Piscataway Residents File State Ethics Complaint Against Mayor Brian Wahler,
Say Municipal Board is Not Lawfully Constituted or Functional

Piscataway, NJ – Residents of Piscataway Township filed an ethics complaint with the State Local Finance Board over concerns that Township Mayor Brian C. Wahler used his office for private, personal gain during a January 2021 Council Meeting. In the complaint, the residents asked the Board to investigate the Mayor’s behavior when he used his position to publicly accuse a member of the community’s progressive activist organization of political violence, stating she is “gonna take the Zoning Board hostage.”

“We sent our complaint to the State Board because the Township’s Municipal Ethics Board does not meet regularly, and appears not to be in compliance with the state law that allows a municipality to have its own Board,” said Syed Shoaib, a Piscataway resident who signed the complaint. “Many of Piscataway’s Board and Commissions don’t meet at all, but this is the Board charged with protecting the integrity of our local government. The fact that no one can contact them pretty much says it all. We need the State to review what is happening here.”

New Jersey law allows municipalities to have their own Ethics Board and requires that those Boards are comprised of six public members, three of each political party. Individuals wishing to file a complaint are supposed to contact the Chair of the Board. Piscataway’s Board has only four members, no publicly available contact information and no regular meetings, according to the Township’s website’s list of Boards and Commissions.

According to the complaint, on January 26, 2021, “Brian C. Wahler, Mayor of the Township of Piscataway, while acting in his official capacity, violated New Jersey’s Local Government Ethics Law and Code of Ethics, N.J.S.A. 40A:9-22.1 et seq. and N.J.A.C. 5:35-1.1 et seq. Specifically, we believe he has violated 40A:9-22.5:c, which states that ‘no local government officer or employee shall use or attempt to use his official position to secure unwarranted privileges or advantages for himself or others.

“While the meeting was ongoing but outside of any previously noticed agenda item, Mr. Wahler asked Council President Kapil Shah for permission to speak. Mr. Wahler then engaged in a hostile, personal attack on Piscataway resident and Democratic Committee member Staci Berger, stating during the meeting that:

“For lack of a better word, it appears Groundhog Day has come early to Piscataway. Um, like clockwork, again it’s Staci Berger. Unnecessary complaints, phony problems, she’s even, listen to this, on Thursday, she’s gonna hold the Zoning Board hostage…” [Exhibit D, AUDIO: https://youtu.be/EajxjeoBYrY].

“Many of us were planning to and encouraging other residents to participate in the January 28, 2021 hearing being conducted by the Zoning Board regarding a land use variance request. We were shocked and dismayed by Mr. Wahler’s description of public participation in the democratic process. In the aftermath of the most violent attack on our Capitol in nearly 200 years, it is grossly irresponsible for Mr. Wahler to use incendiary rhetoric like “hostage taking” to describe people mobilizing and planning to attend a public meeting. Ms. Berger has publicly asked for an apology from Mr. Wahler for herself and the public at large. Mr. Wahler has not apologized privately or publicly to date, and thus, we seek accountability for Mr. Wahler’s actions.”

The full complaint is available at www.pwayprogressives.com/news