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Suit filed over DPP ads

After the Legislature yesterday unanimously ratified Taiwan's accession to the WTO, KMT legislators angry over recent DPP advertisements voice their displeasure to Premier Chang Chun-hsiung. The poster reads "Sue the shameless DPP." PHOTO: FANG PIN-CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES

A total of 10 KMT lawmakers filed suit with the Taipei District Prosecutors' Office yesterday against three DPP officials for slander and election law violations. The ten are suing after being identified in a series of DPP TV commercials as being responsible for killing government budgets.

Those named in the suit include DPP Chairman Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) and DPP spokesman Phoenix Cheng (鄭運鵬).

Not to be intimidated, the DPP yesterday launched yet another TV commercial of similar tone and vowed to counter-sue the KMT for making false charges against the party.

According to the 10 KMT lawmakers, the DPP is attempting to thwart their re-election bids "by hook or by crook," so as to ensure the DPP's victory in the legislative elections.

"The budgets were filled with pork barrel projects. To fulfill our role as a monitor over the government, it was impossible for us to pass such budgets," said Kuo Jung-cheng (郭榮振), one of the lawmakers named in the ads.

"The DPP is shameless slinging mud at us during election time," Kuo added.

A total of 15 KMT lawmakers are named in the ads, which are intended to highlight the DPP's claim that the opposition is so "barbarous" that they have even cut budgets for the improvement of child welfare and local development.

In addition to the NT$13.1 billion supplementary budget for child welfare, computer lessons for children and local anti-flood projects, the DPP has blamed the opposition for removing NT$70 billion earmarked for infrastructure budgets.

The lawmakers, however, argued that most of the budgets were voted down because the Executive Yuan failed to present detailed spending plans in time.

They insisted that they have always been concerned about the rights and interests of the people and the well-being of children, but that they had to remove the budgets because it is their duty to watch taxpayers' money closely.

To refute the charges of wasteful spending, the DPP's Wu said that the content of the ads are entirely based on fact and the legislature's records back up the DPP's claims.

"The behavior and speeches of lawmakers should be subject to censure by the electorate, and they should take responsibility during elections," Wu said.

In the latest TV commercials launched yesterday, the DPP attacked the KMT for freezing a NT$19.4 billion subsidy fund for local infrastructure projects.

Unlike previous ad, however, no names are identified in this ad.

According to Wu, this ad is targeted at the KMT as a whole rather than at individual lawmakers, because the fund was only frozen, not removed.

Wu said that in this case the KMT was trying to block the DPP's policy implementation, holding the subsidy fund hostage as localities suffer with financial difficulties.

Wu said that the Cabinet has presented many reports to the legislature since the budget proposal was submitted in March, but the money is still being held up.

As the budget is supposed to be implemented by February next year, the Cabinet will have trouble implementing it efficiently even if the legislature releasesthe money now.
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