Bad bruckenau and its mayors. An endless story from deification to condemnation. The tranquil sinnstadt is not exactly squeamish about its city leaders, and certainly not the candidates for the mayor’s chair. Anyone who has known dirk stumpe (PWG, 45) and jochen vogel (CSU, 48) for a while should not have failed to notice that the exhausting, small-town election campaign was also reflected in the faces of the two opponents.
At the weekend, a decision was made in the stich election. Until then, both had been in the line of fire of their respective critics. Relentlessly. Both candidates offered plenty of scope for political attack, even though their characters could hardly be more different. There, the down-to-earth father of three, jochen vogel, from motten, who once went straight to the town hall after finishing secondary school, was chosen as the only legitimate successor by motten’s original member, karl will, and has remained rooted in the municipal administration ever since. And on the other side, the self-employed bachelor dirk stumpe, who has experienced many highs and lows in the sinnstadt in the course of his eventful professional career and whose private life is repeatedly put on the tableau by his political opponents in an enjoyable, merciless and relentless manner.
The fact that one person was accused of not having learned anything about municipal administration and the other of being keen on a lucrative job did not advance the objective, political discourse one meter – had it been intended to be conducted fairly and seriously. No less nonsensical and petty-burgerish were discussions about the fact that one person likes to celebrate carnival, occasionally flies a glider, and the other loves riding motorcycles and making commercials for himself in the sinnflut. Including the 31-year-old SPD candidate jan marberg, this time bruckenau had three young and highly motivated candidates for the office of mayor. That alone was a positive signal for local politics.
The fact that one or the other candidate was denied personal suitability for office from the outset for private or supposedly political reasons was typical for the small town of bad bruckenau, but showed very little understanding for the nature of democracy. He who points a finger at others should never forget that three fingers of his hand may be pointed at himself. Thank god every election campaign comes to an end.