The Mayor Played One Game Of Tennis – And Can't Stop Lying About It

Thursday, March 19

Increasingly, it feels like the writing is on the wall for the Berlin mayor Kai Wegner. His personal approval ratings have been low for weeks. Now, new allegations about January's "tennis scandal" — when the mayor took time off during a massive municipal power outage caused by apparent sabotage to play tennis with his girlfriend — have led to another spate of bad headlines. He is now threatening legal action against the Tagesspiegel for carrying out what he believes is a "campaign" against him over the issue.

If confirmed, this would mark the second time Kai Wegner was caught out in a lie over this scandal.

The allegations at the heart of this new wave of scandal have a touch of ridiculousness about them. Essentially, the question is this: had the mayor done a full morning's work before he popped out for a spot of tennis around lunchtime?

In an interview with WELT TV on January 7, Wegner claimed that he had "started making phone calls at 8:08", in particular with Stromnetz Berlin, the electricity grid operator, and with the federal government. It was these conversations, he claimed, that allowed him to later get assistance from the German military during the crisis. It was only after all that, he said, that he took to the tennis court.

But is that really true? Apparently not. Documents released by the Senate Chancellery have shown there were no calls with Stromnetz Berlin or the federal government before the tennis match. The only communication he made beforehand appears to have been a brief text exchange with Interior Senator Iris Spranger, and a short contact with the Senate Chancellery itself around 8:50am. Economics Senator (and former mayor) Franziska Giffey of the SPD has also said that she could not reach him for hours.

Had the mayor done a full morning's work before he popped out for a spot of tennis?

If confirmed, this would mark the second time Kai Wegner was caught out in a lie over this tennis game. Initially, he had concealed the match entirely. His political opponents certainly seem to smell blood: AfD group leader Kristin Brinker called him the Lügenbaron Berlins, Berlin's baron of lies, while Green Party lead candidate Werner Graf said that "there are serious doubts whether the governing mayor has told the truth." The Tagesspiegel itself has speculated whether the CDU might seek to replace him as their mayoral candidate ahead of the September elections. Despite the racket, he remains in place – for now.