A Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislative candidate yesterday released a TV campaign advertisement that denounces four candidates from opposition parties as rumormongers and asks voters not to support them in December.
Cheng Yun-peng's (鄭運鵬) 20-second campaign ad accuses People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (劉文雄), disgraced PFP Legislator Diane Lee (李慶安), PFP Legislator Feng Ting-kuo (馮定國) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Alex Tsai (蔡正元) of spreading rumors and libeling DPP officials over the past three years.
In response, Tsai threatened to sue Cheng and burn the DPP party flag.
The ad depicts controversies instigated by the four lawmakers, including Liu's recent allegations that former Panamanian president Mireya Moscoso received a US$1 million "settlement" from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), based on an unsubstantiated source; Tsai's alleged smearing of Chen's ancestors as being the "worst and lowest" of Hakka people during the presidential election campaign; Lee's use of phony evidence to accuse the chief of the Department of Health of sexual harassment and Feng's allegations that Chen was involved in major corruption relating to a construction project this July, later proven to be false.
Using the words, "No matter how barbarous the opposition parties are, they cannot slander other people and disturb the society so arbitrarily," the ad mimics the style of a successful campaign ad that Cheng released during the legislative campaign in 2001.
During the 2001 elections, Cheng, who was director of the DPP's Information and Culture Department, and Wu Nai-jen (吳乃仁), who was DPP secretary-general at that time, launched an ad that named opposition party lawmakers who had made cuts to budgets for child welfare and local development. The ad was said to have been a big factor behind the losses of a number of PFP and KMT candidates.
"We want to remind our voters exactly what these opposition legislators have done over the past three years and ask them to think about whether these people are adequate to serve as lawmakers again," Cheng said.
Cheng was sued by the KMT and the PFP for the 2001 campaign ad.
Cheng said that he plans to keep the spots running through the legislative elections and next month will launch another ad targeting opposition legislators who did "little work" during their terms.
Late in the day, Tsai responded to the ad's launch, saying he would file a lawsuit against Cheng. Tsai also called on supporters to gather in front of DPP headquarters and burn the party's flag in protest if Cheng continues to broadcast the ads.
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