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
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said