Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei City councilors yesterday criticized the Taipei City Government over its appointment of former Taipei deputy mayor Lee Yong-ping (李永萍) as the head of the Taipei Culture Foundation and threatened to report the case to the Control Yuan if the city government fails to follow regulations and replace her with a government official.
The foundation is a corporate body that receives 63 percent of its funding from the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs. The deputy mayor is usually appointed chairman of the foundation, while the cultural affairs commissioner doubles as the executive director.
The appointment of Lee is an apparent violation of regulations on the operation of government-sponsored non-profit organizations in Taipei City, which stipulate that the foundation chairman should be appointed from the board members that represent the government body.
DPP Taipei City councilors Wu Su-yao (吳思瑤) and Liang Wen-jie (梁文傑) questioned the legitimacy of Lee’s appointment yesterday during a question-and-answer session at the city council.
“Lee resigned as deputy mayor last year, but she took over as the foundation chairperson in January. This is against the regulations and Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) should remove her from the position immediately,” Wu said.
Liang also accused Lee of continuing to control the cultural affairs department and of using her power to arrange for former assistants during her term as a legislator to work at the foundation with monthly salaries as high as NT$100,000.
“Hau’s appointment of Lee as the foundation chairperson is a violation of the administrative system. It also ensures her lingering power over cultural affairs in the city,” Wu said.
Lee refused to appear at the city council to respond to the councilors’ allegations.
She later said her appointment, which was made by Hau, was legitimate, but declined to comment further.
Taipei City Cultural Affairs Commissioner Hsieh Hsiao-yun (謝小醞) said the mayor had the right to appoint the foundation’s chairperson and the appointee represents the city government. The regulations do not state that the appointee has to be a government official, Hsieh said.
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