The green member of the bundestag dr. Manuela rottmann steps down on 15. March 2020 against CSU district administrator thomas bold. "The term of office from 2020 to 2026 will be absolutely decisive", the 47-year-old explains her candidacy and refers to climate change in particular: "either we get our act together now or it will all be over at some point." furthermore, it would be good for the democratic culture if there were a possibility of selection in the district council elections. Bold was confirmed in office in 2014 with 92.6 percent, but without an opposing candidate.
Her candidacy has nothing to do with the current rise of the greens, rottmann assures on request. And the doctor of law remains realistic: "I am aware that I am not the favorite." in the 2017 federal election, she had just 7.1 percent of the first votes. After all, there are already two green county councils in bavaria: in miltenberg and in miesbach. Both of them know her personally, but she could not learn any recipes for success from them any more than she could from anna kebschull in osnabruck, who was surprisingly elected green county administrator in june. She praises the district-wide bicycle concept in miltenberg, but relies primarily on her own strengths: "i know how to run an administration", she refers to her time as a full-time department head of the city of frankfurt with more than 1500 employees.
Questions about the incumbent rottmann evades: "the union is diverse, there are also politicians who are popular with the greens", she says in general. That's why she would never have competed against frankfurt's mayor petra roth. For the district, she expects an objective election campaign, because: "thomas bold and i are so different that we don't have to go at each other."
Since her election to the bundestag, rottmann has been on the road regularly in her constituency: in weeks when she is not in session, she holds up to five evening events – in addition to office hours and meetings with local politicians. "There is a need for it", she states, and: "interest is not waning, but rather increasing." between 20 and 200 people attend the discussion rounds. "I take more than I give", she says, and: "that's the best test of whether my arguments are any good."
At the meetings, she also canvasses candidates for municipal and city council elections: for mabbach, bad bocklet and bad bruckenau, rottmann hopes for new green lists; in hammelburg and bad kissingen, they already exist, and others are to follow, because: "currently, many people do not feel adequately represented."
"Political heavyweight"
Rottmann cites mobility as an example of the citizens' concerns: "for decades it has been said that people don't want to take the bus, but i hear just the opposite." in a self-experiment, she always tests how difficult it is to travel by public transport in the countryside. Even more important is the health care in the countryside, you just have to look at the average age of the doctors. "Telemedicine alone is not the answer." both issues had to be a matter for the head of the district office.
As a green, she was naturally particularly interested in issues such as women's rights, integration and ecology. She calls for a climate-friendly demographic change for rural regions: "we need urban development concepts to bring the existing stock into the modern age." a house from the 1970s is "competing with the new building on the green meadow", which is required by k not.
"With this, we are sending a political heavyweight into the race for the district council office", tobias eichelbronner, chairman of the grunen district, comments on rottmann's candidacy. Co-chairwoman of the district, petra winter, adds: "it is also time for the first female district administrator in the district of bad kissingen." deputy district administrator monika horcher calls rottmann her "dream candidate": "we couldn't have asked for anything better for the elections next spring."
Private manuela rottmann was born in wurzburg in 1972 and moved to hammelburg as a teenager, where she graduated from high school in 1991. The 47-year-old is divorced and has a twelve-year-old son.
Profession and politics after studying law in frankfurt and france, she first worked at the german institute for urban studies. In 2006 she received her doctorate and became a full-time department head of the city of frankfurt, first for environment and health, later also for personnel and organization. After six years, she joined deutsche bahn as a consultant. Two years ago, she was elected to the bundestag on the state list of the greens, where she is, among other things, the greens' representative on the committee for legal affairs and consumer protection.