From the BZ editorial team
The Green Mayor of the Mitte district, Stephan von Dassel (55), is counting on his deselection soon:
He was “aware that my deselection can no longer be prevented,” said von Dassel in an internal letter (available from BZ).
Von Dassel is accused of having privately offered money to a job applicant in order to complete a selection process in order to fill a vacancy more quickly.
As a result, his own parliamentary group distanced itself from him: “As a parliamentary group, we have lost confidence in Stephan,” says the Green Group’s current circular to the base, which is available to BZ. “His decision to privately offer money to an applicant for a job to speed up the process is unsustainable.”
► On Thursday from 5.30 p.m. the debate about his deselection will be opened in the BVV special session in the middle of the town hall. The vote on this should then take place two weeks later.
In an internal letter, before the deselection debate began, von Dassel once again presented his view of things. He was “infinitely sorry for the trouble” he had gotten the Greens in and generally the Greens throughout Berlin into with an “imprudent Wording” in an SMS.
In the internal letter, he rejects the allegations against himself: “But nowhere in this SMS was there a specific offer to pay money,” said von Dassel. He only speaks of “stupidity”.
He had “made no specific offer to the unsuccessful applicant, let alone made an agreement or even paid money”. His message was only “highly misleading” and “should never have been communicated by a district mayor”. As a result, he did nothing wrong in terms of content, it was just a communication error.
He accuses the CDU of trying to scandalize the selection result “out of party tactical calculations”.
The chronology of van Dassel’s adversaries in the faction to read in excerpts:
November 11, 2021: Tender for the management of the control service is published.
December: The favorite, a party friend, is presented at a parliamentary group meeting – the selection process is still ongoing.
December 16: The CDU wants to suspend the proceedings, von Dassel is threatening fines for breaching confidentiality.
January 2022: The defeated candidate complains – he has a doctorate, has 10 years of administrative experience, the favorite only 25 months.
April 1: Von Dassel wants to explore an out-of-court settlement with the plaintiff. The plaintiff demands 3 monthly salaries (approx. 16,000 euros). However, the legal office says that the district cannot pay at all and decides that the mayor is no longer allowed to participate in the process because he is biased. According to the faction, von Dassel later presented this as his own withdrawal. Von Dassel proposed a private-law arrangement to the plaintiff via SMS. The plaintiff assumes von Dassel does not answer him.
June 21st: The Greens parliamentary group rejects a motion for disapproval by the CDU – at the time, nothing was known about the private offer, it is said today.
Beginning of August: The plaintiff sends a screenshot of the Dassel SMS to various factions. The CDU and FDP are applying for a special session of the district parliament (BVV) – it will take place on August 25th.
13 August: Von Dassel sends the entire chat with the plaintiff to the Greens faction.
15th of August: The Greens group is calling on von Dassel to resign, wants to support the opposition’s motion for disapproval, and if necessary announces a motion to vote out.