Legislator Ann Kao (高虹安), the Taiwan People’s Party candidate for Hsinchu mayor, yesterday said she did not contravene regulations on hiring following accusations that she employed her boyfriend as an assistant.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Hsinchu mayoral candidate Lin Ken-jeng (林耕仁) on Monday said that Kao’s assistant, surnamed Lee (李), had no extension number on the staff listing for Kao’s office and used the same cellphone number as Kao.
Lin said that Kao must clarify whether Lee is her boyfriend and whether she used taxpayers’ money to pay his wages.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
Under the Organic Act of the Legislative Yuan (立法院組織法), a legislator can hire eight to 14 assistants, whose salaries are paid out of the legislature’s budget.
Kao said that Lin should provide evidence if he thought she had engaged in illegal activity instead of “throwing out lots of questions to evade legal responsibilities.”
Kao said she has been running a “clean campaign” and never dug into other candidates’ private lives or those of their family members, adding that Lin should respect her personal life, as the questions he asked “were private and had nothing to do with the public.”
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
Lin yesterday said that Kao “avoided the important issues” and “refused to honestly face the questions” over Lee’s alleged employment, adding that she is not qualified to be mayor.
Democratic Progressive Party Hsinchu mayoral candidate Shen Hui-hung (沈慧虹) said that regardless of whether Lee is Kao’s boyfriend, the issue is whether he worked as her assistant.
She asked Kao to explain the matter, adding that Hsinchu citizens “will not accept a candidate who confuses their private life with their public role and engages in illegal activities.”
Photo: Tsai Chang-sheng, Taipei Times
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