Piscataway's Democratic At-Large Council Members Laura Leibowitz and Sarah Rashid issued the following joint statement on Saturday, May 16, 2026 about the ongoing efforts to keep them from representing constituents:

PISCATAWAY RESIDENTS- Your voice is being silenced!
As of January 2024, Mayor Wahler and Ward council members have deliberately and with calculation excluded both Council Member Laura Leibowitz and Council Member Sarah Rashid from gatherings, discussions, social media engagement, township events and town business.

"Their latest social media post, featuring a groundbreaking with Lt. Governor Dale Caldwell, is a perfect example. While the Council gathered for town business the night before this event, not ONE word was mentioned to either of us about this gathering. Nor were any of you, our residents, notified or invited to participate.

"Instead the Mayor and his hand-picked council members used their time to position themselves as the sole champions of safety and moral behavior. As your elected officials, we have the responsibility to ask questions, listen to all our residents and speak the truth of the multitude of voices in our beautiful town. Retribution, bullying behavior, exclusion and isolation of challenging voices is no way to run a government. Votes matter, transparency matters and open government is essential at every level. We will be pursuing all avenues to ensure all resident voices are heard and included."

Council Members Leibowitz and Rashid won the 2024 Piscataway Council Primary, the first without the "County Line" and defeated two incumbents. Ms. Rashid, who previously served on the Piscataway Board of Education, is the first Muslim representative to be elected to the Council. Ms. Leibowitz, who retired after 35 years as a special education teacher at Piscataway High School, is currently the only Jewish elected representative in the municipality. They are members of the Piscataway Progressive Democratic Organization and have led numerous No Kings events, voter registration efforts and community outreach activities.

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