村岡兼造氏死去、８８歳　元官房長官、日歯連事件で有罪

　第２次橋本改造内閣で官房長官を務めた元自民党衆院議員の村岡兼造氏（むらおか・かねぞう）が２５日午後４時５７分、がんのため東京都内の自宅で死去した。８８歳だった。秋田県出身。葬儀の日取りなどは未定。
　秋田県議を経て、１９７２年の衆院選で旧秋田２区から初当選した。当選９回。郵政相、運輸相、官房長官を歴任し、自民党で国対委員長や総務会長を務めた。党では道路族で知られた。
　２００３年９月の党総裁選で、所属の橋本派は自主投票を決めたが、小泉純一郎首相（当時）の再選支持を表明。同じ派閥の野中広務氏（故人）から「毒まんじゅうを食った」と批判された。同年１１月の衆院選で落選し、政界を引退した。
　橋本派の日本歯科医師連盟（日歯連）１億円ヤミ献金事件で０４年、政治資金規正法違反に問われ在宅起訴された。一貫して「えん罪」を主張し、一審では無罪判決を勝ち取ったが、二審で逆転有罪となった。上告が棄却され、禁錮１０月、執行猶予３年の二審判決が０８年に確定した。（2019/12/25-23:06）

Former Japanese House of Representatives lawmaker Kanezo Muraoka, who served in such key posts as chief cabinet secretary, died of cancer at his home in Tokyo on Wednesday. He was 88.
   A native of Akita Prefecture, Muraoka won a seat on the lower chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament, for the first time in 1972 by running in the Lower House election in the year from a constituency in the northeastern Japan prefecture. Before that, he was a member of the Akita prefectural assembly.
   He was elected to the Lower House nine times. After serving as posts and telecommunications minister and transport minister, Muraoka, who was a member of the Liberal Democratic Party, became chief cabinet secretary in 1997 under the cabinet of then Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
   At the LDP, Muraoka took up posts including Diet affairs chief and chairman of the General Council. He had a major influence on road policies.
   In the September 2003 LDP leadership election, the intraparty faction then led by Hashimoto, to which Muraoka belonged, allowed its members to vote for their own favorite candidates. Muraoka was bashed by Hiromu Nonaka, a senior member of the faction, as he expressed support for then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, a member of a different LDP faction, who ran for reelection as LDP president.