Hualien independent legislative by-election candidate Shih Sheng-lang (施勝郎) yesterday filed a slander suit against Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General King Pu-tsung (金溥聰) over the latter’s remarks that he was a “hooligan.”
Accompanied by a horde of supporters at the Hualien District Court, Shih also accused King of obstructing the by-election.
On Tuesday when campaigning for KMT nominee Wang Ting-sheng (王廷升), King, aside from criticizing Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Hualien legislative by-election candidate Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), also attacked Shih, saying that the candidate supported by independent Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崐萁) “was a hooligan who did time on Green Island (綠島) for four years.”
“When something has to do with himself, King said ‘who doesn’t have past?’ But when it comes to something to do with others, he keeps on digging into past sore points,” Shih said. “So, tell me, who’s more of a hooligan?”
At a separate setting yesterday when asked for a response, King declined to comment, saying that the matter was now being handled by judiciary.
Meanwhile, the KMT yesterday continued its attack on Hsiao, accusing her of being a “tourist” to Hualien.
KMT spokesman Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) yesterday visited Taoyuan County to campaign for KMT candidate Apollo Chen (陳學聖), and condemned the DPP for “wrongly accusing Chen of being a ‘parachute’ candidate” in Taoyuan and having few connections in the county.
“Chen is a native Taoyuan citizen. The beautiful tourist [Hsiao], on the other hand, was portrayed as a native from Hualien County,” he said.
KMT Chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) last night canvassed the streets in Chaiyi County with KMT candidate Lin De-rui (林德瑞). He is expected to spend much of today — the eve of the by-election — in Taoyuan County. He is also to visit Hsinchu County today to campaign for KMT candidate Cheng Yung-tang (鄭永堂).
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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