Six opposition lawmakers yesterday lashed out at the ruling DPP for launching a "smear" campaign in Taipei, Ilan and Taoyuan Counties. The candidates said that the DPP's TV election commercial groundlessly accuses them of killing the government's budget -- which allocated approximately NT$600 million for child welfare -- in the legislature.
KMT legislative whip Lee Sen-zong (
The KMT has taken the initiative in pushing forward the passage of NT$1.7 billion for children from poverty-stricken and single-parent homes, for children who are mentally handicapped and for families whose children are missing, Lee said.
He added that the ruling party has violated the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (
The party's commercial, unveiled on Wednesday, focused on six legislators -- the KMT's Lee and Chen Hung-chang (
The DPP's commercial asked that "no matter how barbarian [you are], please do not vote against the budget for child welfare."
Echoing Lee's views, Chen Hung-chang said that he may also file a lawsuit against the party.
Liao Fung-te, moreover, yesterday said that "the party's ad aims to attack its competitors from these three particular counties because its own party candidates have faced uphill battles."
Liao said that when he endorsed -- along with 76 other opposition lawmakers in the legislature -- cutting the budget in early June, he had no knowledge that money allocated for children was included because no details were provided for their reference.
He said that the DPP should not have manipulated the issue, adding that he has long supported proposals to help children.
Echoing Liao's views, Lin Chien-jung said the party has singled out six of the 77 legislators who agreed to cut the budget because the party's election prospects were not promising in the three counties where they were running.
Lin also said that the Cabinet had violated the Budget Law because it failed in early June to detail where the money would be allocated. The legislature therefore voted against passing the budget and requested a report from the Cabinet afterwards.
DPP Deputy Secretary-General Hsu Yang-ming (
President Chen Shui-bian (
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