Nominee for Control Yuan VP voted down

As the Taipei Times reported today,

Some KMT legislators have threatened to vote down nominees such as former DPP legislator Shen Fu-hsiung (沈富雄), who was named vice president of the yuan ...

Well, I just saw him get voted down by the legislature while I was watching TV at lunch. You may wonder, why would Ma have nominated a former DPP legislator for the #2 spot in the Control Yuan in the first place. Shen resigned in October 2007:

Approached for comment at the legislature, Shen, a four-term DPP legislator, said he had stayed "long enough" and "done enough" for the party....

Shen had been a member since 1992 when he ran for legislator under the party flag.

However, he was long considered a "loner" because of his outspokenness about the party's policies or other members with whom he disagreed.

He created a stir before the 2004 presidential poll when he gave credence to claims by tycoon-turned-fugitive Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) that the businessman had given a donation to first lady Wu Shu-chen (吳淑珍) 10 years earlier.

Chen Yu-hao said Shen had been a witness to the transaction.

Shen's unwillingness to contradict Chen Yu-hao's allegations threatened to derail President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) re-election campaign in the week before the poll.

Shen has been sharply criticized ever since by pan-green supporters, who denounced him for being a DPP apostate and for making connections with pro-blue figures.

In April 2004, Shen urged pro-green politicians to stop using the phrase "love Taiwan" as an encapsulation of their pro-localization stance, saying the phrase was detrimental to ethnic harmony between the majority Hoklo (commonly known as Taiwanese) and Mainlanders who came to Taiwan after 1945.

Yeah, so you can see why Ma would have nominated him and made himself appear to be reaching across party lines. But the KMT caucus would have none of that. In questioning a few days ago:

Meanwhile, Shen admitted that he had accepted a political donation of less than NT$1 million (US$32,900) from tycoon-turned-fugitive Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) 14 years ago, but he said he had reported the money in accordance with the law for disclosing the annual assets of public officials.

He declined to answer KMT Legislator Tsai Chin-lung (蔡錦隆), who asked about Wang’s support of claims by Chen Yu-hao in 2004 ahead of the presidential election that the businessman had given a donation to then-first lady Wu Shu-jen (吳淑珍) a decade earlier.

Also, remember:

At the end of the year 2004, President Chen Shui-bian sent a list of Control Yuan member nominees to the Legislative Yuan for approval. The Pan-Blue Coalition, which holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, has so far refused to ratify President Chen's nominees demanding that he submit a new list. This political deadlock had technically stopped the Control Yuan from functioning since February 2005.