Democracy, Rehovot style
By
Yuval Azoulay, Haaretz.com A former CEO of a kupot holim health maintenance organization, a rich businessman who returned last year from Australia, and a former Knesset member who was dismissed from Shas for supporting Aryeh Deri. All are contending for the mayoralty of Rehovot, and using well-designed Web sites, image consultants, and private detectives in their quest.
This is the third time in a year that the residents of Rehovot have been asked to go to the polls - on December 1. The move comes after the mayor who was elected a year ago in a runoff, Yehoshua Forer, was convicted in court of breach of trust, a crime that involves moral turpitude. Advertisement
Those competing for the slot are the former MK, Rahamim Maloul, an ultra-Orthodox member of Shas who was acting mayor in the past few months and denies that he has Forer's support; the former CEO of the Meuhedet HMO, Uzi Salant; and the businessman, Ami Feinstein.
A great deal of bad blood has been drawn in the city of 110,000 in the past few days. It seems everyone is busy attacking everyone else, everyone is making promises, and behind the scenes, the private eyes employed by Feinstein are looking for smoking guns in the municipality and in the HMO that Salant directed.
All the candidates claim the surveys are predicting a large or a slight victory for them, depending whom you ask. Salant and Feinstein have no problem expressing their fears about Rehovot becoming ultra-Orthodox - something they believe will happen if Maloul wins the race.
The two do not suffice with attacking their common rival. Salant boasts about his past as the HMO's director and says he is responsible for its success, and about his military past as an artillery commander with the rank of colonel.
Feinstein claims that Salant completed his army service with the rank of second lieutenant and rose in the ranks only during his service in the reserves.
On the other hand, Salant's aides are wondering about the circumstances in which Feinstein ended his term as chairman of the Israel Volleyball Association amid suspicions of financial irregularities. They say that people with vested interests are helping him to run for mayor "because they want to unfreeze land and improve its status."
Fear and loathing
It is natural for a closeted skeleton to be actively exposed in election campaigns of this kind. Feinstein, who served as deputy mayor several years ago, is a fifth generation Rehovot native and the scion of a family of orchard owners who were among its founders. He shoots from the hip and accuses the municipality of being "a mafia that collects protection money from the residents."
He sent private investigators to follow senior officials in order to prove that Maloul is using the municipal mechanism to help in his election next week.
A few days ago, Feinstein complained to police about Salant's "doings" in the HMO he directed. "I complained only now because two days before that I got the relevant material," he explained about the problematic timing.
He also started taking legal action against Likud, which is now supporting Maloul - who left Shas to join its ranks. Feinstein claims that he has been a Likud member for longer and that if the governing party wants to intervene in the municipal field, it should support him.
The court ruled that the Likud must support neither candidate. Maloul is furious and plans to petition the High Court of Justice.
Feinstein is a man of the times: Tomorrow he will hold a bar mitzvah party for his son, Oz, in a local reception hall that he owns. He promises that it will be attended by VIPs so that the family celebration will give his campaign a pre-election boost. He says that Minister Silvan Shalom will attend, and perhaps also Shalom's wife, Judy.
A year ago, Feinstein returned from a six-year stint in Australia where he says he had successful business ventures in construction, art and the food industry. When his children came on a visit to Israel and decided they wanted to remain here, he and his wife Nirit packed their bags and came back.
"I shut some of the businesses there and others are still ongoing," he explained. An Israeli friend, Nir Peled, who has lived in Sydney for many years, is taking care of his business interests. What kind of business? Feinstein does not want to say. "I'll show you my declaration of assets," he says, but it is not handy.
Uzi Salant dresses in a fancy suit and tie, surrounded by dozens of activists and two public relations consultants. The situation in Rehovot reminds him of the Second Lebanon War, he says.
"Just like there, here there are no work plans, no objectives have been defined and what comes out is half tea and half coffee. Rehovot is deteriorating. The city is filthy. At every meeting with residents they ask when the city will be clean. I plan to do for Rehovot what I did for the Meuhedet HMO, which has taken first place in the health system," he says.
Half a year ago, when he replaced Forer as mayor, Maloul announced that his black skullcap meant nothing other than that he had faith - certainly not that he intended to turn Rehovot into an ultra-Orthodox city.
Feinstein was not convinced. "He is an Aryeh Deri man. When Deri goes back into politics ... Rehovot will be his outpost thanks to Maloul. Right now Deri is setting up sleeper cells all over the country
Labels: Rehovot Elections, Rehovot Municipality
_
