There are people who owe a lot to Ernst Weidenbusch. Andreas Bukowski, for example, Haar’s mayor, who would not have had a chance in the 2020 local elections without Weidenbusch’s loud campaign in a duel with the SPD town hall chief Gabriele Müller. Also Prime Minister Markus Söder, who was able to rely unconditionally on his special representative when it came to the BayernLB and Hypo Alpe Adria scandal. But there are also people who, in a negative sense, have repeatedly experienced first-hand that Weidenbusch is a man of extremes – the ever-escalating dispute over his position as President of the Bavarian Hunting Association proves this once again impressively.
Even close friends of the party are not surprised that within the already controversial association, allegations against Weidenbusch’s leadership style and his outbursts of anger towards employees are loud. Probably everyone in the district association of the CSU Munich-Land has been targeted by the controversial, sometimes short-tempered and mercilessly self-confident member of the state parliament. Even District Administrator Christoph Göbel, whose party friend and deputy is Weidenbusch, was often met with the anger of the Haarer during budget consultations because of the Munich district’s willingness to spend. And mostly right. Also because of this: Weidenbusch, who does not want to run again in the local elections in 2026, will be missing from district politics and above all from his party.
Anyone who now believes that Weidenbusch would start his complete retreat because of the conflicts within the hunting association, shot and wounded, is wrong. After 20 years in local politics, someone takes just one more step in a very self-determined and upright manner. The hunters won’t be able to get rid of him any time soon.