Berlin (dpa) – Bavaria, a conservative state that is key to German
Chancellor Angela Merkel‘s hopes of re-election this year, made
public on Friday the names of 79 current or former state legislators
who wangled public-payroll jobs for close relatives.
The burgeoning nepotism scandal has embarrassed Merkel‘s Bavarian
affiliate, the Christian Social Union (CSU), which has provided all
of the southern state‘s premiers since 1957.
Political careers may be derailed by the list, which was issued by
Barbara Stamm, speaker of the state assembly in Munich. Of the 79
named, 17 are still serving as deputies in the 187-seat state
assembly. The rest gave up their seats in 2003 or 2008.
While it remained unclear if the lawmakers broke the letter of the
law, the perception of greed among legislators threatens to darken
the mood of voters in a country where Merkel has so far profited from
an attitude of “don‘t change a winning team.”
Sleaze allegations first hurt the CSU last month when sports idol
Uli Hoeness, who is chairman of the Bayern Munich football club and a
kingpin of the CSU business and politics network, admitted to tax
authorities that he hid taxable assets abroad.
The CSU caucus leader in Bavaria‘s state assembly, Georg Schmid,
resigned his leadership post last week after revelations that on top
of his own parliamentary salary, a salary had been going to his wife
for 23 years.
In 2000, Bavaria banned employment of wives, children and parents
as legislators‘ state-funded staff, falling in line with the rest of
Germany. But it allowed existing contracts to remain in force and 56
CSU legislators exploited the loophole.
Another 23 named for using the privilege were opposition
loyalists.
The state‘s Social Democrats and Greens aim to tip the CSU and
Premier Horst Seehofer from power in state elections September 15,
one week before federal elections, but all three parties have emerged
muddied from the affair.
Bavaria‘s CSU is part of the coalition that sustains Christian
Democratic leader Merkel in power in Berlin, and a loss of support in
one of Germany‘s most conservative states could rob her of her
winning margin if the federal poll proves tight as expected.
A Munich political scientist, Ursula Muench, told dpa she feared
the scandal would blow back on all politicians, though only a few had
filled their pockets. Many voters would skip the election in disgust.
“The perception will be that all politicians are corrupt,” said
Muench, principal of Tuetzing Academy. “This debate is going to
damage politics as a whole.”
dpa jbp lns mga
Author: Jean-Baptiste Piggin