Lawmaker Exploits Local Democracy

If a lawmaker hired a local assembly member as a government-paid secretary, it is inappropriate not only because the secretary has double income from both national and local governments, but also because he/she cannot sufficiently work as a local assembly member. That is not unusual for the Diet members in Japan. The parties began to research how the secretary of lawmakers are involved in political activities. 

According to the report of Mainichi Shimbun, a member of House of Representatives Taku Ikeshita, Osaka 10th district and affiliated to Innovation Party, hired two members of Takatsuki City Assembly, Osaka, as his secretaries whose salaries were paid by the national government. One secretary worked for four months and another for a year. One of the two secretaries received ¥9 million from national government and the total of double income amounted to ¥20 million in 2022.

 

The system of government-paid secretary was introduced in 1947, enabling a lawmaker to have at least one secretary with public financial support. A lawmaker can have two since 1963, and can add another one in charge of policy making since 1993. Those three secretaries –the first secretary, the second secretary and the secretary for policy making -- are defined as the special positions of national public employees.

 

While the most secretaries work in the office in Tokyo where the Diet is, the two secretaries for Ikeshita were ordinarily in Osaka office. Ikeshita’s Tokyo office was run by a policy making secretary. Concurrent works of the secretaries may not violate a law, if the lawmaker admit it, setting a loophole in the system. But anyway, Ikeshita did not registered his two secretaries for their double working. And taking public money from both national and local government should be questioned in moral perspectives in this case.

 

As the party interested in reforming political and administrative system, Innovation Party is serious about the wrong management of its member. Secretary General of Innovation Party Fumitake Fujita ordered all the lawmakers with the party to review their own managements. The party is suffering from consecutive problems related to money, including Fujita’s mishandling in reporting his acceptance of donation.

 

The same cases of secretary’s double working were later found in the lawmakers with Liberal Democratic Party and Constitutional Democratic Party. They have been believing that local assembly member could work for a lawmaker, if the lawmaker needed it. There is a discussion now to fix the ambiguity in the law.

 

Every city in Japan has its own assembly. The assembly members are supposed to serve for the local community, not for a Diet member. If an assembly member had time to visit the voters to ask support or to ask donation for a lawmaker, he/she has to work more about regional issues like building road or bridges, increasing nursery facilities for kids or improving health care in hospitals. That is why a lawmaker who employs local assembly member can be said as exploiting local community.

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