Latex Lady

Pauli rose to prominence in 2006 when she called for generational change at the top of the CSU and questioned the status of long-time party leader Edmund Stoiber, who subsequently had to agree to step down this September.

That triumph attracted national media attention to the fifty-year-old local counselor from the town of Fürth, whose audacity -- and good looks -- stood out within a party that usually prides itself on frumpy conservativism.

But Pauli miscalculated when she posed for a series of sexy photos. The images, published last month in a glossy German monthly, show her wearing an Uma-Thurman-in-Pulp-Fiction-style wig and elbow-length, dominatrix-like leather gloves, and displaying a bit of leg atop a massage table.

The photos were published under the headline "Saint Pauli," a reference to the Hamburg neighborhood home to that city's notorious red-light district.

Now the dowdy wing of the CSU is taking its revenge, suggesting that Pauli should be marginalized.

"Ms. Pauli has become a complete embarrassment," CSU European parliamentary delegate Markus Ferber told a local Bavarian newspaper. "She'll no longer be given any positions of responsibility within the CSU."

CSU General Secretary Markus Söder has also called upon Pauli to give up all her party positions.

Living in the Middle Ages?

Pauli is doing her best to ride out the flap, saying she may still run for the office of deputy leader at the CSU party convention this September.

"I see no reason to conceal my femininity," Pauli told the weekly news magazine Stern. "I drive a motorcycle and wear black gloves -- is that a reason to quit the party? Are we living in the Middle Ages?"

The counselor blames Stoiber and his allies for the attacks on her, and the tension is sure to increase later this month as Pauli is scheduled to publish a book of caricatures lampooning the often ponderous manner of the CSU patriarch.

The pictures are softcore at most, but Pauli is clearly feeling the sting. She has said she may now sue the magazine in which the images appeared for not clearing them for publication with her.

Satisfaction for Stoiber

Edmund Stoiber probably regrets not having been in Bavaria the past week. He was on an eleven-day trip through Asia when the scandal surrounding his rival broke.

"There's no need for any further commentary," Stoiber said when asked for his reaction to the photos. But a source close to him was quoted as saying: "It's definitely a point of satisfaction. The more she makes herself look ridiculous, the better it is for him."

Meanwhile, rumors have started that Stoiber may reconsider his promise to resign.