Monday, December 17, 2012

Japan Future Party Leader Kada Says She Will Work With Japan Restoration Party's Toru Hashimoto


She says she has worked closely with Osaka City Mayor Toru Hashimoto, aka boy-wonder in this blog, and she will continue to do so in the national politics.

All right, very well said, Ms. Kada. People who are concerned about nuclear plants, radiation contamination, excessive power of the government, TPP, tax increase, tampering with the Constitution can now ditch your party without feeling bad.

So much for that "graduating from nuclear" slogan.

Also, she clearly wants to run for the Upper House and continue to receive salary as the governor of Shiga Prefecture. The first thing she would therefore "amend" is Local Autonomy Law established in the same year as the Constitution, in 1947.

From Asahi Shinbun, reporting her words to the reporters in Tokyo (12/17/2012):

「橋下さんと共同行動、十分にある」嘉田・未来代表

"It is very likely that I will cooperate with Mr. Hashimoto", says Japan Future Party leader Kada

 知事と国会議員を兼務できないのは戦後、地方自治法をアメリカから輸入したから。フランスはもともと兼務が大前提。ドイツも(含め)ヨーロッパ型は地方の知事や市長が参議院を兼務するのは当然です。地方の声があがるから、政策も実行力のあるものができる。

The reason why a governor cannot also be a representative in the National Diet is simply because of the Local Autonomy Law imported from the United States after the World War II. In France, holding two offices concurrently is the principle. European systems including that of Germany allow local governors and mayors to be the members of the Upper House, as a matter of course. [National] government policies will become more actionable when the voices from the local government are reflected in the policies.


 今回、(日本維新の会代表代行の)橋下(徹)さんが「参議院との兼務を法律改正せえ」と(言った)。橋下さんと一緒に訴えていきたい。滋賀県民のみなさんに理解してほしいのは、県をおざなりにしているのではなく、よりよい県政をやるために提案をする。無駄遣い、縦割り、効率の悪い行政を押しつけられている。(橋下さんとは)今までも関西広域連合でずっと一緒にやってきた。(国政でも)共同行動をとることは十分にある。

In this election, Mr. (Toru) Hashimoto (Deputy Leader of Japan Restoration Party said) "Change the law that restricts concurrent serving in the Upper House." I will campaign for that change, together with Mr. Hashimoto. What I want the residents of Shiga Prefecture to understand is that I am not neglecting the prefecture. I will make suggestions [to the national government] for better government in Shiga. We are forced to operate with wasteful spending, vertical organizational structure and inefficiency. I have worked with (Mr. Hashimoto) for a long time in the Kansai Wide-Area Alliance [supra-prefectural body made of mayors and governors in Kansai]. It is very likely that I will cooperate with Mr. Hashimoto (in the national politics).


European readers, is she correct? Are your governors and mayors also your upper-house councilors?

It's really ironic of her to speak of "waste", when I recall it was her who cut the funding for the fixed stations that monitored radioactive materials and radiation levels because they were "wasteful".

Now that the alliance with Ichiro Ozawa has gone nowhere in the election, she is renewing the overture to the boy wonder.

5 comments:

Maju said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Maju said...

"In France, holding two offices concurrently is the principle".

That's surely true but maybe only in France. For example Basque-French conservative politician Michèlle Alliot-Marie has also been mayor of Miarritze (Biarritz) while being Minister of Youth and Sports in the French Government. Later she adopted a lower profile in local politics and became Deputy-Mayor of Ziburu (Ciboure) instead of staying as Mayor when appointed as Minister of Defense by Raffarin (2nd Chirac presidency) and also later when she was a rather infamous Interior Minister under Sarkozy.

Sorry for the deleted comment but I understood wrongly the question at first.

I think that this dual national-local role as politicians is less common or even illegal in other countries. In Spain for example there is a quite strict incompatibility law that does not only forbid such multiple official roles but also restricts private offices in companies and such and keeps strict control (in theory at least) of the wealth of representatives (but not ministers if they are not also elect representatives - the wealth of some "independent" current ministers is therefore unknown).

JAnonymous said...

LOL!

Good job from her quoting the disputed situation in France as a principle.

In addition to the fact that holding two offices anywhere is the best way to show your voters that you only half care about them, it is going to be difficult to keep that practice going on in France. How about half-time doctors ? Be sure to show up on the right day or you're screwed. Because the other half-time, you're dentist might be a plumber (ask Ray Charles http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9J4bCP0yylA).

It has been called into question scores of times, no later than last month with a special report from french lower house, and it will probably become banned there before Ms Kada can be elected elsewhere here. It is a good way to boost public opinion, because it sounds like a fair decision to voters, and only impacts a few politicians.

Also, it being only a de facto standard thanks to a gray zone, I find it a bit brave to call this a 'principle'. For example, let's say, in Japan building NPPs on top of active faults is the principle, and all meltdowns happen by threes...

arevamirpal::laprimavera said...

Thank you Maju and JA. I'm starting to think she is not what she appears to be. There are other claims during the campaign that I thought was strange.

Anonymous said...

About France : see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumul_des_mandats

A newly appointed commission : http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jul/16/french-morality-commission-presidential-immunity has started making proposals to change this.

The proposals are listed in http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/cumul-des-mandats/20121109.OBS8783/ce-que-propose-la-commission-jospin.html (sorry I could not find anything in English)

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