She was gutsy enough to admit in April 2001 that she had received a NT$60,000 political donation from former legislative speaker Liu Sung-pan (
Liu is being investigated over allegations that he took NT$150 million in kickbacks from the president of the Kuangsan Group (
Liu allegedly gave NT$600,000 to 100 legislators during the 1998 legislative election in exchange for their support in the contest for the speakership, which took place in February 1999.
Yu captured the media's attention again last January when the KMT member of 26 years threatened to withdraw from the party when she failed to push through a controversial draft bill in the legislature.
She eventually decided to drop the idea after the party chairman successfully convinced her to stay on.
Despite her straightforward manner, reporters covering the Legislative Yuan were not impressed with Yu's performance in the past legislative session, ranking her as the legislature's second worst-performing lawmaker in a poll released last September.
The reporters told the pollsters that their least-favorite lawmakers were those who use vulgar language, like to grandstand, get involved in extra-marital affairs and violate conflict-of-interest rules.
The straight-talking Yu, however, is popular at the grassroots level. Representing Chunghua County, she won the most votes in the Dec. 1 legislative elections in 2001.
Prior to that, she served as a two-term councilor at the Taiwan Provincial Council.
Describing Yu as straightforward and congenial, Shih Koon-sung (
"The report in Next magazine is absolutely not true because she'll never go out with someone who is more than 10 years her junior," Shih said, adding that Yu has no plans to get back together with her ex-husband, former PFP lawmaker Chen Chao-jung (
In addition to being a full-time lawmaker, Yu owns a skin and body beautification center in Shanghai.
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