According to government figures released Sunday, former MK Eliyahu Gabai (National Union/Mafdal) spent the highest amount of money out of his Knesset allotment towards his “relationship with the public,” while outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spent the least. Knesset Members are allowed to spend more than NIS 100,000 towards maintaining the relationship with their constituents.
Gabai spent NIS 93,272 on his office, followed by Ibrahim Tzartzur (R’am-Ta’al) who spent NIS 89,768, and Ran Cohen with NIS 77,972 in expenses. Olmert, on the other hand, chose not to make use of the special expense budget.
Former MK Gabai’s 2008 expenses included NIS 23,000 for professional advisors, NIS 21,900 for yearly rental fees for an external parliamentary bureau, and more than NIS 15,000 for printing and photocopying expenses.
In response, Gabbai stated that he returned all electronic devices to the Knesset while he was still in office, and that he did not violate the amount allotted according to the Knesset bylaws.
In contrast, MK Tzartzur spent much more on printing expenses – NIS 47,400. In addition, Tzartzur paid NIS 19,600 for annual office rental, more than NIS 15,000 for mobile phone usage, and NIS 1,908 for refreshments.
Cohen’s Editor Made Money Too
Former MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) spent NIS 9,241 for courtroom fees, NIS 299 for a microwave, NIS 4,559 for newspapers, and NIS 5,348 for editing of a book which he is writing about the public housing law. However, Cohen actually has cut his editing costs -- last year, he spent NIS 9,540 in editing expenses for his book, according to the figures released by the government.
Outgoing Prime Minister Olmert came out squeaky-clean, having opted not to use any of the allocated money, a practice which he maintained in 2007 as well. Olmert's funding came from other sources.
Poll Spending Pays Off
On the other hand, Foreign Affairs Minister and MK Tzipi Livni’s expenses centered on what others think about her. Most of the Kadima chairperson’s expenditures were spent on polls. Out of NIS 31,392 in expenditures, Livni spent NIS 30,000 on polls.
In 2008, by comparison, MK Silvan Shalom (Likud) spent NIS 60,979, including among the expenditures NIS 22,869 for a public relations conference.
Yisrael Beiteinu (Israel is Our Home) chairman, MK Avigdor Lieberman, spent a total of NIS 53,401. He decided to spend a bit more than Livni in polls, NIS 38,813. Yisrael Beiteinu became the third largest party in the present Knesset. In the previous year, Lieberman only spent NIS 24,255 in polls.
Say Cheese!
Some Knesset Members want their constituents to remember what they look like. Former MK David Tal decided to buy a NIS 2,414 digital camera. On the other hand, MK Shelley Yechimovitz decided to buy a more economical model at only NIS 1,707. However, Sofa Landver (Yisrael Beiteinu), instead of buying a top-of-the-line digital camera, decided to distribute her headshots by hiring only professional photographers at a cost of NIS 4,273.
Former MK Esterina Tartman (Yisrael Beiteinu) spent NIS 75,250 in 2008. Among her expenses, she spent NIS 4,590 for learning a language, far less than she spent a year earlier; from 2006 to 2007, Tartrman spent NIS 17,257. She spent NIS 2,999 on refreshments and NIS 6,799 on setting up an Internet site.
Some Eat Cake, Others Say Little, Do Much
Prime Minister-designate Binyamin Netanyahu’s total expenses ran NIS 34,253. The majority of his purchases were in the realm of hosting guests; Netanyahu spent NIS 15,140 in hospitality expenses.
Outgoing Minister of Pensioner Affairs, Rafi Eitan spent NIS 20,631 in speechwriters, although his party lost the elections.
Former Finance Minister Avraham Hirschson, who is facing corruption charges, also was interested in what people were saying about him. Out of NIS 21,167 in expenditures, Hirschson spent NIS 20,663 on press clippings.
Click here to navigate to the Knesset website, which provides an itemized list (in Hebrew) of parliamentary expenditures.