Kuomintang legislator Weng Hsiao-ling declined to admit fault over budget cuts that cost sheltered workshops their mooncake orders, as the Democratic Progressive Party put her at the top of its "ten worst legislators" list. The DPP published the ranking as the extended fifth session of the Legislative Yuan ended on August 31, saying her cuts hit 15,000 boxes of orders at 37 sheltered workshops, Liberty Times reported.
How did Weng respond? Interviewed on August 31, Weng thanked the KMT caucus for its support and said her proposal to cut and freeze the Presidential Office's state affairs fund could not otherwise have passed a vote. The Mid-Autumn orders were cancelled at short notice after that cut, stirring complaints inside her party. Some county and city chiefs said they hoped Weng would "be quiet", and caucus whip Fu Kun-chi went as far as phoning her to tell her to "shut up", Liberty Times reported.
What did the DPP say? The DPP legislative caucus said that however Kuomintang and Taiwan People's Party legislators now shift blame onto one another, they cannot escape a decision taken as a "cold-blooded accomplice structure". The party's ranking, which it called a "shameful ranking", accused Weng of making disadvantaged people the victims of a political struggle while showing no remorse. The party urged voters to reject such legislators with their ballots on November 28.
What else did her cuts reach? Weng also froze Premier Cho Jung-tai's salary from September to December, and because government pay is issued on the first of each month, his salary would not arrive on September 1, Liberty Times reported. She separately froze and cut media policy promotion budgets at several ministries, publicly mocking them as "blue bird feed". Those budgets were cut by NT$684 million this year, with the Executive Yuan's and the Ministry of Culture's allocations cut entirely. The Executive Yuan said the cuts let false and erroneous information slip in.
How did DPP legislators answer the "blue bird feed" remark? DPP legislator Lin Chu-yin said the "feed" Weng described was all in the hands of Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an, who had turned it into "waste". Lin said the city government had spent NT$420 million on media promotion during Chiang's four years in office, and raised an "Indonesian cyber army" controversy on its official Facebook page.
