As the FBI continues to investigate possible corruption in the town of Ramapo, an Orthodox Jew has accepted the Republican party’s nomination to run for the position of Ramapo Town Supervisor in the upcoming November election, an office that has held by Democrat Christopher St. Lawrence for over twelve and a half years.
Michael Koplen is a practicing local lawyer who has served as a county legislator, assistant county attorney, civil court arbitrator and deputy mayor of the village of New Hempstead. Koplen, a 28 year resident of New Hempstead, located just north of Monsey, has been elected as a village trustee three times and has served in that capacity for the last eleven years. Koplen is also the founder and director of the Washington Online Learning Institute, an online paralegal college.
“There is a pressing need for leadership in Town Hall,” Koplen told VIN News. “The town is a financial mess and you have a situation where people are at war with each other and there is a lot of resentment and hostility. St. Lawrence and his crew have no credibility and cannot repair the damage that has been done. “
FBI agents conducted a raid on the Ramapo Town Hall on May 16th, as previously reported on VIN News. While the reason for the raid is still unknown, St. Lawrence has been involved in several potentially controversial issues and has long been accused of catering to the Orthodox community in exchange for their vote.
Koplen dismissed the notion that religion played any role in his nomination.
“I think the party approached me because of my record as a legislator, a county attorney and as a trustee of the village of New Hempstead,” said Koplen. “I want to get my message across and have people see my competence and experience, not what religion I practice.”
The 59 year old father of five acknowledged that religious tension runs high in Ramapo.
“There is incredible hostility directed at the Orthodox community and it is all St. Lawrence’s fault because he has been ignoring everyone else in the town,” explained Koplen. “I am part of the Orthodox community and am sensitive to their needs but I am not going to pander to the Orthodox community or any other special interest group. It may have worked for St. Lawrence but his time has come and gone.”
High on Koplen’s list of priorities is resolving financial issues at Provident Bank Park, a minor league baseball stadium in Pomona, built by St. Lawrence in 2011. While residents voted against issuing a bond to pay for the stadium, St. Lawrence issued a different bond which was not subject to public referendum in order to finance the project after failing to find private investors.
“71 percent of the voters voted against floating bonds to build the stadium and St. Lawrence pulled some kind of financial shenanigans, circumventing the will of the people as if their opinion didn’t count,” said Koplen. “Anyone doing a financial analysis of the project would see that the stadium would lose money, saddling taxpayers with the bill. I really can’t understand what his motivation was to go out and bury taxpayers with a huge bill for a stadium they voted against. Something funny is going on here and it is a very expensive joke.”
Koplen is confident that his background in bankruptcy law can help him find a way to help alleviate the situation, calling it a “terribly unfair burden to taxpayers.”
While Ramapo has typically been a Democratic stronghold, the Republican Koplen is convinced that political affiliation is a non-issue.
“It is tough running as a Republican in Rockland County, but I think party won’t count as much as leadership, integrity and experience.”
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