LDP factions are busy collecting funds from corporations and paying little attention to collapse of job market

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

LDP factions are busy collecting funds from corporations and paying little attention to collapse of job market

Many Liberal Democratic Party factions held their fundraisers in the first half of April to collect funds in preparation for the House of Representatives general election, which will be called by September.

Bracing itself for possible dissolution of House of Representatives

Former Chief Cabinet Secretary Machimura Nobutaka's faction is the largest of all LDP factions. It held a fundraiser in a Tokyo hotel on April 13, attended by 3,300 people. Machimura in his speech boasted of his faction as being "the most powerful LDP group that supports the Aso Cabinet."

Referring to the news that the approval rating of the Aso Cabinet has slightly improved, Machimura said, "It's too early to feel at ease. The adverse wind has only begun to subside."

LDP Secretary General Hiroyuki Hosoda said, "There are signs of improvement in the approval rating, but the question is when the election takes place. The month of May is critical."

These fundraisers were organized just as large corporations are dismissing many temporary workers or unilaterally terminating their contracts. About 190,000 contingent workers are likely to lose their jobs by the end of June according to a Health, Labor, and Welfare Ministry estimate.

The average price of these fundraiser tickets was 20,000 yen, bought by large corporations and political action groups. However, a secretary to a Dietmember who belongs to the influential Koga faction, complained that it is not easy to sell tickets because corporations are reluctant to buy them due to the world economic crisis.

At many fundraisers, many participants were talking about the need for measures to cope with the economic crisis. However, no one talked about the hardships being experienced by unemployed workers.

They kept silent about illegal corporate donations

The recent illegal donations from Nishimatsu Construction involve both the Liberal Democratic Party and the Democratic Party of Japan, raising questions of how the two "major parties" are going to deal with the issue of "money flows and politicians." Fundraiser ticket purchases by corporations and political action groups are disguised as fund donations from them to politicians.

In a fund-raising gathering held by the Tsushima faction on March 4, the day after a secretary to DPJ President Ozawa Ichiro had been arrested for violating the political funds control law by hiding cash donations from Nishimatsu, LDP Secretary General Hosoda was in high spirits, saying "Now is the time for the LDP, which had been forced to be on the defensive, to go on the offensive." There was no mention made of what should be done regarding the LDP involvement in the Nishimatsu money scandal.

A TV Asahi program "Super Morning" on April 15 reported that many LDP factions made huge profits from fund-raising events. Journalist Torigoe Shuntaro commented, "Corporations buy tickets from all LDP factions, which means that they make enormous donations to the LDP as a whole."

- Akahata, April 16, 2009