Who made ‘Make Edison Great Again’ racist flyers? A push to find out

EDISON — The Edison Town Council asked the state Attorney General's office to continue its investigation into a racist flyer sent before last year's school board election.

The flyer, headlined "Make Edison Great Again," targeted two candidates and accused the Chinese and Indians of "taking over our town," but did not say who paid for the flyers, which is illegal under state election law.

The reverse says, "Stop wasting school holidays! Stop the outsiders!"

The resolution was added at the last minute to the agenda for Wednesday's council meeting after the matter was brought up at the previous meeting, according to MyCentralJersey.com.

A spokesman for the Attorney General's office told MyCentralJersey its policy against commenting on investigations prohibited him from confirming if action was being taken.

Councilman Robert Diehl told the site that the council is "banding together" to find out who is responsible for the flyers, and called them an embarrassment to the town.

Mayor Tom Lankey, a Democrat, called the mailers "despicable" when they first appeared.

"Edison has proudly embraced our ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity," he said in a statement sent to New Jersey 101.5. "It has become a sad reality that in our polarized political atmosphere, some people suddenly feel empowered to publicly express these vile ideas. Make no mistake, we will do everything we can to expose the shameful people behind this."

About three-quarters of Edison's population of 100,000 was born overseas, according to Census information.

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNJ.

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