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Legislative finance committee fiasco rages on

Legislators vying for the "lottery" of winning a seat on the finance committee criticize the KMT yesterday for its arbitrary handling of the committee's formation, which they said had led to the current deadlock. PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES

A row over seat distribution on the Legislative Yuan's finance committee is threatening to snowball into an all-out war between the KMT and opposition parties, taking the plenum legislative session today as their battlefield.

The DPP and New Party, which are destined to lose what they see as hard-won gains on the committee, have been threatening to boycott future negotiations with the KMT when reviewing bills.

Negotiations held yesterday to cut a deal on the committee's seat distribution was pronounced a failure late last night, with the three major parties mobilizing their lawmakers for today's showdown.

The KMT, which enjoys a comfortable majority of 124 seats at the 225-seat legislature, is to bring the issue to the plenum session today to force a resolution by having another round of lot-drawing.

But caucus leaders from both the KMT and DPP said the duel could be close, as some KMT lawmakers who had already got their seats on the committee may defect to the side of the opposition.

DPP caucus leader Chen Chi-mai (3¯¨äÁÚ) said the opposition will close the door for negotiation with the KMT for some time. "Everybody should be prepared not to be absent from sessions [as the lack of negotiation will result in every issue being put to the vote]," Chen said.

"The opposition is just bluf-fing," said KMT party whip Han Kuo-yu (Áú°ê·ì). "They asked too much; this is the reason why negotiations broke down."

For the current legislative session that started in September, 62 legislators registered for 21 available seats on the finance committee. Lots had to be drawn to decide who could enter and who could not. But lot-drawing did not solve the problem, as it was found that 63 lots -- one more than there should have been -- had been placed in the drawing box.

The committee's gridlock has prevented the other 11 committees from assuming their duties, as no committees can be finalized until the 41 leftover applicants are rejected from the finance committee.

But there is no easy way out of the dilemma, as the KMT has demanded a re-draw, but the DPP and the New Party are loathe to give up their gains. Among the 21 seats at the committee, the DPP received eight and the New Party five -- effectively ending the domination of the KMT.

Some opposition lawmakers who received seats on the finance committee held a meeting yesterday to condemn the legislative speaker and the KMT for delaying the establishment of the committee.

"It is the KMT's problem that it could not deal with the disappointment of its members who did not gain seats on the committee. It should not be turned into the legis-lature's problem," said Hau Lung-bin (°qÀsÙy), a New Party lawmaker.

"It was embarrassing and sad that the finance committee used to be controlled by legislators who represent securities houses and `black gold' politics," said Tsao Chi-hung (±ä±ÒÂE), a DPP lawmaker. "The committee now has the best chance and a rare opportunity to push through financial reforms, as the representatives of big business groups are no longer on the committee [as a result of lot-drawing]."
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