Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Nantou County commissioner candidate Lee Wen-chung (李文忠) said he is confident that his previous performance in the Legislative Yuan would more than make up for his lack of experience in county government and place him ahead of his rival, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Lin Ming-chen (林明溱).
Lee said that five years ago, when the DPP was at what he called its nadir, the party drafted him to return to Nantou County to run for commissioner.
“Despite having only five months’ time to gain a foothold, I lost by little more than 30,000 votes to KMT’s Lee Chao-ching (李朝卿),” Lee Wen-chung said in a recent interview with the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper), adding that he has made himself a promise to stay in the county and solidify the DPP’s presence there for the next election.
Lee Wen-chung said the KMT has been tarnished by the lack of good governance by President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration and the scandals involving party members, such as former Executive Yuan Secretary-General Lin Yi-shih (林益世), former Taipei city councilor Lai Su-ju (賴素如), former Nantou county commissioner Lee Chao-ching, former Taoyuan county deputy commissioner Yeh Shih-wen (葉世文) and Keelung City Council Speaker Huang Ching-tai (黃景泰). All have been convicted of corruption or are currently under investigation for alleged corruption and bribery, he said.
Lee Wen-chung added that Lin Ming-chen leaped at the chance to support Lee Chao-ching when the first rumors surfaced alleging that Lee Chao-ching had accepted bribes.
“Corruption has become a problem deeply rooted in the structure of the KMT and the people of Nantou need a fresh change, someone who is morally upright and has the guts to carry out policies,” Lee Wen-chung said.
Though every county commissioner stresses the importance of tourism, aside from development and construction, finding special characteristics in Nantou’s townships and promoting them is key to putting the county on the map, Lee Wen-chung said.
“The county government needs to have an international view and creative promotion while conserving its natural resources,” Lee Wen-chung said.
If elected as commissioner, he would seek to develop county tourism along these three axes and make each township self-sufficient with money generated by tourism, he added.
Saying that he came from a poor family and that his mother made a living by taking in washing for others, he added that he knew what the people from lower economic classes wanted and needed.
“I’ve been there myself,” he said.
Lee Wen-chung said that he would make education a priority if elected.
The county government would help establish after-school programs enabling children from disadvantaged families to study, he said. The children would not only have free dinner vouchers, but also would be provided with summer and winter vacation lunch vouchers, he added.
Lee Wen-chung said that his lack of support along the Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪), a former DPP stronghold, showed that his rival has a solid base in the area.
“It also goes to show that the pan-green supporters have not yet rallied together,” Lee Wen-chung said, adding that he would continue to do his best and seek the public’s support via personal visits and advertising campaigns.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
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