Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊) yesterday expressed gratitude to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) for his support in the past, even though a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) staffer close to the former president revealed that he plans to support the mayor’s rival in the year-end special municipality elections.
Chen Chu told reporters in Kaohsiung that she respected the former president’s decision to support Kaohsiung County Commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興).
Both Chen Chu and Yang have been eyeing the DPP’s nomination for the mayoral election of Greater Kaohsiung — a merger between the city and the county.
Chen Chu denied that she previously refused to testify in court in Chen Shui-bian’s state affairs fund case.
She made the remark after DPP Taipei City Chapter director Huang Ching-lin (黃慶林), who previously visited Chen Shui-bian at the Tucheng Detention Center, said that the former president accused Chen Chu of being “heartless” after refusing to testify in court on his behalf.
Chen Chu said yesterday that she was forced to ask for a leave of absence when the court summoned her at the end of January because she had to attend an extra session at Kaohsiung City Council to review the city’s fiscal budget.
Chen Chu said she was preparing to testify on March 5, but received a notice from the Taiwan High Court saying that Chen Shui-bian’s lawyer had dropped his application to summon her as a witness.
When asked for comment, Yang welcomed the former president’s decision to support him in November’s elections, but declined to comment on Chen Shui-bian’s alleged complaint about Chen Chu.
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