 According to his own version, he left the DPP in 1999, though party members said they kicked him out in 2000, blaming his grandstanding and repeated public attacks on his colleagues.In 2001 he became convener of a local pro-Blue thinktank called the Mountain Alliance, along with two other DPP turncoats, Sisy Chen and Hsu Hsin-liang.He ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Kaohsiung, garnering 1% of the vote, and also lost legislative elections in Taipei, both times running against DPP candidates.