DPP says it doesn't want support of shady lawmaker

DPP lawmakers yesterday held a press conference to assert the party's stand that they could not solicit independent lawmaker Lo Fu-chu (羅福助) to vote of the recall motion against the president due to his questionable reputation.

"Lo has been a source of instability in society. The DPP should not only draw the line between the party and Lo, but they should by no means attempt to gain his vote in the recall case and get him to side with the DPP. The party cannot hurt its own efforts to crack down on `black gold' just for the sake of one vote," DPP lawmaker Tsai Ming-shian (蔡明憲) said.

Tsai made the remarks, accompanied by DPP lawmakers Yu Jan-daw (余政道), Wang Hsing-nan (王幸男) and Chien Hsi-chieh, at a news conference, in a bid to distance the party from the statements published in advertisements taken out by Lo in Monday's Chinese-language newspapers, in which Lo asserts he had been safeguarding the DPP's policies and should be given credit for his efforts in improving Taiwan's economic and political environment.

In the adverts, Lo said he had helped with the passage of the Business Tax Law for Banks (銀行營業稅法) on June 30, 1999. Tsai pointed out that in fact the bill was passed on June 22, and in accordance with records provided by the Legislative Yuan, there was no evidence to show that Lo had supported passing the law.

Records also indicated that no meeting was held at the legislature on June 30, so no bill could have been passed on that day, Tsai added.

"According to Lo's advertisement, Lo said he had pushed for the passage of the Regulation on the Establishment of the National Security Funds (國安基金設置條例) in January," Lo said. "Yet the truth is that he ran after Chien Hsi-chieh on that day and punched him [for hounding Lo about his links with `black gold']."

Chien added that Lo hitting him and the passage of the law were definitely not related.

Tsai said Chien was not the only victim of Lo's violence. Yu Jan-daw and independent legislator Liao Hsueh-kuang (廖學廣) had both been physically assaulted by Lo on previous occasions. Tsai said that Lo had been a source of chaos both at the legislature and in society.

Yu said that Lo's intention in taking out such large advertisements was obvious. "He wants the DPP to come begging to get him to vote against the recall, but the DPP would never do that," Yu said.

The row between Lo and the DPP started several days ago when DPP Secretary-General Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁) said in public that if the survival of the DPP regime depended on the support of Lo, then he wouldn't want his vote.