President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) re-election campaign office yesterday denied authorizing the Taipei City Government souvenir shop to sell campaign products, and insisted that it would help maintain administrative neutrality in government agencies.
The Taipei City Government souvenir shop, located on the first floor of Taipei City Hall, is supervised by the city’s Department of Information and Tourism and is commissioned out to a private contractor.
Ma campaign products designed by the president’s camp, including T-shirts and piggy banks, were found in the shop along with souvenirs and books published by the city government, sparking concerns about the city government’s lack of administrative neutrality by apparently campaigning for the president in his re-election bid.
Ma’s campaign office spokesperson Ma Wei-kuo (馬瑋國) said it would tell the gift shop to ban the sale of any campaign products, and that the contractor could face legal responsibilities if it failed to do so.
“We did not authorize the contractor to sell our campaign products and we had no idea that the products were available there,” she said.
Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) had promised on numerous occasions to maintain administrative neutrality and that the city government would not engage in any form of election campaign activities.
He acknowledged the city’s negligence in the matter and said the city government would demand that the contractor pull the products off the shelves.
“As a local government, we will not campaign for any specific candidate,” he said.
Department Commissioner Chao Hsin-ping (趙心屏) said it would instruct the contractor that operates the gift shop to refrain from selling political products.
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