Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Keelung city councilors this week accused Keelung Mayor George Hsieh (謝國樑) of using resources from his family business to launch recall campaigns against his political opponents.
The councilors told reporters that they are being targeted for recall by Hsieh and other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials, who they alleged have started gathering signatures to demand a referendum for their recall in many constituencies.
Keelung City Council Speaker Tung Tzu-wei (童子瑋) on Wednesday said he is among the five DPP city councilors being targeted.
Photo: Lu Hsiu-hsien, Taipei Times
“This is a vicious form of retribution by Hsieh, and will add fuel to the fire burning in Keelung’s ongoing political feuds and scandals,” he said.
“It is also the worst type of dirty political trick in Taiwan, tarnishing Keelung’s image and causing more residents to lose faith in the mayor,” Tung said.
Asked about the recall drive, Hsieh at first said he was not aware of it and did not support any recall campaign against city councilors.
However, KMT Keelung chapter director Wu Kuo-sheng (吳國勝) later confirmed to reporters that “the signature drive was launched by our party members in response to DPP members and their supporters who started an online campaign to recall Hsieh.”
“This is our way of fighting back, by initiating efforts to recall these five DPP councilors,” Wu added.
The city councilors accused Hsieh of plotting against them due to their questions in city council sessions regarding allegations that the city government and police forced the proprietor of Keelung E-Square Mall (基隆東岸商場) to hand over the operating rights, which were allegedly given to Breeze Group through a secret deal.
NET Fashion Development Co, which formerly owned the commercial rights to the mall, has filed a lawsuit against Hsieh and the city government for allegedly carrying out an illegal “nighttime raid” on Feb. 1, in which city officials and 40 police officers hauled away items belonging to the company, shut down the NET store at the mall and changed the locks to prevent re-entry.
Tung and DPP City Councilor Chang Hao-han (張顥瀚) presented voice recordings, signed documents and other evidence which they said had been provided by a whistle-blower.
They cited the alleged whistle-blower as saying that managers at Keelung Second Credit Cooperative (KSCC) branches were told at a meeting on Tuesday to gather recall signatures from employees by today.
Founded by Hsieh’s grandfather, KSCC is one of Keelung’s leading financial institutions. Hsieh’s father, Hsieh Hsiu-ping (謝修平), became chairman of the company in 1972, which then passed to Georgie Hsieh after his death last year.
Tung and Chang said the evidence showed that they are being targeted in the signature drive, along with DPP city councilors Cheng Wen-ting (鄭文婷), Jiho Chang (張之豪) and Chen Yi (陳宜).
“[George] Hsieh engaged in illegal action in the E-Square Mall incident, and could not answer questions on the matter while also mishandling other city affairs,” Jiho Chang said yesterday.
“Instead of doing his job as a mayor, he is taking revenge by trying to launch recall campaigns against his critics, including the councilors and council speaker who were voted into their seats in a free election,” he said.
“Questioning the mayor and monitoring the city govenment’s work are the official duties of city councilors ... but Hsieh has demonstrated his incompetence. Most of his election promises are like bounced checks. Now he is engaging in dirty tricks to exact revenge against his political opponents,” Jiho Chang added.
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