The nation’s largest teachers union will elect its next president this week in Denver as one of the candidates seeking the organization’s top post faces a lawsuit alleging he directed more than $40 million in union dues to groups supporting his failed campaign for New Jersey governor.

The NEA expects about 7,000 educators from across the United States to attend the organization’s Representative Assembly being held in Denver from July 3-7.

The event is not open to the press.

Typically, NEA will provide limited access to the education outlets Education Week and Chalkbeat, a spokesperson said.

Sean Spiller, former New Jersey Education Association president, is one among four candidates running to replace outgoing NEA President Becky Pringle. NEA is the largest teacher union in the United States with about 3 million members.

Also vying for the open seat are NEA Vice President Princess Moss, Connecticut Education Association President Kate Dias and Tania Kappner, an educator in the Oakland Unified School District.

Spiller is accused in a lawsuit filed by The Fairness Center of diverting teacher membership dues to his gubernatorial campaign through Garden State Forward, a political action committee (PAC).

In a crowded Democratic field, Spiller garnered just 7% of the primary vote.  

Filed last year, the lawsuit is pending. And Spiller has not been accused of a crime. But the allegations come as delegates prepare to choose the person who will lead the union and serve as one of the nation’s most influential voices on education policy.

Unions routinely contribute to political campaigns.

The lawsuit does not challenge unions’ ability to participate in politics. Instead, it alleges Spiller breached his fiduciary duty by overseeing expenditures that ultimately benefited his own gubernatorial campaign.

“Even during his gubernatorial campaign, Spiller continued to act as the head of NJEA and therefore, without regard for any conflicts of interest, oversaw political expenditures in support of his bid for office, including a direct contribution of union member dues that was funneled through organizations that only NJEA funds and appears to control: Garden State Forward and Protecting Our Democracy,” the complaint said.

The lawsuit also alleges Garden State Forward was concealed from rank-and-file members and that the union publicly described campaign contributions as funded through voluntary donations while dues were routed through a PAC.

Neither Spiller nor his attorney, Andrew Anselmi, responded to inquiries seeking comment.

Anthony Holtzman, managing attorney for The Fairness Center, said the allegations, if proven, represent a conflict between Spiller’s duties to union members and his political ambitions.

“It’s very self-serving,” Holzman said.

Holzman added: “That runs afoul of the fiduciary duties he owes to members.”

Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., the center is a nonprofit, public interest law firm for those “hurt by public-section union officials,” according to the group’s website.

Pocklembo, a high school orchestra teacher who has spent more than three decades in New Jersey classrooms, said she pays about $1,600 a year in union dues.

She worries that if Spiller is elected NEA president, the same practices she challenges in the lawsuit could continue at the national level.

“They were taking massive amounts of money and putting that into his campaign,” Pocklembo said.

“The whole system is skewed in favor of the people who want to blow it on politics.”

The lawsuit seeks damages.

Holtzman estimated the plaintiffs’ damages at a few hundred for Marie Dupont and Ann Marie Pocklembo, the New Jersey teachers who brought the lawsuit.

The suit, Holzman said, is not about the money.

“If we were to prevail in the lawsuit and establish precedent that would, hopefully in the future, prevent this type of situation from happening again,” Holtzman said.

The election — which will be held Sunday — is by majority vote and secret ballot. If no one gets a majority, the NEA will hold a runoff election.