vetternwirtschaftsgaffe oder -gate

The last contemporary scandal of German politics to shake tigers into the streets was over plagiarism and ill-gotten academic accolades, be they vanity diplomas even so.
The behaviour was less than inspirational and invited in quite a witch-hunt among the rank and file. Politicians, by nature I think, are not ones to relinquish due-credit in any form and scholastic dishonestly is probably a gateway fib.

Now, though with less fanfare since the guilt is most likely highly prevalent and the racketeers do not want to attract too much scrutiny (though surely not exclusive to Germany) , another scandal, equally hallmarked with the failure to learn a fundamental civics lesson, is ranging through the class of hopefuls for next year’s general elections: nepotism (Nepotismus oder Vetternwirtschaft, cousin-business) and cronyism is a widespread practice, and apparently many office-holders with the ability to bestow grace and favour do so without stint or caution on family members. This is about as shrewd and intriguing as tepid philandering or other sins of irony and omission.