Legislators' excesses panned by reporters

Reporters covering the Legislative Yuan got the chance to bite the hand that fed them by scoring the performance of both lawmakers and parties in a poll released yesterday by the Taipei Society (澄社).

KMT Legislator Yu Yueh-hsia (游月霞), the DPP's Lin Chung-mo (林重謨) and Cheng Yu-chen (鄭余鎮) and the PFP's Cheng Chih-lung (鄭志龍) topped the list of worst-performing lawmakers during the last legislative session.

Sisy Chen (陳文茜) made it to the ranks of the top five on both the list of worst-performing lawmakers and list of best lawmakers because of her dual identity as a politician and a TV talk-show hostess.

Joining Sisy in the ranks of best-performing lawmakers were Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) of the DPP, the TSU's Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴) and Diane Lee (李慶安) and Norman Yin (殷乃平) of the PFP.

All of them were praised for being professional, earnest, persistent and having a clean image.

The survey -- of 86 reporters -- was conducted during the legislative recess between mid-August and mid-September.

The reporters told the pollsters that that their least-favorite law-makers were those who who use vulgar language, like to grandstand, got involved in extra-marital affairs and violated conflict-of-interest rules.

Lin topped the reporters' hit list because of his use of vulgar language and constant interference with legislative procedures, according to Hwang Shiow-duan (黃秀端), the survey coordinator.

Last December Lin compared a newly elected female lawmaker to a "prostitute" during a national affairs forum at the legislature.

He later apologized to the nation's women for his outburst, but refused to extend his apolohgy to Sisy Chen, the target of his criticism.

Cheng apparently made the worst-performing list because of his affair with one of his legislative aides, Sophie Wang (王筱嬋), which attracted a great deal of media attention.

Cheng and Wang left for the US in August, where they remain, and there have been reports that they went through a marriage ceremony there.

Cheng has announced his intention to divorce his wife. He has also admitted fathering an illegitimate daughter with another woman two decades ago.

Wang, a former TV soap-opera actress, is no stranger to the limelight. She ran in last December's legislative elections against KMT Legislator John Chang (章孝嚴), the illegitimate son of the late president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), and lost.

Two years ago there were rumors that she had been Chang's mistress.

The 41-year-old Yu, a straight-talking divorcee loved by her constituents for her earthy language, is apparently viewed by reporters as being too fond of grandstanding.

She has shown off her abdomen to photographers to prove that she had lost weight.

After losing 13kg, she posed for the February edition of the Chinese-language Playboy magazine, albeit with her clothes on.

Cheng Chih-lung was criticized for rarely attending legislative sessions and for allegedly carrying on an extra-marital affair.

According to the survey, the PFP caucus was the best-performing party in the legislature and the KMT the worst. On a scale from 0 to 10, the PFP received 4.9 points while the KMT received 3.77.

In the category of morality and integrity, the PFP received the highest score of 4.54 while the DPP received the lowest, 3.7.

In the category of professionalism, the PFP received the highest score, 5.1, while the TSU received the lowest, 3.47.