Few people doubt that being a successful politician requires money. But how that cash is used by elected officials is in the spotlight again because of the funding scandal embroiling the ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

Diet members often say that personnel costs account for a considerable portion of their expenses.

Each policymaker can hire three state-funded public aides. However, they frequently employ other aides with their own money.

One Lower House member from the LDP has eight assistants in Tokyo and the politician’s electoral district.

Their monthly salaries range from 100,000 yen ($701) to 400,000 yen, depending on the working hours, totaling nearly 30 million yen annually.

One December weekend, the Diet member visited 100 homes for year-end greetings. This was made possible thanks to the secretaries.

“My secretaries regularly attend events organized by regional neighborhood associations to build relationships with citizens,” the lawmaker said.

All aides need their cars to travel within constituencies. Large expenditures are needed for rental vehicles and gas.

Those working in larger electoral districts often set up multiple offices in each constituency, resulting in hikes in workplace rents, fuel, lighting expenses and other fixed costs.

Publicity and promotion create another heavy financial burden.

“Posters must constantly be replaced with new ones because I’m always working in a tense situation,” said an LDP politician who has battled opposition candidates in a single-seat constituency. “Cheaper posters quickly get sunburnt and look bad.”

Another veteran lawmaker distributes leaflets to all households within his constituency four times a year, hoping to brief voters on political activities.

“This process requires 2 million yen to 3 million yen each time,” the politician said.

A mid-level lawmaker delivers postcards with pamphlets to residents so that they can jot down and mail back their requests.

The politician writes replies to around 1,000 people.

“Political campaigns cost a lot,” the lawmaker said. “But that does not mean our ultimate political objective is raising funds. We must not misunderstand it.”

SHADY GIFTS, BANQUETS

However, cash is often poured into affairs of questionable necessity.

A former secretary to an LDP Lower House member objected to the gift exchanges between lawmakers in the same factions and groups. The gifts included birthday offerings and local specialties.

“To me, those gifts did not fall within the scope of legitimate political acts,” the former aide said. “Instead, they were intended to form connections for the (politician’s) future.”

The former aide called for a discontinuation of the practice at the lawmaker’s office.

But gift swapping remains the norm in the “culture of Nagatacho,” the heartland of Japanese politics.

Excessive spending for wining and dining has also been a highly criticized tradition.

A secretary to a lawmaker of the LDP’s Abe faction, which is at center of prosecutors’ investigation, explained the reasoning behind the suspected unreported cash gained through fund-raising parties.

“The money was managed in a dedicated account with the aim of covering party costs for policymakers and their aides,” the secretary said. “Recording huge expenses for banquets in political fund reports can draw criticism from the mass media.”

A Diet member from a different LDP faction agreed.

“I do not feel like disclosing my spending on such occasions as when I go to luxury clubs for late-night second parties,” the lawmaker said.

Some lawmakers also feel inclined to provide money to influential politicians.

After an electoral district was redrawn, an LDP member was asked by a colleague about offering 4 million yen to 5 million yen to an influential local assembly member of an area that was added to the electoral district.

The LDP member was not requested to provide the money but thought the colleague, who faced similar circumstances, may have offered such money.

The LDP member eventually dealt with the situation by repeatedly holding banquets. 

Akira Asaka, 80, who was an aide to former Prime Minister Kakuei Tanaka for 23 years, said politics is expensive in any day and age mainly because of three costs: human resources, publicity spending and party fees.

Asaka, currently an unaligned election adviser, also gave a warning.

“Money used for proper political activities should simply be reported in accordance with the Political Fund Control Law,” he said. “The fact that politics is pricey needs to be considered separately from the issue of illicitly unlisted revenues.”

PARTY-CENTERED INITIATIVE

Masaki Taniguchi, a professor of contemporary Japanese politics at the University of Tokyo, called for a greater transition to party-led politics.

A party subsidy framework, along with a single-seat constituency system, were put in place under political reforms following the Recruit scandal in the 1980s.

“All those reforms came in the belief that politics should be party-centered rather than candidate-centered,” Taniguchi said.

The professor said the LDP receives more than 15 billion yen a year in party subsidies three decades after the reforms, but it cannot be said the LDP’s local branches are well-organized.

Taniguchi said the Labor Party in Britain is a model of a political organization with well-arranged regional offices.

According to Taniguchi, the Labor Party sets up a branch with permanent staff for each electoral district.

“The party itself leads the whole publicity drive and manages the list of supporters,” he said.

“Political activity costs can be slashed owing to the economy of scale, allowing politicians to rely less on donations from companies and other organizations.”

Taniguchi said a structural problem in Japanese politics lies at the center of the latest scandal.

“The scandal raises a good opportunity for political changes, and affordable party-centered politics should be made a reality this time around,” he said.