One of the allocations made available to MKs are funds towards maintaining contact with constituents and some of the chareidi MKs are not bashful in this category.

Leading the list among chareidi MKs in 2008 is R’ Shmuel Halpert with NIS 64,000. R’ Yaakov Litzman holds the second place ranking with NIS 60,000 followed by R’ Yaakov Cohen (NIS 58,000).

Halpert spent NIS 42,000 to rent an office and an additional NIS 14,000 on office equipment. He only listed NIS 203 on refreshments for visitors. Litzman spend NIS 41,407 on an office and over NIS 8,400 for newspapers. He also lists NIS 2,750 for pager service.

At the other end of the spectrum is Communications Minister Ariel Atias, only listing cellular telephone as an expense in the PR category, amounting to NIS 8,520.54 for the year.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)