Dispute over private posting in the style of a community newspaper
The municipality of Adnet is now examining legal steps against the citizens’ initiative. This is called: “Save the Adnet fields”. Criticism of politics is an important part of democracy, says Mayor Wolfgang Auer from the ÖVP.
But the deceptive or misleading appearance of the direct mail goes too far, says Auer: “We get a lot of calls and emails about it. It seems that many citizens have been taken in by this deception. If you want to know who the editor of these four pages is while reading, you have to look very carefully at the post. We reserve the right to take legal action. But in this case we will try not to go to the courts. They have other things to do. But the citizens should get their own picture of this broadcast.”
According to the mayor, the post contains allegations that are factually incorrect. The other side argues similarly.
Conscious decision on the layout
Hans Scheicher from the Adnet citizens’ initiative told the ORF that only the color scheme of the local newspaper was used for the post. In general, it is about correcting factual inaccuracies that the mayor had spread in a community letter. The color scheme and the structure of the mail were chosen in such a way that the citizens would also read it.
The lawyer Martin Huber from the Salzburg Association of Municipalities sees the post in the “borderline area of legal admissibility”. He can well understand the mayor’s dismay and anger, because many citizens now apparently believe that the municipality itself sent it out.
Factual error in the controversial issue of kindergarten
One of the thematic examples in the dispute between the municipality and the citizens’ initiative concerns the kindergarten fees in Adnet. The mayor is of the opinion that an expansion of the blinds manufacturer Schlotterer will bring more money into the municipal coffers. This will relieve young parents because they would then have to pay less for places in kindergarten. The politician also wrote this in the official community newspaper and pointed out that Adnet already had the lowest and most family-friendly fees in the district.
The citizens’ initiative sees it differently. In the post that is now under discussion, reference is made to the municipality of Rußbach in Salzburg’s Tennengau, where the kindergarten is even free for the population. The mayor should not spread untruths.
Research by the ORF on Friday revealed that these facts very well apply to a community called Rußbach – but Rußbach in Lower Austria (Korneuburg district). When asked, representatives of the Adneter citizens’ initiative said that they had only just been made aware of this and had probably made a mistake: “We’re sorry.” and dubious. The whole process is also legal.