 Mendel
Hoffman--The Clinic, the Taxes, and The AdvocateAugust 4, 2009 The Ben Gilman Medical and Dental Clinic in Spring Valley is scheduled to reopen today. The building had been closed by the Board of Health, The Journal News reported, because it had dead birds, animal droppings, and other unsanitary conditions. Today, the news focus shifted to the Director Mendel Hoffman. According to the Journal, "Hoffman was paid more than $556,000 in 2006 as director of [a number of local nonprofits], many of which receive much of their budgets from taxpayer funds, according to records."
The Gilman Center, which had been cited numerous times by the
State Dept. of Health, "received much of its $7.3 million budget
from government sources in 2006, the most recent tax filing on
record for the group," according to reporter Jane Lerner. In the
same article, the reporter cites the most recent data to show that
Hoffman was paid $251,539 as president and CEO of the Medical
Center, $274,855 as head of the Council for Opportunity Development,
another nonprofit also based at 22 Main St. in Monsey, and $30,000
for his leadership at two other nonprofits. At the same time that Mendel Hoffman has been personally profiting from these various nonprofits, the institutions have veered off into troubled economic straits. Lerner points out that "Hoffman and his organizations owe nearly $250,000 in federal taxes, according to a lien filed in February. In addition, the state filed $85,000 in tax liens in December against Hoffman, Community Medical and Dental Care and the Council for Opportunity Development." Along with the unpaid taxes, the reporter turned up court records that showed that Hoffman and his clinics "were ordered in March to pay nearly $428,000 to a Long Island dentist and dental company." When asked to comment on the escalating debt, tax liens, the lawsuit judgment, and very high salaries, Hoffman was not available for comment. His official spokesman, Daniel Friedman, however, offered the following clarification: "Mendel Hoffman's goal is not to make money, Mendel Hoffman's goal is to continue the important work of these organizations to serve the community and he has a demonstrated record of doing just that." That record, unfortunately, includes some stained milestones. In 2006, the Gilman Clinic was cited for unsanitary conditions including dried blood on a countertop, improperly sterilized surgical instruments, sagging ceiling tiles and improper storage of medications. In 2008, the Spring Valley branch of the NAACP filed a human rights complaint because the Center was not open on Saturdays because of the Jewish Sabbath. In 2009, the building was declared unsafe and shut on May 29 after the Spring Valley building inspector found "bird droppings throughout the building, including in patient examination rooms, dental treatment areas and in the medical laboratory. There was excrement dripping down the walls," he told The Journal News.The final irony in this story arrives in the form of a glowing endorsement by an elected official and more taxpayer funding. Lerner wrote, "Even as the state and federal governments were filing liens against the groups, the Department of Health was issuing citations and the federal OSHA was fining the clinic, the nonprofits were still being awarded taxpayer money." "In late June, a month after the Gilman center was ordered closed, Rep. Eliot Engel, D-Bronx, who represents part of Rockland, announced that the clinic's parent organization was receiving $789,385 in federal stimulus money." "Engel said in a statement that he was ‘pleased to help reward those entities who are currently bringing quality care to New Yorkers.’ A spokesman said that the funds were to pay for an addition at the Monsey site." Mendel Hoffman Publisher One of the nastier pieces from Hoffman in the last campaign was his "War Editorial" that appeared right after Election Day. In the final paragraph, Hoffman appears to declare war on all those who voted against St. Lawrence in the 2007 election. "The point is—did we really win? We might have won the battle, but the war is far from over. We now have to deal with over 10,000 people who sent a strong message: We don’t want Jews to live and expand in Ramapo. It is not the housing, not the traffic, nor the water supply that concerns them. Their concern is our existence. How are we going to deal with that – or will we? It is not the politicians who got elected that will resolve this issue; WE must resolve this issue. It will not disappear with the victory speeches. If we do not respond to this issue, it will just grow and get worse." This goes beyond the rancorous divisiveness that has been the hallmark of all recent St. Lawrence campaigns. In fact, it skirts dangerously close to hate speech. It accuses every person who voted against St. Lawrence of a kind of anti-Semitism that opposes the very "existence" of Jews in the area. The logic is sophomoric—vote for anyone besides Chris, and you’re an anti-Semite. But the inciting of those who are in this "war" to do something ("It is not the politicians who got elected that will resolve this issue; WE must resolve this issue") encourages a bitter divisiveness. There are people, Hoffman insists, many people (10,000 voters) who hate us, and we must do something about it. If you think Mendel’s clinics are fouled with bad air, follow what he does during this campaign in the pages of his newspaper.
Michael Castelluccio
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