Jos Som

Jos Som (* 1953 in Didam ) is a Dutch politician from the Christian Democratic Appèl (CDA).

career

After his school career and his studies, Som first worked as a teacher. In his place of birth, he soon became a full-time assistant to the local government and a so-called loco-Burgemeester (for example: district mayor ).

In 1994 the CDA politician was elected mayor of the South Limburg municipality of Gulpen . After six years in this office, he was sworn in as Mayor of Kerkrade on December 16, 2000 . At the end of 2006 he was confirmed in office. In this role he succeeded his predecessor Thijs Wöltgens. On June 11, 2019, Petra Dassen-Housen took over this role as his successor.

Affairs

In 2004, the city of Kerkrade transferred 15 million euros to the local first division football club Roda JC Kerkrade . At that time, Som was both mayor of Kerkrade and a member of the association's board of directors. As a result, he was accused of not being able to separate the different interests of the association and the community. The Minister of the Interior of the Netherlands Johan Remkes accused him of this. Som's answer, according to an article in Roda JC's club newspaper, was that he knew what he was doing himself well enough. Accordingly, he strictly denied a misconduct.

In 2005 Som hit the headlines when he allegedly banned politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali from attending an event (tree planting day) in Kerkrade. Soms contradicted this; he was only able to convince the organizers that Hirsi Ali's participation was "incomprehensible at this point". The Dutch Minister of Justice subsequently stated that Soms could have assumed that Hirsi Ali's security was at risk.

In June 2005, allegations were made against Soms that he had been given preferential treatment when buying his houses, first in Gülpen and later in Kerkrade. He was subsequently accused of further irregularities in connection with his real estate. An external commission of inquiry acquitted him of these allegations in autumn 2005. The commission only attested a few formal errors, but did not consider Jos Som to be an advantage.

In November 2005 it became known that Som was the owner of a student house in Maastricht which did not comply with the applicable fire protection regulations. Soms did not respond to the twice stopped by the city of Maastricht to remedy the dangerous deficiencies. Only when the students living there made their voices heard with the help of a lawyer did Som introduce the necessary improvements.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Ruben Van Erp: Petra Dassen-Housen start on June 11th as a burgemeester in Kerkrade. In: De Limburger . Media Groep Limburg, April 16, 2019, accessed on June 11, 2019 (Dutch). 
2. ^ Website of the Ministry of Inner Lands Zaken . (nl)
3. ↑ cf. this u. a. the website against corruption and nepotism Vriendenrepubliek ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (nl); see also on the website of Frans Timmermans ( memento of the original of September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . (nl)  
4. ↑ cf. for this the website of Nova (nl) and the website VVD (nl).
5. ↑ cf. Website PvdA, Gulpen-Wittem local association  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (nl). It should be noted that this is the website of the political opponents, and therefore POV cannot be ruled out when it is displayed. An attempt was made to adopt the information as free from judgment as possible.  
6. ↑ cf. Ublad website of the University of Utrecht ( Memento of the original from January 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (nl); see also on the website Observant of the University of Maastricht  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. n (nl)