DPP legislator Chen Pei-yu is pressing two KMT candidates for local government leadership on whether they can distance themselves from controversial legislator Weng Hsiao-ling, seeking to turn the year-end local elections into a referendum on the KMT's performance in the Legislative Yuan.

• Weng Hsiao-ling's proposal to sharply cut the Ministry of Culture's budget angered the arts community and has become an electoral liability for the KMT.
• Chen Pei-yu singled out Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Ko Chih-en and Taichung mayoral candidate Chiang Chi-chen, asking whether they agree with Weng Hsiao-ling's remark that the legislature should have "113 Weng Hsiao-lings."
• The crux of the matter: if the two do not agree, why have they voted the same way as her time and again in the Legislative Yuan over the past two years?
• The DPP's strategy is to elevate the local elections into a test of the KMT's legislative approach — "you can change the billboards, but you can't change the legislative record."

Outlook: With more than three months to go before the November 28 vote, whether KMT candidates distance themselves from Weng Hsiao-ling will be a key battleground in the campaign.