Despite being able to make the KMT feel proud about losing last December's Kaohsiung mayoral election, KMT Legislator James Chen (
Chen tendered his resignation after blue-camp councilors voted scandal-ridden independent councilor Chu An-hsiung (
TAIPEI TIMES FILE PHOTO
"I offered to resign because, as the head of the party's Organization and Development Committee, I need to take responsibility for problems that damaged the image of the party," Chen said.
Despite his notorious reputation, Chu won the speakership with 25 votes. It is believed 11 of 12 KMT councilors, six out of seven PFP councilors and eight out of nine independents voted for Chu.
Prosecutors have confirmed that several Kaohsiung city councilors have turned themselves in and admitted to receiving bribes from Chu.
Chen said he is sorry to see such an outcome, adding that he failed to carry through the party headquarters' order that KMT councilors not vote for Chu.
"The job of the Organization and Development Committee is to take charge of all issues relating to the party's electoral campaign," Chen said. "I ought to take on all responsibility for any unfavorable and undesirable electoral outcome or mistakes resulting from [the committee's] campaign strategies."
KMT Secretary-General Lin Fong-cheng (
Saying that James Chen's resignation was a natural way to demonstrate his responsibility, KMT Legislator Apollo Chen (
"Aside from being in charge of the party's electoral campaign work, another job of the committee is to recruit new members to the party," Apollo Chen said. "I think it would help the party if the head of the committee had a clean image and didn't remind the public of the KMT's old unpleasant image."
While lauding James Chen's rich campaign experience, Apollo Chen said that such a background can sometimes work against the head of the Organization and Development Committee.
"Given James Chen's decades-long career as a public servant, he has come to learn a lot about under-the-table deals, which then remind the public of the KMT's old unpleasant image," Apollo Chen said.
James Chen is a legislator-at-large and was also a Taipei City councilor for 29 years, during which he served as city council speaker and vice speaker.
James Chen was well-known for his attacks on Chen Shui-bian (
James Chen had also served as the director of Lien's Taipei campaign office when Lien was running in the 2000 presidential election.
In the Kaohsiung mayoral race, Chen insisted on supporting the KMT's Huang Jun-ying (黃俊英), despite the party's plan to dump Huang in favor of independent Chang Po-ya (張博雅). The party decided to stick with Huang and, despite losing to the race to the DPP's Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), felt proud of the result.
Huang, secured 47 percent of the vote, while Hsieh won 50 percent.
Chen said that it was for the sake of the KMT that he accepted the job as head of the Organization and Development Committee.
He said his resignation stems from that same concern.
"If my resignation can increase KMT party members' trust in the party, then I believe my resignation is in some way a contribution to the party as well," Chen said.
Chen remains a member of the party's Central Standing Committee, its highest decision-making body.
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm early yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, less than a week after a typhoon barreled across the nation. The agency issued an advisory at 3:30am stating that the 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, of the Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, with a 100km radius. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA
Residents have called on the Taipei City Government to reconsider its plan to demolish a four-decades-old pedestrian overpass near Daan Forest Park. The 42-year-old concrete and steel structure that serves as an elevated walkway over the intersection of Heping and Xinsheng roads is to be closed on Tuesday in preparation for demolition slated for completion by the end of the month. However, in recent days some local residents have been protesting the planned destruction of the intersection overpass that is rendered more poetically as “sky bridge” in Chinese. “This bridge carries the community’s collective memory,” said a man surnamed Chuang
A tropical depression east of the Philippines became a tropical storm earlier today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The 22nd tropical storm, named Yinxing, in this year's Pacific typhoon season formed at 2am, the CWA said. As of 8am, the storm was 1,730km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) with a 100km radius, it said. It was moving west-northwest at 32kph, with maximum sustained winds of 83kph and gusts of up to 108kph. Based on its current path, the storm is not expected to hit Taiwan, CWA meteorologist Huang En-hung (黃恩宏) said. However, a more accurate forecast would be made on Wednesday, when Yinxing is
NEW DESTINATIONS: Marketing campaigns to attract foreign travelers have to change from the usual promotions about Alishan and Taroko Gorge, the transport minister said The number of international tourists visiting Taiwan is estimated to top 8 million by the end of this year, Minister of Transportation and Communications Chen Shi-kai (陳世凱) said yesterday, adding that the ministry has not changed its goal of attracting 10 million foreign travelers this year. Chen made the remarks at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee to brief lawmakers about the ministry’s plan to boost foreign visitor arrivals. Last month, Chen told the committee that the nation might attract only 7.5 million tourists from overseas this year and that when the ministry sets next year’s goal, it would not include
RSS