Activists aim to hire 'lobbyist for public'

By press time, 164 people contributed NIS 24,720 in 24 hours.

By GIL STERN STERN HOFFMAN
Updated: JUNE 25, 2015 05:44
The Knesset (photo credit: REUTERS)
The Knesset
(photo credit: REUTERS)
A group of political activists led by Zionist Union MK Shelly Yacimovich’s former political adviser, Yair Fink, began an effort this week to hire a lobbyist who would work for the public.
The “public lobbyist” would work to counteract the team of lobbyists working for so-called tycoons, such as gas magnate Yitzhak Teshuva.
Fink said he was trying to raise NIS 70,000 to hire the lobbyist through online crowdfunding.
As of Wednesday, 164 people contributed NIS 24,720 in 24 hours via the site http:// www.headstart.co.il/project.
aspx?id=15681&lan=en-US.
“The tycoons are so powerful that we thought it was important to have a lobbyist who would serve the 99 percent of the population whose interests are the opposite of the tycoons,” Fink said.
The new initiative will be called Lobby 99. Its contributors will decide how best to serve “the public.”
Several celebrities have become part of the initiative, volunteering to meet with investors in order to support the cause. Former accountant general Yaron Zalicha, and journalists Orly Vilnai, Amit Segal, and Guy Rolnick have volunteered.
Fink said that it is unfair that the tycoons could afford to pay lobbyists, while the general public’s interests are often unrepresented in the Knesset and other corridors of power. He claims that Channel 10 political correspondent Nadav Perry’s leaving his job to work for Teshuva underscores the seriousness of the problem.
At an event at the Knesset, Yacimovich revealed that Teshuva had tried to woo her as well, offering her the position of heading an NIS 100 million shekel fund and directing where the money would go.