As an aside in its story about candidates running for the California Legislature, the Epoch Times accused its competitor, the Sing Tao Daily, of “having strong ties to the CCP,” or Chinese Communist Party. The Epoch Times cites a 2001 study by the Jamestown Foundation that says Sing Tao has “financial connections” to the Communist Party, and says that its deputy chief editor, Larry Lee, is a former editor of the CCP “mouthpiece,” the People’s Daily.

The thrust of the story is that SF Supervisor Fiona Ma, who is running in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for Assembly, is on the side of the Falun Gong religion, which is strongly opposed by the Chinese Communist government. The government is alleged to have killed 2,862 practioners of the faith. The story says that Ma’s support of the Falun Gong has angered powerbroker Rose Pak, head of the SF’s Chinese Chamber of Commerce, who is now supporting Janet Reilly in the primary. (Reilly is married to real estate developer Clint Reilly, who challenged the sale of the Chronicle to the Hearst Corp. in court in 1999.)

The Epoch Times story also claims that Leland Yee, an Assemblyman who is running for state Senate in Tuesday’s primary, has flip-flopped on the Falun Gong, allegedly at the urging of Pak, and now opposes the religion.

The Epoch Times supports the Falun Gong and opposes the Chicoms. Alex Ma, editor of the Epoch Time’s SF edition, says his house was burglarized twice last year, and that his relatives in China were visited at their homes by state security agents, who told them to tell Ma to stop his “activities.” Another Epoch Times employee in Georgia claims he was attacked three men associated with the Chicoms.