Hendrik Wüst - SPD senses unauthorized campaign help

The opposition is making new allegations against the state government for photos of Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU): In the spring, for example, pictures paid for by the government only appeared on election campaign accounts operated by the CDU. It was not until mid-September – around four months later – that the pictures were uploaded to the government’s public media libraries. The SPD suspects that the State Chancellery is using unauthorized campaign assistance. The "Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger" had previously reported.

Photos of Wüst during the election campaign have been the subject of debate for weeks. A government listing at the request of the FDP parliamentary group revealed that ex-Prime Minister Armin Laschet (CDU) and his successor Wüst had been accompanied by commissioned photographers on hundreds of appointments. Cost: More than 300,000 euros.

The SPD looked at the long list of appointments again and, according to their own statements, found that photos of Wüst appeared on their party accounts for around a dozen appointments on the same day – although they had not yet been published in the state’s media library were. There, the CDU – like everyone else – could have used it free of charge. In fact, the said images were only uploaded in September – when research on the subject was underway.

The SPD has made a small request in the state parliament, in which several lists with photo opportunities are given. The SPD MP and Secretary General Nadja Lüders writes in the question that the impression is given that some photos were only taken for Wüst and his election campaign. Financed by tax money.

The state chancellery described to the “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” that the recordings are only now ending up in the state’s media libraries as a normal process: Occasionally there could be “time differences and a bundled upload”.