The donation would have been interesting even if it were several hundred dollars, but it actually was the second highest cash amount from any of the corporate contributors to Friends of St. Lawrence. The donor sits anonymously behind a non-descript corporate name located at a Post Office box number. (This is Part Two in an ongoing series titled Follow the Money.)

Just as you can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep, you can also get a look past the smiling photos of most politicians by looking at who is bankrolling their campaigns. A lot of small, individual donations and you have someone who depends on the people—a lot of large corporate donations and . . . Well, you get the idea.

On April 18, 2007, a donation was made to Friends of Christopher P. St. Lawrence by someone or something called Monsey Rt. 59 Associates. The address for the company/individual was a Post Office Box, #304. The amount was a whopping $3,500—the second highest amount from any of the 40 corporate donors in this campaign.

A few leads from the Preserve Ramapo network at-large, and the winding trail started to lead to some interesting stops.

Monsey Route 59 Associates LP has a street address at 82 Route 59, Suite 104, Monsey, NY.

According to a 2007 Business Background Report and Company Profile purchased from Dun & Bradstreet, we have the following facts for Monsey Route 59 Associates:

Year started: 1999

Operates in a single location

Annual Sales: $700,000 (last revision 6/02/2006)

Net Worth: $0

Business: Business Services (Management Consulting Services)

Employees total: 5

The employee number is especially interesting because in both the Background Report and the Company Profile only one name appears, and it appears several times.

Top Executive: Michael Tauber, Member (D&B Background)

Officers and Executives: Other Company Personnel: Michael Tauber, Member (D&B Profile)

Contact Name: Michael Tauber (www.manta.com)

In the Background report, under the section titled "Business History," there’s an entry from 03/09/07 wherein "Ownership information provided verbally by Michael Tauber, Member" offers only the start date, Michael Tauber’s name again in the place where D&B usually provides biographical information about the executives and the phrase "Work history unknown" in the bio slot.

Michael Tauber of Jeffrey Place is the sole executive and member listed for Monsey Route 59 Associates, he holds the Post Office address and is the contact person for the company.

Michael Tauber of Jeffrey Place is the "real estate broker who would supervise the Tartikov construction (The Journal News)." Mr. Tauber has assumed something more than the role of developer, he has become a public apologist for the Tartikov project at the meeting at the Comfort Inn (May 21, 2007) as well as on other occasions.

In a letter to The Journal News after the meeting on May 21, Michael Tauber wrote the following:

"As I said at the [Comfort Inn] meeting, we really want to work with the community to develop a plan that satisfies our needs and also addresses the issues raised by the community. . . I must express my disappointment, however, that the meeting lacked any such constructive comments. It was clear that many objections were simply to our presence in Pomona. . . As explained at the public forum, federal and state laws protect our right to exist. We don’t want to sue the applicable laws to unilaterally define our Rabbinical College. We need some cooperation from the community as well."

On July 10th, the attorneys for Tartikov college announced a lawsuit against Pomona, claiming bias and violation of the RLUIPA statute concerning the developer's plan to build a residential/school complex on 130 acres in Pomona.

A principal with the real estate group that has threatened the very existence of the Village of Pomona and that has demanded its self-declared right to install thousands of residents on a site in the middle of a neighborhood of single family homes, has sent the second largest corporate donation ($3,500) to the reelection campaign of Ramapo Supervisor Christopher St. Lawrence.

Now that we have the answer to the question: Who is Monsey Route 59 Associates? there are the even bigger why’s.

1. What does developer Michael Tauber expect from his sizable investment in Christopher St. Lawrence’s campaign?

2. Is there anything about this transaction that might enlighten us about St. Lawrence’s refusal to legally oppose RLUIPA applications? (Read Christopher St. Lawrence and RLUIPA)

3. Can we expect to see Mr. Tauber in the middle of future RLUIPA initiatives elsewhere in Ramapo?

4. If the other four Monsey Route 59 employees actually exist, who are they and why did Tauber not name them when questioned by Dun & Bradstreet? Maybe the other four members are the other companies listed at this PO box address?

5. A few months ago, Phil Tisi, St. Lawrence’s assistant, wrote a letter to The Journal News trying to distance his boss from the Tartikov lawyers dropping the RLUIPA hammer on the people of Pomona. Tisi said that this was a problem in the Village of Pomona. I guess he got the memo about "try to cut all public relations ties to this," but missed the one informing the staff that "we will be keeping the banking connections open."

One final footnote and an observation. There is one other member of our local political machine who was on the receiving end of Monsey Associates’ largess. County Legislator Ilan Schoenberger received a check from Monsey Route 59 Associates on April 25, 2007. It was for $1,000 and it was the highest cash amount received by Friends of Ilan Schoenberger from any donor in this campaign.

Finally, a word of thanks to those who tapped into the Preserve Ramapo neural network and contributed to the information in this report. And we would like everyone to take a look at the list of contributors to St. Lawrence’s campaign at the State’s website. If you come across something that just doesn’t look right or that rings a bell, send an email to pr.webmaster@gmail.com.

Michael Castelluccio
Preserve Ramapo