Editorial
Arrest of Hokkaido teachers' union leaders raises questions over DPJ stance on funding
The arrests of four senior labor union members for illegally providing 16 million yen to the election campaign office of Chiyomi Kobayashi, a Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) member of the House of Representatives, came as a shock to the party as it is already tainted by a series of recent political funding scandals.
Those arrested by the Sapporo District Public Prosecutors Office include the acting chairman and the secretary-general of the Hokkaido Teachers Union.
The latest incident, which follows money scandals involving political fund management bodies for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and DPJ Secretary-General Ichiro Ozawa, is particularly serious in that one of several labor unions that are major supporters of the party is involved.
The Law to Regulate Money Used for Political Activities allows companies and labor unions to extend political donations to political parties' branches and their fund management bodies, but bans them from donating to individual politicians and their fund-raising bodies. The 16 million yen was not recorded in the DPJ's local branch. The money, which has reportedly been deposited in a secret account held by Kobayashi's campaign office, is regarded by law enforcers as a secret donation.
Kobayashi's campaign office had difficulties in raising funds to finance her election campaign, which was prolonged. The now deceased chairman of the union, who served as head of her election campaign office, is suspected of having been directly involved in the alleged illegal donations.
The Hokkaido Teachers Union claims that it has properly dealt with its accounting. However, a senior member of the Hokkaido regional headquarters of the All-Japan Prefectural and Municipal Workers Union, who served as chief accountant at Kobayashi's campaign office, has admitted that it received the 16 million yen from the teachers union. The Hokkaido Teachers Union will be required to provide an explanation of the donations instead of just waiting to see developments in the investigation.
Teachers at public schools are required to be politically neutral and legally banned from being involved in election campaigns.
However, this is not the first case in which a teachers union was implicated in an election-related incident. High-ranking members of the Yamanashi Teachers Union were fined for omitting donations the group had collected to support Azuma Koshiishi, head of the DPJ Caucus of the House of Councillors in the 2004 election, from a political fund report. The Japan Teachers Union is urged to conduct an investigation into local teachers unions under its umbrella and provide a proper explanation to the public.
The latest incident has also raised doubts as to whether many DPJ legislators have been financially dependent on labor unions that support the party.
The DPJ should also conduct a probe in a bid to get to the bottom of the incident. The DPJ came under fire for failing to launch an investigation into the cases involving Hatoyama and Ozawa. However, the DPJ cannot convince the public without conducting such an investigation into Kobayashi's case as it has raised doubts about the DPJ's collusive relations with labor unions that support it.
The governing party should take action to totally ban companies and other organizations such as labor unions from extending political donations as it pledged in its election manifesto. The ruling coalition appears to be unenthusiastic about doing so, but it is urged to hold discussions on the issue at the Diet while consulting with opposition parties.
The focus of investigations is where the 16 million yen comes from and whether the campaign offices of other DPJ legislators have accepted such illegal funds. It goes without saying that legislator Kobayashi, who has claimed that she knows nothing about the scandal, should also provide an explanation.
(Mainichi Japan) March 2, 2010