Is Wolfram Steinhage the “laziest councillor in North Rhine-Westphalia”?

Among the leftists in the Heinsberg district, he is secretly nicknamed “the hardest-working local councillor in North Rhine-Westphalia”. At first it sounds like a prize, but Wolfram Steinhage’s former parliamentary group colleagues mean it very ironically. Not only secretly, but also privately, the leftists in the Heinsberg district fiercely criticize the former councillor and criticize that his actions can at least be considered voter fraud, unless he has a “parasitic relationship with the state” and collects taxes that he does not deserve as a “lazy councillor”.

But what is the rift between Wolfram Steinhage and the Left really about? The Left says it is about fairness to taxpayers, fighting “parasites” and taking action against illicit gains. Wolfram Steinhage, on the other hand, thinks it is about doing dirty things after his resignation and reminding citizens that he is a leftist in the run-up to next year’s local elections.

But first things first: Steinhage ran for a seat on the local council in the September 2020 local elections, at the time still a Left candidate. “He really wanted this position and actually convinced the elected local council members to give up their duties,” says Manuel Staeck, the Left’s spokesman for the Heinsberg district. According to Staeck, once he was successful, he was virtually absent from the board. “He absolutely refuses to do anything,” as the Left spokesman puts it. “He doesn’t show up, but he still collects money,” he complains.

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No one will see Wolfram Steinhage in the regional parliament until November 2022 at the latest. “We want to stop wasting taxpayers’ money now,” says Left’s executive director Stefan Holz. Moreover, Steinhage’s actions are damaging the party’s reputation, and the board cannot approve them even if Steinhage is no longer a member. That is why the Left board in Heinsberg has submitted a protest to the regional parliament, which has been made available to the editorial team.

Councillors receive an allowance of around 497 euros a month. “If you don’t do your job as a representative of the voters, it’s a big deal,” says Holz.

But Wolfram Steinhage does not want to lose sight of the fact that he did not fulfill his duties, nor does he want to admit that he really wanted the job. “In fact, no one who was elected after the election was willing to take responsibility,” he says. And since April of this year, he has not received his allowance of around 500 euros per month as a district councillor, the district councillor claims. This, as well as the fact that Steinhage has not been seen for a long time, are practically the same as his departure from the left.

Steinhage explains that he regularly attended the meetings until 2022, the year he turned his back on the Left. “I no longer like Left politics, but I left the party mainly for health reasons. That’s also why I couldn’t attend meetings for a long time as a non-member of the district council,” says Steinhage, who is currently a member of the Wassenberg municipal supervisory board as an informed citizen of the Wassenberg voters’ association “Krethi & Plethi.” The Left board finds it strange that he was able to attend there despite his illness, posing on the Krethi & Plethi website “with a beer after work and scantily clad women generated by AI”, but not at the meetings of the district council.

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The new compensation rules for local government representatives and committees, which went into effect on January 1, are made possible by the fact that the district has already taken steps to reimburse expenses and stopped the flow of funds. For the first time, they provide provisions for cases where elected officials fail to fulfill their public responsibilities. According to the compensation ordinance, this is to protect the integrity of the office from those who receive reimbursement for expenses without performing their duties.

“In the case of the Left, it is clear: . there is therefore an unfair advantage and the Heinsberg district is entitled to repay these funds,” the lawsuit states.

According to the Left Commission, the repayment amount could be as much as €15,000. Politicians will have to decide how to handle the case and whether Steinhage should pay retroactively.

Even if former colleagues are unaware that Steinhage’s payments have long since stopped, it seems clear that they are now seeking a showdown for more than just money. Rather, it seems to be a means to an end. Above all, it is the fact that Steinhage, currently listed as an independent local councillor, will not simply resign so that a left-wing representative can run for office, as voters would have hoped. This is the ballot box they want in 2020. “Of course we respect the freedom of authority. But it would be nice if the district councillors were also active. I don’t understand if Steinhage were to do at least some kind of political activity and not intervene at all and block others,” Staeck says.

The district council asked him several times to make a statement about his actions. “Since he did not comply, we can assume he simply did not care,” says Staeck. Steinhage, on the other hand, explains that the letters from the left were so unfriendly and threatening that he decided not to respond. The Heinsberg district also approached Steinhage before the payments were stopped. According to a spokesperson, he “did not move” toward the district when given the opportunity to speak.

Steinhage hopes to return to the local council soon. “My health is slowly improving,” he says. “I will soon be able to attend local council meetings again.” But politics is all he needs for now, at least after the elections. “Then I will concentrate entirely on my health,” he says.