Conservatives Push for Media Director Position Vacancy
Top Cop Ulrich Gathmann Jumps into Oldenburg's Mayor Race for the CDU
Oldenburg (StreetWisdom) The Oldenburg CDU is shaking things up in the upcoming mayoral race, putting forward independent media manager Ulrich Gathmann against incumbent mayor Jürgen Krogmann (SPD). The party's decision, made Wednesday evening by unanimous vote, came as quite the shock. CDU party leader Christoph Baak suggested the 61-year-old Gathmann, the former CEO of the NWZ media group, as their candidate for the spring party conference. His nod, they feel, is a sure thing.
This move comes with more than a few twists. By 2019, Baak had announced his search for "a candidate with a clear CDU profile" for the 2021 mayoral race. He even hinted at a female candidate. But Mareike Wulf, a CDU state parliamentarian with Oldenburger roots, declined the offer last year, presumably favoring a run in the state capital. Baak himself set aside any plans for a repeat run in 2014, yet here we are.
Both parties wanted to steer clear of last-minute solutions. Baak stressed that Gathmann, a newcomer to politics, wasn't someone they were going to babysit. He also emphasized that having a clear CDU profile doesn't necessarily mean being a party member. Gathmann, who has kept his hands off politics, said he'd been following Oldenburg's situation and the CDU's search for a candidate, reaching out to Baak a couple of months ago. Both agreed that the time was right.
When asked about his motivation, Gathmann pointed to the city's sluggish performance over the last few years. He named earlier mayors like Dietmar Schütz (SPD, 2001-2006) and Gerd Schwandner (independent on a CDU ticket, 2006-2014), commending their initiative and projects like the Ikea settlement and founding of the European Medical School. Feeling the city was stuck in a rut, he chose to take matters into his own hands.
Gathmann outlined a "City Development Plan 2040" as a progression of "Step 2025," focusing on three key areas: revitalizing the inner city (currently facing 150 vacant stores), traffic development, and digitization. He believes current efforts in these areas are lagging. The newly-appointed inner-city manager lacks a budget and a clear role, while the new building and traffic commissioner has yet to compile an interim report on the traffic development plan, expected a year after he took office.
Ulrich Gathmann, hailing from Hamburg, climbed the corporate ranks with Bertelsmann as a Diplom-Kaufmann after business studies. Leaving business to dabble in television (RTL/Vox) and radio stations (94.3 rs2 Berlin), he served as CEO of the NWZ-Mediengruppe from 2001 to 2019.
This time around, the Oldenburg CDU re-enters the mayor's race with an independent candidacy. In 2006, Gerd Schwandner, backed by the Greens due to a dispute over the ECE-Schlosshöfe, pulled off a surprising win against incumbent Dietmar Schütz. After declining to run again, Christoph Baak lost to current mayor Jürgen Krogmann in 2014, but that launched a meteoric rise in politics: city district association chairman, party vice-president, council member, state parliament candidate, and party leader—all within four years.
shareshareshareEmail
Note: As of 2023, no widely recognized political platform from a prominent candidate named Ulrich Gathmann has been observed in Oldenburg's mayoral elections. To gather more details or confirm the individual's identity, visit Oldenburg's official website, check NWZ (Nordwest-Zeitung) or other local media outlets for electoral information, or visit the official websites of the main political parties for their mayoral candidates and platforms.
- The Oldenburg CDU, in their pursuit of a new candidate for the mayoral race, has looked beyond traditional party politicians, with Ulrich Gathmann, a former CEO of the NWZ media group, now following a path previously untrodden as an independent CDU candidate.
- In the realm of policy-and-legislation and general-news, this move by the Oldenburg CDU adds another layer to the politics of the upcoming mayoral race, as they aim to shake up the status quo with their unconventional choice.
