Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) campaign team yesterday questioned the credibility of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) mayorship rival Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), alleging that Su has his eyes set on the next presidential election and that the mayoral race on Nov. 27 is just a front.
While Su has said on various occasions that he is committed to the mayoral election and that he would do a good job and finish his term if elected, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Pan Wei-kang (潘維剛) said she doubted Su would keep his promise, as he had a bad track record on that score.
Pan said when Su was running for Taipei County commissioner in 2001, he promised not to stand in the 2004 presidential election, but in the end he became the DPP’s candidate for vice president.
PHOTO: LIAO CHEN-HUEI, TAIPEI TIMES
“He is someone who doesn’t have any political credibility at all,” she said. “Although he has said many times that he is committed to the election, how can we trust him?”
KMT Legislator Alex Fai (費鴻泰) said Su had said during his party’s presidential primaries that he would never run as vice president if he did not win the party’s nomination for president, but Su ended up as the running mate of Frank Hsieh (謝長廷).
“We saw such a dramatic change in him within four months,” Fai said. “If we can trust what he says at all, please allow me to quote Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), then ‘dog poo is edible.’”
KMT Legislator Cheng Li-wen (鄭麗文) said she suspected Su decided not to run in Sinbei City because he saw the Taipei election as a springboard to the presidency, treating the mayoral election as “just a game.”
If Su quit his position as Taipei mayor halfway through his term to run for president, Cheng said it would cost taxpayers NT$117.2 million (US$38 million) to hold a by-election. She urged Taipei residents to save money and use their ballots to stop “politicians’ expensive games.”
KMT Legislator Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the public has seen an overwhelming change in Su, who she described as a “pink dessert” and “sweet marshmallow,” referring to the way he responds to his opponents’ doubts and criticisms.
Hung said the electorate should not be tricked by his treachery, warning that Su would be back in the 2012 presidential poll even if he is elected Taipei mayor.
In response, Su’s campaign spokesman Andrew Wang (王閔生) said Su had put his heart and soul into the campaign and that he believed those who shook his hand could see and feel his passion to serve the people. Wang said he regretted Hau’s team could not see this and were detached from the feelings of the electorate.
Meanwhile, Su yesterday launched a drive to solicit votes.
Su said his goal is to get 1,000 volunteers to make telephone calls to secure 10,000 more votes. Those who complete the task will receive a confirmation button.
Su made three telephone calls to his friends and asked each of them to make 10 phone calls, saying the 10,000 votes would be decisive in his bid to become mayor.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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