Nearly 100 ex-LDP aides have switched sides

Former secretaries to Liberal Democratic Party politicians defeated in the Aug. 30 Lower House election have demonstrated the universal truth of the old adage: if you can't beat them, join them.

Since droves of voters switched allegiance to put the Democratic Party of Japan in power, almost 100 former aides to LDP lawmakers have switched theirs, according to the group of secretaries to DPJ Lower House members.

While one says she has fitted in comfortably "as there are no major policy differences" between the two parties, others have had difficulty handling labor unions and other groups with which they previously had no connection.

The LDP lost 181 seats in the chamber, which means a few hundred state-paid secretaries lost their jobs. One Diet member can employ three public aides, including one licensed policy secretary.

The DPJ gained 193 more seats, 143 of which are held by first-timers. Many have struggled to find new secretaries.

As a result, former LDP aides, both public and private, have migrated en masse across the political divide to fill the vacuum.

Qualified policy secretary Tetsuaki Okada, 59, started working at the office of DPJ Lower House member Fumihiko Igarashi in October after his former LDP boss lost his seat in the Aug. 30 election. "I had expected to get a new job soon, but it wasn't easy," he recalled.

Okada served as policy aide to the LDP's Motohiko Kondo until August. He left Kondo's office after the Niigata Prefecture-based politician lost his seat.

He had spent roughly 26 years working as an aide to LDP lawmakers, including former Prime Minister Kiichi Miyazawa.

Okada initially looked for a job with new LDP lawmakers, only to find the competition too intense. He considered DPJ newcomers, but was unable to find an attractive opening. Now that he finally has a job, he has dedicated himself to reading books by his new boss. "At my age, there are few jobs that pay enough to make a living," he says.

Naomi Kudo, who became a state-paid secretary to DPJ lawmaker Taketsuka Kimura, says she feels "no sense of strangeness here as there are no major policy differences."

Kudo attended a meeting of DPJ secretaries recently to find many faces that were familiar from her LDP days.

Another aide who switched to the DPJ says, "My raison d'etre is to take advantage of my own connections." The aide was told by members of farm groups and bureaucrats that they felt fortunate "to have an acquaintance in the ruling party."

But others feel out of place.

Tomohiro Yamada, now a public secretary to DPJ lawmaker Kuniyoshi Noda, took part in a demonstration march calling for a revision to the labor law in late October.

It was his first experience of marching for a cause.

"I had a sense of strangeness in the exchange with labor groups and others, with which I had no association while working for the LDP," he said.

Some of his colleagues also said they had not fitted in, according to Yamada.

The DPJ headquarters and the secretaries group had played a matchmaking role between DPJ lawmakers and job-seeking secretaries.

"We've received applications from about 400 people, including people with lots of experience," said secretaries group chairman Katsushi Onigahara. "There are still people looking for a job."(IHT/Asahi: November 6,2009)