A violent exit out of concern for his legacy, or a political resignation out of bitterness? The fundamental criticism of the outgoing IT consultant Thomas Bönig on the city councilors of the Greens/Pink List made waves. Their parliamentary group spokesman Florian Roth called the speaker’s words “a distorted representation” of reality and attributes Bönig’s harsh statements primarily to the fact that he would have had to look for a new job at the latest after his term of office had expired. “He was a speaker who was elected by the CSU and SPD at the time. We didn’t vote for him.”
The signals for Bönig were clear: an extension of the contract in the summer of 2024 was not up for debate. He is now moving to Stuttgart early and will be leaving the city on June 30th. The Greens had it in their hands, they have the right to propose this person and are now looking for a successor. In an interview with the SZ, Bönig described her digital policy as “one-sided, not very pragmatic and strongly ideological”. The seemingly only focus are open source issues. The Greens lack the necessary competence and “a rudimentary understanding of IT,” said Bönig.
Group leader Roth was annoyed by Bönig’s style, saying he was “not impressed”. Not for the first time, by the way. “A trusting cooperation is not a one-way street.” The fact that the Greens only deal with open source plans is “nonsense”. On two-thirds of the topics, they even worked well together, for example on the reorganization of computer technology in schools. In fact, the Greens had the impression that the IT officer was “delaying” the city’s open source projects.
The Greens did not want a complete return of computer technology to open source products
Overall, the balance of Bönig’s work in the four years is mixed, but by no means bad. And Roth also emphasizes one thing: The Greens do not want a complete return of city computer technology to open source products. “We are not planning a second roll backwards in the operating system and office applications.” The city should only check and implement this in areas where it fits.
The IT consultant received a lot of encouragement from the opposition. In the four years, Bönig had “done great things for our city,” said Sabine Bär, IT spokeswoman for the CSU/Free Voters parliamentary group. With the house he founded in 2018, he reorganized an area in which a lot had gone wrong up until then. “Not very political, technically correct. He didn’t let himself be bent.”
He implemented a lot, although the budget had been cut, and saved the city a lot of money by setting up his own IT consultancy. Bönig confirmed the “blindness of the Greens in matters of open source”. You have to listen to experts and employees in order to offer optimal solutions and “not to waste resources on unnecessary in-house developments when there are good products on the market that can be used immediately”.
The IT consultant is already “a very special character”
There was also a lot of understanding for Bönig and a lot of encouragement for his work from the parliamentary group Left/the party. “I think the Greens should think about how they deal with speakers who don’t have their party book,” said spokesman Stefan Jagel. Bönig’s “pragmatic manner” was good for the city. “I very much regret that his term of office will not be extended.” The FDP/Bavarian Party faction wants a report from the city on open source projects. “Who is influencing where and who is promising which funds,” asked City Councilor Richard Progl in the IT committee.
The SPD, the coalition partner of the Greens, made objective comments on the emotional dispute. IT spokesman Lars Mentrup said that the IT officer was “a character all of his own” who didn’t necessarily attach importance to political diplomacy. But one has to give Bönig credit for successfully building up the department with his staff and developing a strategy for the future. “Everything is there, every hand knows what it has to do.”
Bringing the computer equipment of the city employees up to date, converting the administration and the citizen service to digital processes and coordinating more than 800 different programs and processes is a mammoth task. That Bönig is “not very willing to experiment” when it comes to open source is correct. And that was noticeably badly received by the Greens.
They should now “absolutely” advertise Bönig’s successor,” demands the CSU. The Greens have already announced this. But for the CSU, the factual selection among the candidates is crucial. If someone only ends up there for party political reasons, said City Councilor Bär, “this can become a big problem for us”.