The Erding District Association of Workers' Welfare is in severe turbulence.
Erding - The rift extends to the SPD, for which most of the protagonists in city and district politics are or were active.
It was completely surprising that AWO veteran Fritz Steinberger was voted out of office.
The former Vice Mayor of Erding and 3rd district administrator announced that they would be challenging the election.
The AWO district of Upper Bavaria will forestall him.
Because his lawyer also comes to the conclusion: The vote was completely irregular.
The association, with its two managing directors Karin Seibt and Christian Cosimo, AWO district chairwoman Nicole Schley, who is the SPD mayor in Ottenhofen, ran into the open knife.
She wasn't prepared at all to lead the election.
Massive criticism of the assembly itself
But massive criticism also ignited the assembly itself.
Some delegates accuse the district association of a lack of transparency.
There is talk of cheating.
The AWO is one of the large social associations in the district.
It runs seven day-care centers in Erding and Moosinning.
She looks after 650 children in the crèche, kindergarten and after-school care groups.
She also has a café in Erding and, since July, a large children's and youth center in the middle of her construction playground in the Geislinger Ängern.
There was no proper accountability report
The delegates' meeting, which openly broke up, took place last Friday in this very meeting place - with around 20 to 30 participants.
Delegates sharply criticize the board and President Steinberger.
“No figures were presented, only individual events were reported,” one participant said indignantly.
Another says that Steinberger meant succinctly that anyone who should know more can look into the books.
Schley told our newspaper: "The balance sheet for 2019 was checked by the auditor."
Some listeners reacted with consternation when Steinberger frankly admitted that there was no room for the press.
That's why the public wasn't even invited.
According to ear witnesses, Steinberger is said to have said: "We don't even need them."
Restriction of press freedom?
Nicole Schley is horrified
Schley told our newspaper: "He probably didn't even know that he was restricting the freedom of the press, for which the AWO has always fought and for which we stand." Well-meaning AWO members put the process into perspective, Steinberger could mean the corona-related limitation of places to have.
But at Erdinger AWO the problem seems to be deeper.
This became clear when the presidium was elected.
Even before the secret ballot, Horst Potempa and Madlen Völkel had declared that they would no longer run.
In addition to Steinberger, the current presidium members Dr.
Markus Marschall and Beate Sitte.
The former third mayor of Erding, Hans Schmidmayer, city council novice Alexander Gutwill and Lydia Borsow from the AWO local association Isen were new candidates.
Sheer horror when the election result became known
When the election was counted, there was silence and sheer horror: Steinberger had missed the re-entry into the committee.
"At first I was completely perplexed," reports the former third district administrator of Erding, Gertrud Eichinger from Finsing, who came as a guest.
That was how Schley had taken the invitation to Erding.
"Completely surprisingly, I was asked to lead the election," reports the AWO district president.
She took on the task, although, as she herself admits, did not know the Erdinger electoral code.
However, the two managing directors Seibt and Cosimo were obviously overwhelmed.
Because the assembly agreed to elect the presidium as a whole, which then determines the president from among its members.
The district association also wants to declare the election inadmissible
Admittedly, it would have been correct to let the delegates appoint a President and the Presidium.
The fired Steinberger does not want to comment, but announced an election challenge.
After consulting the AWO lawyer, Schley also goes this way: "The election did not conform to the statutes and must therefore be repeated."
Is Steinberger running again?
Will Steinberger run again?
Completely open.
So far it has been a very unworthy end to Steinberger's decades of commitment to the AWO.
No question about it, the former soldier acted shirt-sleeved and sometimes brusque.
It is undisputed that he achieved a lot for the association and was always an advocate for the weaker.
He took care of many ex-inmates and gave them a chance to get back on their feet.
He also took in refugees.
At the daycare centers, he drove a family-friendly course, most recently for emergency care and the reopening after schools and daycare centers closed.
Schley says: "Fritz is certainly not an easy person, but the AWO owes him a lot."