Thursday, August 30, 2007

The Court vs. the Politicians

Finance Minister Roni Bar-On - a political hack if ever there was one - has just announced that he's getting rid of the Accountant-General, Yaron Zelekha. Everyone is in an uproar, since Zelekha is a corruption fighter of mythical stature, and he's at the heart of an investigation against Olmert, Bar-On's boss. Some of the clamourers are threatening to go the High Court of Justice to stop the move, and this would seem to be a fine example where we need the court to balance the government. Although if you read the linked article you'll see that there are a whole set of other players on the board. Having a court that can balance the government is essential, but they aren't the only two agents around. A healthy democracy has redundancies (in the high-tech meaning of the word).

By the way, I have no doubt that if Zelekha loses his job, his next one (five minutes later) will pay at least 8 times as much. But then again, it probably won't come with the satisfaction of toppling prime ministers. Poor man.

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