Perhaps no one would dispute that Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou's (馬英九) imminent reshuffling of the Taipei City Government is designed to provide him an edge in his quest for the presidency in 2008. However, how much good Ma's new crew can do him is an open question in the minds of many analysts and voters.
Having been involved in the personnel reshuffle for two months, Ma will announce the new members of the city government to the public next Monday. About 10 new bureau directors will enter the city government. Nearly one-third of the city's bureau workers have to welcome new bosses, which is the largest-scale reorganization that the city government has had since Ma won his mayoral re-election in 2002.
As a vice chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Ma is viewed as the pan-blue politician most capable of engineering a comeback for the pan-blue camp in the aftermath of KMT Chairman Lien Chan (
PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING, TAIPEI TIMES
According to Ma's plan, many outgoing bureau directors will campaign for the legislative elections in December and the election for county commissioners next year as Ma's advance troops of the 2008 presidential election. This could create a wide network of local connections for Ma.
However, people in both the pan-green and pan-blue camps criticized Ma's strategy, saying Ma has not shown any new ideas in this reshuffling, but just trotted out the same old tired warhorses.
Many veterans of the city government and the pan-blue camp appear among Ma's new appointees. Former City Government spokesman King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) and former director of the Bureau of Health Yeh Chin-chuan (葉金川) will replace Pai Hsiou-hsiung (白秀雄) and Ou Chin-der (歐晉德) as deputy mayors.
Former pan-blue alliance campaign spokesman Jack Yu (游梓翔) is set to become the city government spokesman, as his predecessor Wu Yu-sheng (吳育昇) will run for a legislative seat in December. Ho Hung-jung (何鴻榮), director of the KMT's Cultural and Communications Affairs Department, will take over the position of Samuel Wu (吳秀光), director of the Bureau of Civil Affairs, who plans to campaign for Hualien County commissioner.
Among the new crew, King is the most unwelcome member from the viewpoint of the Taipei City Council. As an influential adviser to Ma, King has had fierce quarrels with city councilors during interpellation sessions while serving as city government spokesman. He was dubbed the "arrogant rooster" by several city councilors.
As soon as learning that King would return to the city government to serve as deputy mayor, Taipei City Council Speaker Wu Bi-chu (
"I think Mayor Ma should ponder why his personal polling is always higher than that of his team," Wu Bi-chu said.
"If Ma allows people who did not perform well or had a bad relationship with the city council to go back to the city government, it will only hurt Ma's reputation," she said.
Chou Po-ya (
Meanwhile, the most surprising new recruit on Ma's team is Independent Legislator Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴), who will serve as the vice convener of the city's Human Rights Commission, a new organization founded by Ma one week ago.
It is said that Ma established this organization especially for Su, who had first rejected Ma's invitation to become the city's bureau director because Su said it would affect his participation in December's legislative elections. The Human Rights Commission provides a measure of accommodation that will allow Su to look after his campaign and the municipal job at the same time.
Su, a lawyer who became a legislator who was expelled by the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) last year because he had accused TSU Legislator Lo Chin-ming (羅志明) of lobbying illegally for the video-game industry, though he gave no evidence, now is regarded as a legislator who can attract support in both camps because of his neutral stances.
After announcing that he would join Ma's administration, Su said that "Ma was the best choice of all presidential candidates in 2008 if people just put aside the considerations of party, ethnic group and ideology," saying that he has much in common with Ma because they are both unselfish people.
"I hope I could win more support in southern Taiwan for Mayor Ma," Su said.
"To fulfill this expectation, I need to participate in the legislative elections," Su said.
However, many legislators said that it is still to be seen whether Su will open up a highway to southern Taiwan for Ma or whether he will just be a time bomb because of his mutable political stances.
"I believed that Su will be a plus for Ma in seeking the support of southern voters," KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (
"But I'm also worried about Su's irritable personality and his changeable attitude in political party," Chen said.
TSU caucus leader Chen Chien-ming (
"Su himself has a crisis in seeking re-election in December since he doesn't belong to any party," Chen Chien-ming said.
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