Berlin Mayor Race a Battle in Bad Taste

BERLIN (Reuters) - Berlin's openly gay mayor and a rival conservative candidate accused of bigotry have turned a race for the city's highest office into an astonishing contest of low-level insults.

Klaus Wowereit, who electrified a dull race three months ago when he became the first politician from a major German party to declare his homosexuality, has since been accused by his conservative challenger Frank Steffel of having a ``deformed character.''

Steffel, whose campaign manager was forced to resign after he referred to a Wowereit deputy as ``a political whore,'' has himself stumbled over racist comments he admits he may have made as a teenager.

Steffel said he cannot rule out calling blacks ``bimbos,'' Turks ``kanaken'' and handicapped people ``mongos.''

``I believe these are the sorts of expressions that are used quite normally by people aged 13, 14, 15 or 16,'' Steffel said. He also confessed that as a teenager he had used other derogatory remarks about foreigners who had made passes at his girlfriend.

Political analysts are calling the campaign for the October 21 election for city hall one of the messiest and meanest battles in years.

It may also serve as an early indication of tactics for next year's federal election.

Wowereit's Social Democrats and Steffel's Christian Democrats shared power in a ``grand coalition'' in Berlin, Germany's largest city, for a decade.

It was an uneasy alliance forged solely as a bulwark against the reform communist Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS), the successor to the East German party that ordered the construction of the Berlin Wall.

But the increasingly testy alliance collapsed finally in June when the SPD, junior partners, bailed out amid a scandal at the city-owned bank and Wowereit was named interim mayor -- with help from the PDS.

The ex-partners blamed each other for the city's brush with bankruptcy and the collapse of the government three years before the next election was due.

And now the ``battle of Berlin,'' being whipped up by 10 daily newspapers and a dozen radio stations, has turned into a fight over sex, money and politics.

``They are acting like an unhappy couple that split up with a bang after a long marriage,'' said Peter Loesche, political science professor at Goettingen University. ``They're letting a lot of anger and aggression out on each other.''

GAY ADMISSION SHAKES UP RACE

Wowereit and Steffel were virtually unknown, both in Berlin and nationwide, when the campaign began in June.

But Wowereit's admission, just after being nominated as the SPD candidate, that he is a homosexual turned him into a national celebrity overnight.

``I am gay -- and that's a good thing,'' admitted 47-year-old Wowereit at the end of a long speech. His coming out was talked about across the country for weeks.

Steffel was also a minor figure in the CDU in city hall until veteran party leaders Eberhard Diepgen and Klaus Landowsky were toppled in the wake of the banking scandal.

Steffel first made it into the headlines for suggesting Wowereit had a ``deformed character.''

He hit the front pages again by describing Munich as Germany's ``secret capital.''

The remarks were quickly relayed to Berlin, causing the local CDU huge embarrassment and prompting calls for him to resign -- or run for mayor of Munich instead.

``At least people now know who Frank Steffel is,'' Alex Wallrabenstein, Steffel's media adviser, told Reuters. ``We needed to cause a commotion to get some press attention. Now that he's known we can focus on the issues.''

Steffel, watching in horror as voter surveys show the SPD moving into the lead, has made more faux pas.

He has complained about the local Berlin accent and the working class mentality still pervasive in many parts of the city, saying they were an embarrassment to it.

``This Berliner mentality isn't helpful for the capital,'' Steffel said.

A recent poll by the Forsa institute found Wowereit's SPD with 34 percent of the vote compared to 28 percent for the CDU. In June, the CDU was leading with 31 percent compared to 28 percent for the SPD. In the last election in 1999 the CDU won 40.8 percent compared to 22.4 percent.

``Steffel has made one mistake after another,'' said Manfred Guellner, director of the Forsa polling institute. ``He can't seem to do anything right. I've never seen such a poorly organized campaign.''

POLITICAL WHORE

The CDU's campaign manager Ingo Schmitt was forced to resign after calling the SPD education minister in Berlin, Klaus Boeger, ``the biggest political whore I've ever seen.''

Boeger, meanwhile, caused a dispute by suggesting the CDU's former assembly floor leader Landowsky, 59, was a pedophile. Landowsky, who backs Steffel, said he has followed the career of his 35-year-old protege for the last 20 years.

``I had no idea that (Landowsky) was interested in little boys,'' said Boeger, who later apologized for the remark. He claimed it was a ``misunderstanding.''

``The CDU and SPD are slugging it out with blows below the belt,'' said the Berliner Kuerier tabloid. ``It's out of control. The public isn't laughing any more.''

Michael Donnermeyer, the SPD campaign manager, said the CDU are making the race ugly. He accused them of frequently using Steffel's wife on the campaign as a subliminal reminder to voters that Wowereit is a homosexual.

``Politics is a hard business,'' said CDU campaign manager Volker Leipelt.

Steffel has quite literally felt that twice since June when protesters have thrown eggs, batteries and bottles at him.