Disgraced TSU member takes lonely road

Su Ying-kuei (蘇盈貴), a 46-year-old independent legislator -- who is in second place in his north Kaohsiung district according to media polls -- told the Taipei Times that recent intriguing attacks from both pan green and pan blue camps might affect his renewing his position.

Last week, officials of Kaohsiung City Government dominated by governing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), were questioned by city councilors about three traffic tickets Su received. They allege the Su contacted traffic officials in order to use his influence to get out of paying the tickets.

After extended negotiation between Su and the city, he finally paid two of the tickets, leaving the last to the city's transportation bureau, officials said. A Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) councillor displayed last week a receipt which indicated that the head of the traffic bureau had paid the third ticket. He said this was evidence of Su abusing his political influence.

For days, the controversial NT$ 2,700 traffic fine has become one of tools used by opponents of Su to smear his campaign, who denied abusing his power and asked for an investigation into the matter.

"The event is just pan green camp's political manipulation, which aims to blacken my name and make me fail in the election," Su said.

In 2001, Su, then a lawyer known for his sense of justice, ran for the legislative election under the TSU banner in north Kaohsiung and won the support of voters as a result of his strong support from former President Lee Teng-hui (李登輝). However, in the last three years, scandals involving TSU members in Kaohsiung weakened his relations with pan-green camp. Su was later expelled from the TSU in August last year.

Since September, Su has been criticized by pan-green supporters for his failure to disclose the identities of the two grand justices Su says had persuaded him to hamper the March 19 Shooting Truth Investigation Special Committee Statute (三一九槍擊事件真相調查特別委員會條例). For this, many of his campaign signs in Kaohsiung were destroyed by angry residents.

However, Su's sharing of resources with the blue camp had caused widespread discontent among pan-blue candidates. On Oct. 23, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) went to Kaohsiung to promote Su's new book. According to Lin Hsiang-nung (林享能), KMT Kaohsiung chapter head blue camp candidates expressed their strong opposition.

"Politics here involves too many evil things. If we want a more progressive society, political figures need to have integrity first," Su said.