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Mayor spends Taipei’s
money on self: councilor
EXTRAVAGANCE? Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin has been
promoting himself at the city’s public relations events, while governance has
been lacking, a DPP councilor said
By Huang Chung-jung and Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with Staff
Writer
Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) was denounced by Taipei City Councilor Kao
Chia-yu (高嘉瑜) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) for allegedly
squandering taxpayers’ money by spending NT$2.3 billion (US$79.3 million) on the
city’s public relations — which Kao said was spent mostly promoting Hau himself.
Suspecting that Hau’s underlying motive was to mount a campaign push to be
nominated as the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) candidate in the 2016
presidential election, Kao on Friday accused Hau of extravagantly wasting public
money, while concrete results of the city government’s performance were
imperceptible to the public.
According to Kao, during Hau’s his first mayoral term from 2007 to 2010, the
amount spent on publicity and promotional activities by Hau’s administration was
NT$1.4 billion. That amount was twice the amount of the about NT$600 million
spent by Hau’s predecessor, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), during Ma’s tenure as
Taipei mayor from 2003 to 2006.
“Even more ridiculous is that Hau is only two years into his second term and yet
he has already spent more than NT$850 million on publicity and promotional
activities,” she said, adding that, in other words, Hau’s public relations
spending amounted to more than NT$400 million per year.
The NT2.3 billion (US$792 million) spent by the Hau administraion over the past
six years on publicity and promotional activities does not even include the
NT$400 million spent on marketing and promotions for the 2010 Taipei
International Flora Expo, she said, or the NT$1.2 billion budgeted for publicity
and promotions for the 2017 Summer Universiade.
Citing another example, Kao said that during Ma’s tenure as Taipei mayor, a
budget of NT$2 million was approved for New Year’s Eve celebration events.
However, since Hau has become mayor, the cost has steadily climbed to NT$8
million this year and to a proposed NT$15 million for next year’s event, she
added.
“Hau ought not to squander any more funds on promoting these large-scale
fireworks events. If Hau continues such lavish spending, all citizens of Taipei
will be saddled with a heavy debt load when his term is up, while he can simply
walk away,” Kao said.
In response, the Department of Cultural Affairs said its publicity budget helped
to promote the city’s Taipei Symphony Orchestra’s programs and the Taipei
Biennial arts events, while the Department of Sports said the increased spending
on publicity and promotion events was caused by the city’s hosting of the Summer
Deaflympics, as well as the 2017 Summer Universiade.
Meanwhile, Taipei City Government spokesman Chang Chi-chiang (張其強) said that in
the six years that Hau has been in office, the number of people attending the
various festivals and events held by the city government has increased, proving
that the city government’s efforts at improving the city are working.
While some of the events could still be improved upon, the city government
believes that the public has witnessed the mayor’s efforts and appreciates them,
Chang added.
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