A political fundraising party that became the scene of a secret funds scandal involving a Liberal Democratic Party faction. Originally, these events were legally permitted to raise funds needed for political activities, but some parties continue to refrain from holding them due to fears of negative publicity. With the next House of Representatives election and the House of Councillors election next summer looming, some Diet members are unable to hold meetings and are lamenting that they will lose their income and may have no choice but to fire someone (in their office). “This is a party with no hidden fees. “I can’t continue my political activities without your donations and support,” Nagoya Mayor Kawamura Takashi said in front of several hundred supporters at a party he held at a hotel in the city in March this year to raise political funds. In June, the Japan Conservative Party, of which he is co-chair, held a party for 1,500 people. Kawamura stresses the need for this, saying, “We have no choice but to create political activity funds.” Political fundraising parties are held in hotel banquet halls or conference rooms, and supporters receive information about them under names such as “encouraging ___” or “study sessions.” The number of participants varies widely, from a few dozen to several thousand. Companies and other organizations can purchase a large number of party tickets but have few people actually attend, and can limit the amount and content of food and drink served, thereby generating a lot of income with little expense. In the LDP faction slush fund scandal, any sales revenue that exceeded sales quotas for party tickets was kicked back (refunded) to lawmakers, but not reported in political funding reports, turning it into slush funds. However, this is not always the case. A source close to a Liberal Democratic Party member of parliament with a base in Aichi Prefecture said, “I’ve heard that in Tokyo, expenses are only a small percentage of the total, but here, due to the nature of the location, we have to serve so much food that people can’t finish it and there’s leftovers, otherwise visitors won’t be satisfied. Cooking costs so much that my income is very little,” she confides. Another member of parliament elected from the prefecture briefly considered canceling the party after the slush fund scandal came to light, but decided to “avoid the law and hold the party as we have done until now.” However, supporters expressed concerns such as, “Are they really going to do this at this time?” and “Won’t this damage the image?” About 350 supporters filled a hotel room for the lawmaker’s meeting in early July. The main event was a lecture by an outside businessman, and the only food and drink provided was a single bottle of tea. One participant, a woman in her 60s, commented, “It was a good opportunity to meet and talk to the lawmakers themselves. It’s easier to participate in these kinds of gatherings than to make individual donations,” said a male supporter (80), who added, “It doesn’t give the impression of being a typical ’party.’ It has a bad image, so it might be better to change the name.” In response to the incident, the Aichi Prefectural LDP branch has decided to cancel this year’s party hosted by the prefectural branch. The Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan independently submitted a bill to completely ban parties during the last regular session of the Diet. Although the bill was rejected, one Diet member from the party in the Tokai region is considering the criticism and is therefore unable to hold his annual party this year. A source from the lawmaker’s office said, “There’s nothing wrong with parties themselves, and frankly, I think it’s fine to hold them. However, we have the public image of being the party that first proposed a total ban, so it won’t be easy to restart it,” he said. Since the income from the party has been used to pay salaries for administrative staff, etc., the party has no choice but to cover the necessary expenses by dipping into its election savings. “If this continues, we may have no choice but to fire someone at the last minute. It was supposed to be an issue with LDP factions…” he sighs. Complete transparency is necessary. Professor Tomizaki Takashi (political science) of the Komazawa University Faculty of Law said about political fundraising parties, “If the flow of money is not clear, it is natural for the public to become skeptical and think, ’Maybe he’s just putting it in his own pocket.’ “There needs to be thorough record-keeping and transparency on where the funds were raised and how they were used.” In June, a revised Political Funds Control Act was passed, which included a change to lower the standard for disclosing the purchaser of party tickets from a purchase amount of “over 200,000 yen” to “over 50,000 yen.” Professor Tomizaki said, “It’s a half step forward, but it’s still not enough,” and pointed out the need to make the information public in principle and to ban cash transactions. “It is far from a fundamental solution to the ’politics and money problem,’ and simply imposing a ’total ban’ would be seen as nothing more than a performance. “Fundamental reform is needed, including amendments to the Public Offices Election Act, which provides the framework for electoral competition, and within that, changes to the way political funds are handled will be required.” [Kato Sanami, Arakawa Mototsugu, Kawase Shinichiro] Mainichi Shimbun 2024/8/25 12:05 (last updated 8/25 12:05).
>>1 The only thing that changes is the name, the Japanese Communist Party’s income from selling Red Flags is the same as a political fundraising party. The majority of the Communist Party’s income comes from sales of its organ magazine, Akahata, but since there is no obligation to report to whom and how much the party has sold the magazine for, it does not violate the Political Funds Control Act, even if large foreign buyers are in fact political donors. Don’t you think that’s strange? The Communist Party, which advocates transparency in political funding, has not introduced a system to ensure transparency in political funding, and instead maintains this level of opacity.
>>4 So what? It’s common for idiots to keep complaining about the consumption tax compared to other countries. Do they do it overseas too? What an idiot. You’re the one who lost.
Constitutional Democratic Party: “No to political fundraising parties!” ↓ The Constitutional Democratic Party is flooded with criticism after trying to secretly hold a political fundraising party on its own The Constitutional Democratic Party’s famous boomerang.
Handshake rights with the idols of the political uncles, the LDP politicians, and also with the secretaries who will be coming up in the future. If this is the case, we will have to fight with attributes, leaving aside money and power.
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