Advice is only as good as the person you ask..."
Zlotnik, Lamb & C'.ompany has developed a reputation for quality and professionalism. It's our mission to provide the best advice, service and products to our clients.
\/Jnnnl.- I .1   r, / r
n,(n,lil Zlnliiit II r
Mali' /.liilink CA
I rilllf /.liilmL- \iikli,ril
Creative Solutions for: Tax Deferred Accumulation Plans Group Insurance • Pension Plans
ZLOTNIK, LAMB & COMPANY
/.i/'c Jusumncc, l-'inancial I'nxhicls, /■Jiiployiiii'iil Bcuefils, Slnictiirvcl Selllenieiils
J200 P:irl< l^hiCf, 666 Ikinard Stivcl, Vancouver, W.C. V6C 2XH l-ax: (604) 688-7268 (604) 688-7208 • Toll Free Line 1-800-663-3171
British Columbia's
Children's Hospital
Putting smiles backwiiere they belong.
6
TOTAL ONE-TIME PLEDGE
$
FORMlDF^YMENfrCASHTcHEQUE / CHARGE
CIRCLE ONE
VISA/MASTERCARD
CIRCLE ONE
XJN
EXPIRY DATE
AREA CODE PHONE NUMBER
LAST NAME/ FIRST NAME.
STREET ADDRESS
CITY / PROVINCE
.POSTAL CODE.
Beat of the streets
Want to know who will win Israel's election? Ask the quotable cab drivers hanging out together.
LARRY DERFNER ISRAEL CORRESPONDENT
Tel Aviv
According to Israeli political folklore, cab drivers are the best public opinion pollsters. If you want to laiow how the election is going to turn out, goes the common wisdom, ask the cabbies.
This notion seems to have arisen in the 1977 election when cab drivers picked Menachem Begin against all expert opinion, and Begin won. The cabbies' reputation was enhanced in 1981 when they again correctly put
"Nobody's
interested anymore. They're disgusted at all these campaign
posters and
sticl(ers everywhere they look."
-Marek, a 25-year cab veteran.
their money on Begin against all the odds. Whether their predictions were objective or subjective — most cabbies to this day cany a torch for Begin and are "Likud in their blood" — nobody knows.
In conversations about the May 29 election, most drivers, if not all, sounded fairly dispassionate. They work in Herzliya, Rishon Letzion and near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station — in the Israeli heartland, where nearly all demographic types get in and out of cabs, where neither Shimon Peres nor Bibi Netanyahu holds complete sway.
One after another, the cab drivers testified to an unprecedented apathy in the Israeli passenger/voter.
"There's much less enthusiasm now. Everybody is stuck in his opinion and nothing can change
them. All this talk about the 'floating voters' — I haven't seen any of them," said Shabtai Bir-man, who's been driving for 17 years.
"People are tired from all the troubles, all the terror victims," said Yoske, a 15-year veteran cabbie.
"Nobody's intei-ested anymore. They're disgusted at all these campaign posters and stickers everywhere they look. They don't pay any attention to them. They say the politicians wasted the people's money putting them up. They think all the politicians are liars anyway," said Marek, who has about 25 years on the road.
But Tzion Tzadok, who's been driving since 1974, says it isn't really indifference he's hearing, but latent anxiety.
"There's a quiet before the storm. People feel a lot of uncertainty about the future of the country, no matter who is elected."
Mr. Birman, resting at the cab stand in Herzliya with Mr. Tzadok, said this arudety, especially of late, is expressed in a rising number of people taking taxis. "People are very tense. They know there's going to be a terror attack before the elections, so they're not riding in buses."
How will all this translate on election day? "Things feel pretty even now," said Mr. Birman. "For now it's a tie," said Mr. Tzadok.
Reuven Maimon, a 30-year veteran driver in Herzliya, agreed that from what he was hearing from his passengers, Messrs. Peres and Netanyahu seemed to be running neck and neck. Like nearly every other cabbie interviewed, Mr. Maimon said he could guess a passenger's political preferences before he even opened his mouth.
"If he seems bitter, like he hasn't gotten an3where in life, then he's Likud. If he looks poor, like he lives in a bad neighborhood, he's Likud. If he looks well off, if he's wearing a jacket and tie, if he's an executive at a big company, then he's Labor. For every 10 passengers you take to or from Ben-Gurion Airport, seven of them are voting Peres, if not eight," Mr. Maimon said. □