.
Monday Morning New Jersey
In 2019, the NJEA through Garden State Forward, funneled $2,750,000 into Roginsky’s New Jersey United. Roginsky used those funds to pay herself an $805,000 fee and to finance a fear mongering advertising campaign. New Jersey Republican battlegrounds were inundated with a surge of mail from Monday Morning NJ – paid $1 million by New Jersey United – claiming “Jon Bramnick and Nancy Munoz are bringing Washington Extremism to Trenton”.
It seems to me that the New Jersey democrats have brought extremism to New Jersey, not the Washington Republicans. And they have done so by misappropriating teacher unions dues and using those dues to buy political influence and power for themselves.
Our New Jersey
In August 2021, the NJEA via Garden State Forward, gave $2.5 million to Our New Jersey, an Independent Expenditure Committee formed by Stephen Hill in 2017. Other funders of this PAC include Democratic Governors Association [led by Stephen Hill] and Growing Economic Opportunities, funded by Laborers Eastern Region Organizing Fund, another union PAC, that was discussed at the top of this page in connection with Committee to Build the Economy. In fact, the NJEA via Garden State Forward funded both Committee to Build the Economy and Our New Jersey on the same day.
Forms filed and signed by Stephen Hill with NJElec show expenditures for advertising both opposing Jack Ciattarelli and supporting Phil Murphy.
Brendan Gill, Murphy’s campaign manager, was paid $133,000.
And Our New Jersey spent a staggering $11 million on negative advertising opposing Jack Ciattarelli.
The efforts expended by Murphy and his operatives to hide political campaign spending both from the teachers and from the public is a devastating assault on democracy.
The summary of Muphy campaign spending that begins this page is incomplete, so much more money was spent using a web of entities funded by teacher union dues, hiding campaign spending from the public and hiding the fact that Murphy didn’t use any of his own personal wealth after the 2017 campaign. Murphy used teachers’ inflated mandatory dues, taken out of their paychecks. On top of that, Murphy used teachers’ inflated mandatory union dues to pay for advertising campaigns to make it sound like he was working for them.
The chart above shows that Murphy used publicly funded teachers’ salaries rather than spend his own personal wealth to fund his self-promotion campaign. Publicly funded teachers’ salaries withheld as mandatory dues by the NJEA were used to benefit Murphy. The teachers paid for Murphy to promote himself as a supporter of public education when in reality he exploited the teachers for his own personal gain.
Stronger Fairer Forward
Stronger Fairer Forward, a 501(c)(4) organization was formed by Tammy Murphy in 2022 to “boost the governor’s national recognition” as reported by Northjersey.com in February 2022. The mission promised to focus efforts on “protecting and reinforcing our democracy from the ongoing nationwide assault on election officials and state election laws.”
In April 2023, Murphy signed the “Election Transparency Act” in a wild effort to cover up the misappropriation of teacher union dues used to finance his ongoing campaign.
No where in the country has there been a more vicious assault on state election laws than by Phil Murphy, governor of the State of New Jersey.
Stronger Fairer Forward Board Members
| Name | Title | Relationship |
| Tammy Murphy | Director | Phil Murphy’s wife |
| Kristen McMahon | Director | Murphy friend |
| Mollie Binotto | President | Murphy campaign manager |
| Daniel Bryan | Executive director | Murphy political strategist |
Stronger Fairer Forward is fully staffed by Murphy insiders; Tammy Murphy, Mollie Binotto, Kristen McMahon and Daniel Bryan.
In February 2022, NJ Globe quoted Tammy Murphy saying “Phil and I have spent the past four years working tirelessly to make New Jersey a stronger and fairer place for everyone”.
In June 2022, Insider NJ reported that Murphy was launching an advertising campaign highlighting his agenda to create opportunity and make New Jersey more affordable.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Between Sean Spiller and Phil Murphy, they took more than half of the $120 million of teacher union dues the NJEA misappropriated between 2013 to 2025.
Murphy pretends to support democracy, using teacher union dues to promote his own ambitions, while simultaneously dismantling the guardrails of democracy – Accountability and Transparency.
Montclair Progressive or Corrupt 