The serious candidate for mayor
I find it amazing to watch the Jerusalem mayoral election, which is developing into a four-way free-for-all with only one consensus - Jerusalem is no place for a nice Jewish boy.

by Shimon Lerner, Jpost.com
November 7, 2008

The only thing to be heard against MK Meir Porush
is that his posters have a cute caricature?

I find it amazing to watch the Jerusalem mayoral election, which is developing into a four-way free-for-all with only one consensus - Jerusalem is no place for a nice Jewish boy (especially a Jew with a long white beard). If the chaos and irrationality were limited to the secular and haredi communities, I would hold my tongue, but as it spreads to the national religious (Zionist) and Anglo-Saxon sectors the time seems right to remind us all who are the candidates and what this election is all about.

Let's start with what it's not about - or at least shouldn't be about. One candidate has his picture plastered over virtually every empty space on every street corner, and he is definitely the best looking candidate - but it really isn't a beauty pageant. It's not a popularity contest - and buying hospitals, soccer teams and east Jerusalem community centers maybe a worthwhile pastime, but shouldn't have anything to do with the election.

Last but not least, and I know some of you will disagree with me, the issue isn't and shouldn't be the religious persuasion of the candidate.

Can an irreligious candidate protect, develop and deal with all the complex problems facing the mix of ultra-Orthodox, modern Orthodox (not to mention Greek Orthodox) and secular citizens of the city? Of course. It will be harder for him, not knowing the intricacies and nuances of major parts of the electorate, but he can do it. But then why can't a haredi candidate deal with traffic jams, municipal taxes and the sewage as well as his secular counterpart? Well, actually he can. Especially if he has spent 13 years in municipal government and has a long acquaintance with all the major players on the city scene, religious and secular alike. It's called experience. And for the life of me I can't figure out why, at least to some voters, it isn't as simple as that.

The way I see it you have a millionaire Russian immigrant who thinks it is not that important to speak the language or understand the populace - money will solve all. You have a pauper who just opened a bar and needs the publicity but has no budget, platform or raison d'etre other than "let's beat up on the haredim." And then you have the two so called serious candidates.

Nir Barkat evidently served in the paratroopers and ran a successful hi-tech company. His last run for city hall gained his party six seats, which promptly split up into three parties with no love lost among them. Other than that I have not heard of anything he accomplished in the last five years in city hall. On the other hand, somehow his erstwhile political appointment as chairman of Kadima's Jerusalem branch seems to have been conveniently mislocated from his resume. His appeal to the middle and right-wing audiences on a unified Jerusalem platform seems to contradict the Kadima prime minister's stand on negotiating on any and all parts of Jerusalem. How many ways can he zigzag and still convince us that he has principles? But let's focus on his municipal experience. Oops we did that already...

AND THEN we have Meir Porush. A born and bred Jerusalemite. A member of the Knesset with national and international clout and 13 years in the municipality working with the legendary Teddy Kollek. Many prominent national religious rabbis, including Rabbis Yaakov Shapira, Shlomo Aviner and Dov Lior, and political activists such as Deputy Mayor Shmuel Shakedi, are supporting him.

Secular local and national political heavies, including Amos Mar-Haim and Avrum Burg, also support his bid for mayor. Hey, he must be doing (and must have done) something right.

He talks the talk (he says repeatedly that he will bring 100,000 young people to Jerusalem - religious and secular alike). He walks the walk. He will deal with the traffic and parking issues as well as cleanliness and the general face of the city. And he is accessible - not today before the election when all the others are interested in talking to you; but when he is the mayor as when he was vice minister and plain MK.

The only thing I hear against him is that he believes in keeping his word and his posters have a cute caricature.

That he is haredi and I'm a Zionist - I'll live with that because he has proven that he will also protect my interests. As an Anglo, honesty and experience makes him my candidate.

So I'm voting Meir Porush for mayor. 'Cause he's the only serious candidate.