Nobody would have guessed that the 32nd lawmaker on the Likud list, after the 2003 Knesset elections, would end that term as prime minister. But just as meteoric as Olmert's political climb was, so too was his downfall, both painful and fast. Sixty-eight-year old Olmert from Mivtzar Shuni near Binyamina was first elected to the Knesset on the Likud list in 1973, when he was only 28. Eleven years later, in 1988, he was appointed minister without portfolio. Olmert proceeded to serve as the mayor of Jerusalem for 10 years, between 1993 and 2003, after which he returned to national politics. Although defeated in the Likud's primary elections, then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon offered him a "consolation prize," the option of becoming his deputy. In 2005, Olmert was appointed acting finance minister after Benjamin Netanyahu resigned in protest over the Gaza disengagement. Olmert was among the first officials to join Sharon's initiative to form the Kadima Party. In January 2006, he became acting prime minister when Sharon suffered a hemorrhagic stroke. He led the party to victory in the next elections, securing Kadima 29 Knesset seats, but before long the government became embroiled in the Second Lebanon War. The prime minister tried to fend off public pressure to form an official commission of inquiry into the government's handling of the war, but finally set one up under retired Judge Eliyahu Winograd. The preliminary Winograd Report determined that the government and the Israel Defense Forces had failed in their management of the war, singling out the prime minister, then-Defense Minister Amir Peretz and then-IDF Chief of Staff Dan Halutz as responsible. While Peretz and Halutz were forced to resign, Olmert was allowed to remain in office. Through legal wrangling, he managed to ensure that the final report did not include personal conclusions. But Olmert's web of entanglements had just begun. Police started probing the prime minister routinely. He was investigated over several different cases, most of which were closed. But the Talansky affair -- named after Moshe Talansky, an American businessman, Orthodox rabbi and co-founder of the New Jerusalerm Foundation with Olmert -- changed everything. At dusk after Israel's 60th Independence Day, Olmert addressed the nation, proclaiming: "I never once even took a penny for my own pocket. If the attorney-general decides to issue an indictment against me, I will resign." After the Talansky testimonies were released, public pressure mounted on Olmert to step down. Then-Defense Minister Ehud Barak announced that Labor would quit the government if Kadima failed to designate a new chairman. Tzachi Hanegbi convinced Olmert to resign, and Tzipi Livni was chosen to replace him at the party helm. But Olmert's time as premier had not yet finished. Livni failed to form a government, so elections were called. Olmert continued as prime minister and, during the elections, he and Barak launched Operation Cast Lead, despite their strained personal relationship. Even after stepping off the political stage, Olmert never masked his intention to regain leadership of the country once his legal issues were settled. He was encouraged by the Jerusalem District Court decision acquitting him of nearly all charges in the Talansky and Rishon Tours affairs; he was convicted on the lesser charges of fraud and breach of trust. But Monday's ruling effectively ended the former prime minister's political career.
