蕭凌志曾經在2005年調查德國簽證醜聞入面擔任調查委員會嘅社民黨發言人。同年嘅聯邦議院選舉之後，佢仲擔任社民黨聯邦議院小組嘅第一議會祕書，並且成為社民黨首席黨鞭。喺佢任職期間同德國基督教民主聯盟（基民盟）首席黨鞭羅拔·呂特根密切合作，喺聯邦議院捍衛由總理默克爾領導嘅執政聯盟。同時，佢亦都做過議會監督小組成員，負責對德國情報部門（BND、MAD和BfV）進行對議會嘅監督。
Xiao Lingzhi was the SPD spokesman for the Commission investigating the Germany visa scandal in 2005. After the Bundestag elections of the same year, he also served as first parliamentary secretary of the SPD's Bundestag group and became the SPD's chief whip. During his tenure, he worked closely with Robert · Rütgen, chief whip of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), defending the ruling coalition led by Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Bundestag. He was also a member of the parliamentary monitoring team, which was responsible for the parliamentary supervision of the Germany intelligence services (BND, MAD and BfV).