Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun yesterday said the appointment of presidential advisers is not a spoils system and the Presidential Office will respect the legislature if it wishes to abolish the advisory posts.
"What the president meant is that those who lose elections do not necessarily lack capability or expertise," Yu said. "Besides, none of the political advisers or policy counselors has ever run in an election, so they have never lost in a poll."
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has 12 political advisers who are paid, 12 more who are unpaid, 27 paid policy counselors and 48 unpaid. The tenure for each position is one year.
PHOTO: LIU HSIN-DE, TAIPEI TIMES
Yu made the remark in response to a question filed by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Chiang Lien-fu (江連福) during the question-and-answer session at the Organic Laws and Statutes Committee meeting yesterday.
Yu was invited to brief the committee on the Presidential Office's budget request for next year. Others who were invited included National Security Council Secretary-General Chiou I-jen (
Chiang claimed that Chen had said during a recent TV interview that the appointment of some political advisers and counselors was a spoils system to compensate these people for losing in elections.
Chiang asked Yu to name names.
KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) filed similar questions and proposed to abolish the advisory system.
In response, Yu said Chen has made his appointments in accordance with the law and the Presidential Office will respect the legislature's decision if it wishes to amend the law and nullify the advisory system.
In response, DPP Legislator Lin Cho-shui (林濁水) proposed revising the Statute Governing Preferential Treatment to Retired Presidents and Vice Presidents (卸任總統副總統禮遇條例) to abolish the stipends paid to retired president and vice presidents.
According to Lin, former vice president Lien Chan (連戰), also the KMT's former chairman, makes about NT$240,000 (US$7,145) a month on top of NT$220,000 in bank interest from the preferential interest rate given civil servants.
Former vice president Li Yuan-zu (
Meanwhile, Yu dismissed speculation that he will replace Premier Frank Hsieh (
Yu said that he could empathize with Hsieh and believes that the premier will overcome the difficulties facing him.
Yu also backed Chen's remarks that he had evidence that People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) had met secretly with the director of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, Chen Yunlin (陳雲林), during a trip to the US earlier this year.
"What the president meant is that his claim has a reliable base," Yu said. "Any excessive interpretation of his words is wrong and the president should not be held accountable for it."
Yu said he had not seen the evidence but he believes Chen will produce it in court since the matter has become a legal case.
A group of PFP lawmakers staged a protest in front of the Presidential Office yesterday against the president's remarks and demanded that Chen provide proof of his allegations.
In other developments, the KMT caucus held a press conference yesterday to allege that Chiou had said at a Judiciary Committee meeting yesterday that the National Security Council has dominated recent projects, including the government's second phase of financial reforms and the "Jung Pang Project" to fund investment projects in the nation's Central American allies.
The council later yesterday refuted the caucus' claim with a press release.
"All meetings held by the Judiciary Committee have audio and video minutes. What the council's secretary-general said at yesterday's meeting has nothing to do with what the KMT claims," the council statement said.
Additional reporting by Chiu Yu-tzu
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