Chapter 675

On January 22, the Provincial Party Committee General Office, Provincial Government General Office, Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, Provincial Party Committee Compilation Office, Provincial Finance Department, Provincial Audit Department, Provincial Human Resources and Social Security Department, and eight other departments held a provincial video conference on the special rectification of 'empty salary' issues. Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Lu Fan attended and spoke, while Secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Du Wenlong chaired the meeting.

The Standing Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Lin Changping organized study of the 'Grassland Province Special Rectification Plan for Empty Salary Issues', arranged deployment of special governance work on the 'empty salary' problem for public officials, divided into three stages: mobilization and deployment, self-inspection and correction, and centralized inspection; clearly stipulated the rectification of eight categories of targets, requiring no cover-up, no favoritism, no avoidance; centralized inspection must ensure that actual personnel match the compilation office database, payroll rosters, attendance registers, and personal ID cards 'four comparisons', firmly avoiding a one-off effort or perfunctory handling, ensuring the special governance of the 'empty salary' problem does not rebound.

In his speech, Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee Secretary Du Wenlong pointed out that the long-term 'empty salary' problem of individual public officials seriously damaged Party conduct, government conduct, and social mores, seriously harming the image and prestige of the Party and government among the masses. All levels and units across the province, especially the 'top leaders', must attach great importance, clearly recognize the severe situation of carrying out special governance, wield heavy fists, use heavy hands, apply heavy measures, and fully promote the implementation of all special governance work.

The head of the Provincial Party Committee Organization Department, Shang Youyang, demanded that the special governance of the 'empty salary' problem be led by the 'top leader' of each unit bearing overall responsibility, with division leaders bearing leadership responsibility; discipline must be strictly observed, principles upheld, and facts sought; intentionally concealing or providing false data is prohibited, and false reporting and omission of all types of 'empty salary' personnel are strictly banned; for those who engage in malfeasance for personal gain, use power for personal benefit, falsify, or retaliate, once verified, they shall be dealt with strictly according to law and discipline; through this special governance work, achieve obvious improvement in the work style of provincial Party members and cadres, significant enhancement of service awareness and administrative efficiency, and satisfaction of the masses.

Finally, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee Lu Fan delivered an important speech, his expression solemn, speaking righteously: 'The problem of "empty salary" has long existed, and nowadays it manifests in many forms. Besides the form of openly taking it with great power, there is also using power for personal gain to 'lie and eat', retiring to the second line to 'hide and eat', making various excuses to 'steal and eat', and long-term 'eating without clarity', etc. Their essence is the occupation of public resources, constituting violations of regulations, laws, and even criminal acts.'

Comrades, we all know clearly what kind of people take empty salary! I can guarantee that over 90% are the relatives of leaders, either they themselves still have privileges, or those with privileges are 'covering' them behind the scenes; this is entirely privilege-ism at work; otherwise, they could not escape the supervision and constraints of the various steps and units involved in the salary collection process.

The essence of 'empty salary' is the occupation of public resources, damaging fairness, justice, integrity, rule of law, and other social mores, fostering the bad habits of getting something for nothing and harming the public for private gain, an important root cause that persists despite bans, due to deep-rooted privilege thinking and ineffective restraint of privilege behavior; therefore, privilege governance is crucial.

Therefore, we must thoroughly govern the criminal behavior of 'empty salary', uphold the principle that 'power belongs to the public, not private', maintain the childlike heart of serving the people, and then 'empty salary' will have nowhere to hide. Only in this way can we better meet the growing needs of the masses for a better life in fairness, justice, democracy, rule of law, etc.

Lack of democratic supervision and effective restraint may lead to power becoming reckless and wanton. Sunshine is the best preservative; therefore, the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee and the eight departments have all published mailboxes, emails, and report hotlines, weaving a tight supervision network, through which all people in the province can provide clues about the 'empty salary' problem via three channels.

This time, the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government have set up a reward-for-reporting system: as long as your reported clue is verified, half of the recovered illegal funds will be given to you as a reward, and the whistleblower will be strictly kept confidential; please the people of the Grassland Province report boldly, this is indeed a 'getting something for nothing' path to wealth!

Although the remark was hilarious, no one in the main venue or sub-venues could laugh; everyone felt that Secretary Lu was really going to act this time.

Finally, Lu Fan sternly emphasized: 'In this special operation, personnel involved in 'empty salary' will be treated differently; for those who voluntarily self-inspect and report, as long as they return the excess fiscal funds they received and actively cooperate in correcting the 'empty salary' behavior, the responsible persons of the related individuals and units may be given lighter penalties. For those who conceal and fail to report, falsify, are verified by public reports or investigation, besides having to return the excess funds, there is no negotiation—I will dismiss them, remove their leaders from office, and investigate their economic problems; according to relevant regulations, I will impose expulsion from the Party and public office, up to pursuing legal liability.'

After the meeting, a mighty and grand special governance of 'empty salary' was launched across the province.

On January 23, the heads of all units across the province received the 'Empty Salary' Special Governance Commitment Letter uniformly issued by the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, which clearly stated that they were willing to bear legal responsibility for the 'empty salary' behavior of their own unit and department; if there is concealment, false reporting, etc., it will be regarded as the individual's voluntary resignation and they will accept organizational investigation.

The commitment letter must be signed by the top leader and reported to the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee; when the leaders received this commitment letter, they collectively fell silent, realizing the seriousness of the situation, and they no longer dared to shelter the unit's "drawing salary without work" leaders' family members.

The special rectification action has been launched; now it depends on the execution ability of all city-counties and provincial departments. This is also why leaders seek to expand their influence, fighting for every inch of important leadership posts—because if the grassroots refuse to obey, orders won't even leave the Provincial Party Committee.

The Provincial Party Committee General Office, Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, Provincial Party Committee Propaganda Department, Provincial Party Committee United Front Work Department, Ximeng, Haiwu City, and Provincial Health Commission swiftly took action; within less than a day, they submitted the "commitment letter" to the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, imposing an iron-fisted crackdown on the illegal practice of "drawing salary without work".

But other cities and departments are still waiting and watching, intending to let the bullet fly a bit longer.

On January 25, the "Eight-in-One" annual target responsibility assessment officially began, with an inspection team led by ten members of the Provincial Party Committee Standing Committee and Deputy Provincial Governors dispatched to ten cities and two leagues to conduct a centralized assessment of the completion of 2026 annual targets and various tasks. The assessment content also added a new item: special rectification of "drawing salary without work", requiring all cities and departments to submit the "commitment letter" before January 26.

With these commitment letters, the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee can justifiably take action; after all, having made a written promise, if the work is not done properly, when investigated, complaining will be useless.

At 3 p. m., the provincial annual target responsibility assessment team led by Deputy Provincial Party Secretary Lu Fan arrived in Ike City to carry out the assessment work.

At 3:30 p. m., at the annual target responsibility assessment evaluation conference, Lu Fan pointed out that conducting the annual target responsibility assessment is an important channel for fully promoting democracy, consciously accepting evaluations and supervision from cadres and the masses and society. Leading cadres at all levels must genuinely strengthen their sense of mission and responsibility for doing assessment work well, fully play the guiding and benchmark role of assessment work, objectively summarize achievements, and consciously accept social evaluation and democratic supervision.

Municipal Party Secretary Wei Dongsheng chaired the evaluation conference and, on behalf of the Municipal Party Committee and Municipal Government, presented a benchmark report on the completion of the 2026 annual target tasks.

At the evaluation meeting, attendees filled out five forms anonymously, including the Annual Democratic Evaluation Form for Local Party and Government Leadership Teams and the 2026 Annual Democratic Evaluation Form for Regional Cadre Selection and Appointment Work.

After the meeting, Lu Fan privately met with Municipal Party Secretary Wei Dongsheng in the hotel room, his first words being: "Dongsheng, have your city's 'drawing salary without work' commitment letters all been submitted to the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee?"

Wei Dongsheng replied hesitantly: "Secretary, we have basically collected them… We will definitely submit the 'commitment letter' by the stipulated time."

Lu Fan furrowed his brows and said: "Drawing salary without work provides a breeding ground for some corrupt elements; as public officials receiving taxpayers' money, they should work diligently, yet a small minority always resort to various means to enjoy unearned gains, defrauding public funds—this is a corrupt practice!"

Those who work deserve pay, and taking a salary for one's post is just and proper. Yet those who draw salary without work repeatedly challenge this consensus, not only weakening the work enthusiasm of those on duty, but also causing losses to public finances, losing public trust, severely damaging the authority of the Party and government, creating a negative social impact; eradicating this corrupt practice is imperative.

It must be elevated to the legal level, punishing related leaders and those who draw salary without work with charges such as dereliction of duty and fraud; all behind-the-scenes individuals will uniformly receive punishments like "hitting the board" and "removing the hat", aiming to achieve the goals of not daring to take, not wanting to take, and eating the bone while spitting out the flesh.

Could it be that the Ike Municipal Party Committee has some scruples?

Wei Dongsheng hurriedly replied: "Secretary, Ike City will definitely follow the arrangements and deployments of the Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, clarify targets, carry out work in graded steps, mobilize all forces, earnestly implement, ensure effectiveness. At the same time, we will increase efforts to investigate and punish, resolutely correct violations of drawing salary without work, handle each case seriously upon discovery, and swiftly and severely pursue the responsible persons."

"Then why can't the commitment letter be signed yet? I think some people still have guilty consciences; I'll assign you a task: by 8 p. m. tonight, have all departments and levels of Ike City submit their commitment letters to the Provincial Discipline Inspection Committee, and you will personally supervise. If anyone doesn't know how to sign their own name, I'll personally go teach them how to write it!" As he spoke, Lu Fan was already angry.

Wei Dongsheng replied nervously: "Secretary, I will go implement this immediately; I will certainly not hold back the whole province."