EDITORIAL: Vice minister’s resignation a cue for ending arrogant politics

Ichiro Tsukada fully deserved to lose his post as vice land minister over remarks about a shady practice concerning a local public works project that heightened public distrust of the administrative process.

Tsukada resigned on April 5 after saying he had upgraded a road project connecting the main island of Honshu and the southern island of Kyushu as an unrequested favor to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso.

Tsukada, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, said he decided to accommodate their assumed wishes and intentions, a practice known as "sontaku.”

The practice had come under heavy criticism in relation to political scandals involving Moritomo Gakuen and the Kake Educational Institution, two school operators directly or indirectly linked to Abe.

After submitting his letter of resignation to Keiichi Ishii, the minister of land, infrastructure, transport and tourism, Tsukada said he did not want to be the cause of policymaking getting stuck.

The government and the ruling camp appear to be hoping that his departure will limit the repercussions on Diet deliberations and unified local elections to a minimum.

But this is not something that should be swept under the carpet if indeed budgeting for the project was influenced by political favors.

Instead of trying to put the matter behind it, the administration needs to offer a convincing explanation to the public.

The Shimonoseki-Kita-Kyushu Road project will link Abe’s home base in Yamaguchi Prefecture with Aso’s stronghold in Fukuoka Prefecture via the Kanmon Straits. It is one of six “strait-crossing” route projects around the country proposed in the late 1980s.

The project was put on ice in 2008 when Yasuo Fukuda headed the government, but revived in fiscal 2017 with a joint feasibility study by the central and local governments.

Starting in this fiscal year, the project will be directly supervised and financed by the central government. This is the only one of the six “strait-crossing” route projects that receives state funding.

Speaking at a rally for the LDP-backed candidate for the Fukuoka gubernatorial election on April 1, Tsukada boasted that the state budget would fully cover the cost of the feasibility study.

He said he practiced sontaku after a conversation with Hiromi Yoshida, secretary-general of the LDP’s Upper House caucus. Tsukada said Yoshida pointed out it was a project for the constituencies of the prime minister and the deputy prime minister.

After his remarks sparked a public outcry, Tsukada explained that he said what was “different from the facts” as he “got carried away” by a large audience. But it is hard to believe his explanation.

Senior land ministry officials were also present at Tsukada’s meeting with Yoshida. The records should be published to clarify what the two politicians actually said.

In March 2016, a group of ruling party lawmakers submitted a petition to the land minister calling for early implementation of the project. Abe's name was on the petition.

Abe has denied any knowledge about how the project came to be revived. Even so, the process should be scrutinized to determine whether the decision was appropriate.

Abe should be held responsible for trying to get Tsukada off the hook instead of dismissing him outright.

Even if sontaku was not involved, Tsukada clearly sought to win the support of voters by speaking about his efforts to grant political favors to their district.

Tsukada entered politics after serving as a secretary to Aso and belongs to the ruling party faction led by the doyen.

If Abe hesitated to sack Tsukada out of consideration for his relationship with Aso, his close political ally, Abe should be criticized for showing a distinct lack of political integrity.

Aso has remained in the top post at the Finance Ministry despite the scandal involving the ministry’s falsification of official documents. Abe seems to have no qualms about allowing Aso to keep holding the important Cabinet portfolio.

Following Tsukada’s resignation, Abe told reporters that he will tighten discipline within the administration in carrying out the public mandate.

The administration’s behavior needs to be monitored closely and vigorously to see whether it is really committed to tackling its deeply ingrained problems, including political arrogance, lax discipline and a tendency to disregard political responsibility.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 6