Seedy-U Expulsion

According to the Christian Democratic Union's (CDU) official Web site, the German conservtive party's philosophy is to "unite Catholics and Protestants, Conservatives and Liberals, proponents of Christian social ideals, and men and women from various regions, social classes, and democratic traditions."

With this in mind, the expulsion Tuesday of CDU member Alexander Maassen from his local party branch could be seen as being slightly hypocritical. Taking part of the philosophy literally -- the part about uniting "men and women from various regions, social classes, and democratic traditions" -- Maassen did just that. The part that his fellow conservatives took exception to, however, is that he was "uniting" with them in a porno flick.

Conservatives not a fan of "Beauty Gang"

Maassen, a 52-year-old trained doctor who joined the CDU when he was 14, was expelled after it was revealed that he had appeared in, and partly narrated, a blue movie entitled "Beauty Gang" five years ago. He was informed of the CDU's decision in a letter from the branch chairman, Kurt Wansner.

"I wrote to Maassen at the end of last month asking him to resign and for me the matter is now completely closed," Wansner told Reuters, adding Maassen's behavior was against CDU values.

However, Maassen believes that his involvement with "Beauty Gang" is a smokescreen for Wansner's ulterior motives. He said the decision to expel him was a result of critical articles he published about the CDU's electoral performance and the fact that he stood against Wansner in a leadership election.

Besides that, to paraphrase a more senior ex-politician, Maassen claims he did not have sexual relations with that woman or any women despite appearing in the film's sexually explicit scenes.

"Unfortunately I was not quite well that day," he said. "I didn't quite do 'it,' if you know what I mean."