April 15, 2005 Daniel Friedman was appointed to the Ramapo
Town Board at last night's board meeting. Friedman will take
the place of Ed Friedman who passed away on March 12. Board
members St. Lawrence, Hunter, Withers, and Ullman voted to
seat the 24-year-old to serve out the remainder of Ed Friedman's
term.

With an abbreviated political resume, Friedman's visibility has depended for the most part on his role as official spokesperson for Mendel Hoffman and his byline in Hoffman's weekly newspaper The Advocate, formerly The Monsey Advocate. 

Hoffman runs two health clinics, one in Monsey and one in Spring Valley, and Friedman has found himself in the middle of recent controversies concerning the Gilman Clinic in Spring Valley.

The Journal News profiled his boss in the most recent closing of the clinic by the Board of Health.

CEO's salary, taxes 

Mendel Hoffman, 59, is also head of at least eight other nonprofit groups in Monsey.

Hoffman was paid more than $556,000 in 2006 as director of the groups, many of which receive much of their budgets from taxpayer funds, according to records.

Records show that Hoffman and his organizations owe nearly $250,000 in federal taxes, according to a lien filed in February. The state filed $85,000 in tax liens in December against Hoffman, Community Medical and Dental Care and the Council for Opportunity Development.

John Slattery of Pearl River, Hoffman's accountant, said the liens are related to employee withholding taxes.

"The reimbursement from the insurance companies isn't enough to cover the costs," he said. The clinics are also having a hard time collecting bills from patients.

Slattery said he was working with Hoffman to resolve the liens.

Court records show that Hoffman and his clinics were ordered in March to pay nearly $428,000 to a Long Island dentist and dental company. Slattery said Hoffman was appealing the order.

Hoffman declined to comment directly. But his spokesman said that Hoffman works tirelessly for the nonprofit groups he leads so they can provide health care, housing and job training.

"He has been running these organizations for decades," Daniel Friedman said. "He's done a great job of managing them so that they can serve the community."

Hoffman was paid $251,539 as president and chief executive officer of Community Medical and Dental in 2006, according to records. That same year he was paid $274,855 to lead Council for Opportunity Development, a nonprofit also at 22 Main St. in Monsey, as well as more than $30,000 for leading two other nonprofits. He received no pay for leading other nonprofits.

His spokesman defended the salaries.

Michael Castelluccio
www.PreserveRamapo.org 　
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