Absolute power in officialdom

Chapter 340 Bad Money Drives Out Good Money

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "What's your background?"

Lu Xinghua said, "His name is Liao Jinshen, and his father is Liao Chenggong, the owner of Daling Coal Mine in Qingyan County."

Liao Chenggong may not be considered a major coal tycoon, but he still has a net worth of tens of millions.

He sent both his son and daughter to study abroad.

Liao Jinshen's academic performance was terrible. He paid his way into high school, did his undergraduate studies in Australia, and spent his master's degree in the Philippines.

It is said that Liao Chenggong and Secretary Yuan Jin had a good personal relationship.

If nothing unexpected happens, Liao Jinshen will be promoted to deputy director of the county's key construction projects bureau within the next year or two.

Wu Zhiyuan asked coldly, "What remarkable achievements has he made?"

Lu Xinghua blurted out, "No, political achievements aren't important; what's important is having connections."

Wu Zhiyuan fell silent.

Lu Xinghua was telling the absolute truth.

Political achievements are a bonus factor when it comes to promotion, but they are by no means the decisive factor.

Take his recent appointment in Qingyan County, for example. Without Lin Xue as his powerful backer, how could he have been promoted to the level of a full-fledged department head at the young age of 29?

Everyone who rises to a high position at a young age has a powerful background; there are no exceptions.

Lü Xinghua realized his mistake: "County Chief Wu, I was being too extreme. Actually..."

Wu Zhiyuan waved his hand, interrupting him: "Xinghua, the phenomenon you mentioned does exist to varying degrees."

Besides Liao Jinshen, how many other officials in the county are like him—connected but mediocre in ability, or even morally unworthy of their positions? In which key positions are they located?

Lü Xinghua hesitated, or perhaps he was deep in thought.

Wu Zhiyuan smiled and encouraged, "Xinghua, don't feel pressured. There's no crime in speaking your mind. Just say what you want to say. It's just a private chat."

The reason I asked you to come here is to hear the truth, not lies or empty words.

"County Magistrate Wu, since you want to hear the truth, then I will speak frankly."

During my nearly two years at the archives bureau, I took advantage of my position to go through almost all the personnel files of cadres at or above the deputy section chief level in the county.

Logically, the personnel files of section-level cadres should be kept in the county party committee's organization department, but the situation in Qingyan County is special.

We share an office building with the County Party Committee's Organization Department. Since the County Party Committee's Organization Department's office area does not have the conditions for storing archives, they are stored in our archives bureau.

I don’t know, I’m scared.

Some things I had only heard about before, I only truly understood after looking at the files. There are many intricacies involved in the appointment of cadres in Qingyan County.

Let me start with the most direct observation. There are approximately three hundred cadres at or above the deputy section chief level in the entire county.

I have roughly estimated that at least one-third of them have prominent family members.

These are the hard relationships written in the files, but there are also many soft relationships not written in the files.

For example, the child might be from a fellow villager, classmate, or comrade-in-arms of a certain leader, or their parents might be close friends with the leader, or even have established relationships through various channels and by spending money. These things cannot be seen in the personnel file.

Wu Zhiyuan nodded, signaling him to continue.

"County Chief Wu, let me give you a few examples that I know of."

There is a deputy director in the county education bureau who is not very capable and struggles to write a decent report, but his father-in-law was the deputy director of the county people's congress standing committee.

The deputy director of the Finance Bureau has an uncle who is a section chief in the Provincial Finance Department.

There is a young deputy section chief in the county transportation bureau whose father is a deputy division-level leader in a municipal unit.

People like Liao Jinshen, whose fathers weren't officials but business owners, using money and connections to pave their way, represent a different type of person.

"What is the overall ability and quality of these cadres with connections?" Wu Zhiyuan asked.

"The quality varies. Some are very hardworking and capable, but there are quite a few mediocre ones."

Some leaders have a multitude of problems, but that doesn't prevent them from being promoted or given important responsibilities.

Wu Zhiyuan encouraged him, "Really? Tell me about it."

"Chen Youliang, the director of the county health commission, is the son of Chen Gang, the former chairman of the county political consultative conference who recently retired."

Chen Gang served as deputy county head and member of the county party committee standing committee; he is a local official of Qingyan County.

When Chen Youliang served as the deputy secretary of the town's Party committee, he was given a major demerit for issues related to his lifestyle.

Shortly after his disciplinary period ended, he was promoted to town mayor. During his tenure as mayor, he received another severe disciplinary action from the Party for accepting gifts and money.

Shortly after his disciplinary period ended, he was transferred to the county health commission as its director.

If it were any other cadre, they would probably have already stepped down from their leadership position and become a junior cadre.

But Chen Youliang has connections, so it's different.

I heard that when he was promoted to town mayor, Director Han Jie, who was then the deputy secretary of the county party committee, raised questions at the standing committee meeting.

However, the then county party secretary said that once the disciplinary period was over, it would not affect his promotion.

He also said that the Party's consistent policy is to learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones and to cure the disease to save the patient. We cannot condemn someone for making a mistake, but should let comrades who have made mistakes start afresh.

After Chen Youliang passed his disciplinary period, he was promoted and given important responsibilities. The correspondent from Qingyan County even published a publicity article in the Longcheng Daily.

The gist is that the Qingyan County Party Committee adhered to the principle of learning from past mistakes to avoid future ones and curing the disease to save the patient, and insisted on strict management and care. It correctly treated cadres who had made mistakes but had corrected them, creating a good personnel environment that encouraged courage to take responsibility and tolerance for mistakes. This allowed cadres who had "fallen down" to "stand up" again and gave them the opportunity to start anew. For a time, it became a positive example in the county's cadre appointment work.

But anyone with eyes can see that this is not about healing the sick and saving lives, or about leniency and severity; it is clearly about having connections and powerful backers.

"If it were an ordinary cadre without connections, let alone being promoted after two disciplinary actions, they'd be lucky to even keep their current position."

Wu Zhiyuan did not comment.

Chen Youliang was promoted and given important responsibilities after his disciplinary period ended, which did not violate the regulations for cadre promotion.

But as Lü Xinghua said, it would be impossible to do that without a background.

this is the truth.

Wu Zhiyuan took a sip of tea and said, "Xinghua, it's rare that you can calm down and think clearly about the true situation of the county's cadre team while working in the archives bureau."

These things hidden beneath the surface are invisible to outsiders, and the top leaders don't want to see them; only you can understand them so thoroughly.

Lu Xinghua smiled wryly and said, "County Chief Wu, I only dare to speak frankly with you because I'm in the Archives Bureau, a powerless department with no hope for a career advancement. And you've encouraged me to tell the truth."

"Xinghua, your ability to tell the truth is more precious than anything else."

I called you here today to hear these things.

How is the National Health Commission doing with Chen Youliang, whom you just mentioned?

"County Chief Wu, some of what we say about Chen Youliang is true, and some is just hearsay. Just take it with a grain of salt."

Chen Youliang actually had the opportunity to be transferred to other county-level units, but he chose to go to the Health Commission.

His high-sounding excuse was his love for the health care industry, but one time, after drinking too much, he said that he went to the Health Commission because there were many pretty young nurses at the county hospital and the traditional Chinese medicine hospital.

Chen Youliang's first disciplinary action was due to issues with his lifestyle.

When he was the deputy secretary of the town's Party committee, his dormitory was near the town's family planning office.

After a while, he started sleeping with a girl from the town's family planning office. The girl had a boyfriend who was serving in the army.

The girl's boyfriend somehow got wind of the affair, took leave from work and came back, catching the two in bed together and beating Chen Youliang up. The incident caused quite a stir in the city.

Fortunately, the girl and her boyfriend weren't married; otherwise, breaking up a military marriage would have landed her in jail.

Lu Xinghua paused for a moment, then continued, "Last year, the Municipal Health Commission organized a surprise inspection of the service quality of hospitals throughout the city, and Qingyan County People's Hospital ranked last."

In the first half of this year, another medical accident occurred at the county's TCM hospital, where a patient's family member carried a coffin and blocked the entrance to cause trouble.

Chen Youliang was quite frank, stating in a meeting: "The medical industry is high-risk, and doctor-patient conflicts are unavoidable; no matter who is in charge, it won't change that."

Wu Zhiyuan took the initiative to ask about Liu Feng, the deputy county head.

"Xinghua, what is the opinion of Deputy County Head Liu Feng among the cadres and the masses?"

"County Chief Liu is a man of action; I doubt anyone in the county would deny that."

When he was the Party Secretary of Nanhe Township, he planted all the barren mountains in the township with camellia trees, and the people called him the Camellia Tree Secretary.

Later, when he became the director of the Agriculture Bureau, he implemented the "One Village, One Product" initiative. The shiitake mushrooms, black fungus, and free-range chickens of Qingyan were all products of the foundation he laid during that time.

However, County Chief Liu is straightforward, lacks social skills, and is sometimes even a bit stubborn.

County Chief Wu, to be honest, in Qingyan County, the more cadres like County Chief Liu do, the more people they are likely to offend.

His pragmatic approach was completely at odds with the relationship-based culture and clique mentality that many people in the county now believed in.

Based on Ding Yiyi and Lü Xinghua's descriptions, Wu Zhiyuan roughly sketched a portrait of Liu Feng:

He is capable, responsible, and upright, but too straightforward and inflexible. In the Qingyan officialdom, which values ​​balance and interpersonal relationships, he appears somewhat aloof and out of touch with the people.

Such cadres, if used well, are a sharp sword; if used poorly or not properly protected, they will become the target of public criticism and ultimately end up with their ambitions unfulfilled.

Lu Xinghua continued, "County Chief Liu's situation in the county is actually not good."

Last year, the camellia oil base in Nanhe Township suffered a landslide due to heavy rain, resulting in significant losses.

It was clearly a natural disaster, but some people in the county deliberately shifted the blame onto him.

They said he had poor planning and inadequate supervision in the early stages, but fortunately he kept complete planning reports and meteorological warning records; otherwise, he might not have been able to keep his position as deputy county head.

Furthermore, the rural industrial projects he promoted were repeatedly hampered by external obstacles.

The special funds that should have been allocated by the Finance Bureau have been delayed again and again. When asked, the excuse is that the procedures have not been completed and funds are tight.

In townships, some officials outwardly comply but inwardly resist, superficially cooperating while secretly undermining others.

Wu Zhiyuan frowned.

From Lü Xinghua's description, one can get a glimpse of the appalling political environment in Qingyan County.

Nepotism is deeply entrenched, clique culture is deeply rooted, hard-working people are suppressed, while scheming people rise to high positions. The drama of bad money driving out good money is played out to the fullest extent here.

Wu Zhiyuan then inquired about Wei Zhiliang's situation.

Lu Xinghua said, "When Director Wei was in the Finance Bureau, he was a tough nut to crack and wouldn't give face to anyone."

If he had been more flexible and turned a blind eye to that multi-million dollar grant back then, he would still be sitting in the position of Finance Bureau Director now.

But he just wouldn't budge, and what happened? He ended up in the statistics bureau.

When Director Wei was first transferred to the Statistics Bureau, he still had that same meticulous attitude.

That year, the county reported a lot of inflated figures on fixed asset investment data from various townships. Some projects hadn't even started, or had just started, yet they dared to report progress of tens of percent.

Director Wei led his team to investigate, and they found that nearly half of the figures were inflated, and the reported figures were much lower than the city's expected targets.

That year, Qingyan County's fixed asset investment growth rate was the lowest in the city. Secretary Yuan Jin was singled out at a city meeting and returned in a rage.

At the county party committee standing committee meeting, Secretary Yuan severely criticized the statistics bureau's work as "detached from reality and failing to serve the overall situation."

Wu Zhiyuan asked, "Xinghua, do you think our statistics for Qingyan County are accurate?"

Lu Xinghua smiled and said, "County Chief Wu, when I was the deputy town chief, I was in charge of statistics and agricultural surveys, so I have a certain understanding of the county's statistical work."

The National Bureau of Statistics' job, to put it simply, boils down to two things:

First, we report the figures that our superiors require; second, we calculate the figures that our leaders want.

GDP growth, fiscal revenue, fixed asset investment—which of these isn't linked to performance evaluation?

If they report too little, the city won't be satisfied; if they report too much, they're afraid of being exposed.

When I was in charge of statistics in the town, the amount of GDP growth and the amount of per capita income growth for farmers were all decided by the town's main leaders. They would set a tone first, for example, a 10% increase.

The county statistics bureau worked backward from the growth rate required by the leadership to create a table.

County Chief Wu, just take a look at how much our county's GDP grew, don't take it too seriously.

However, some data is basically accurate, such as tax revenue.