Miaoli County Commissioner Liu Cheng-hung (劉政鴻), Hualien County Commissioner Fu Kun-chi (傅崑萁), Chiayi County Commissioner Helen Chang (張花冠) and Yilan County Commissioner Lin Tsung-hsien (林聰賢) were awarded five stars, the top score in Global Views Monthly magazine’s annual survey of public satisfaction with the administrative performance of city and county heads.
Liu is a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), while both Chang and Lin are members of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). Fu is an independent.
On the other hand, Keelung Mayor Chang Tong-rong (張通榮) and Greater Taichung Mayor Jason Hu (胡志強), both of KMT ranked bottom of the list with three stars, the survey showed.
Photo: Tang Tsai-hsin, Taipei Times
Liu has been awarded five stars in the survey for three consecutive years and it was Fu’s second consecutive year with five stars.
Six commissioners and mayors were given four-and-a-half stars: Pingtung County Commissioner Tsao Chi-hung (曹啟鴻, DPP), Chiayi Mayor Huang Ming-hui (黃敏惠, KMT), Greater Tainan Mayor William Lai (賴清德, DPP), Yunlin County Commissioner Su Chih-fen (蘇治芬, DPP), Taitung County Commissioner Justin Huang (黃健庭, KMT) and Greater Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu (陳菊, DPP), who lost half a star from the previous year.
Analysis by Global Views Monthly said Chen’s ratings fell mostly because of the merger of former Kaohsiung City and former Kaohsiung County, as Kaohsiung County residents still held a good opinion of former Kaohsiung County commissioner Yang Chiu-hsing (楊秋興).
Chen would have to expend more time and effort to win the support of former Kaohsiung County residents, the survey said.
Four starts were given to Kinmen County Commissioner Li Wo-shi (李沃士, KMT), Lienchiang County Commissioner Yang Sui-sheng (楊綏生, KMT), Nantou County Commissioner Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿, KMT), Penghu County Commissioner Wang Chien-fa (王乾發, KMT), Changhua County Commissioner Cho Po-yuan (卓伯源, KMT) and Taoyuan County Commissioner John Wu (吳志揚, KMT).
Cho slipped half a star from last year, while Wu was up half a star.
Tainan Mayor Hsu Tain-tsair (許添財, DPP), Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌, KMT), New Taipei City Mayor Eric Chu (朱立倫, KMT) and Hsinchu County Commissioner Chiu Ching-chun (邱鏡淳, KMT) and were awarded three-and-a-half stars.
The magazine said that although the Taipei International Flora Expo had raised Taipei residents’ level of satisfaction with Hau’s policies, in light of progress made by other counties and cities, the expo did not have a lasting impression in the minds of many in Taipei, causing Hau’s rating to remain stationary this year.
Because of New Taipei City’s upgrade from the former Taipei County, Chu was listed as being on probation by 40 percent of New Taipei City residents because the city’s funding is still not in place and his policies have yet to be implemented.
Hu, a five star mayor in 2008 and 2009, saw his ratings fall to three stars. The magazine said the drop suggested a drastic decrease in satisfaction among Greater Taichung residents of Hu’s policies.
Commenting on the survey, DPP spokesman Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said the results showed that the DPP’s ability to govern was stronger than the KMT’s as the majority of those awarded either five or four-and-a-half stars hailed from the DPP, while the majority with three to four stars were members of the KMT.
Translated by Jake Chung, staff writer
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