PvdA angry with CDA Zuidoost

In tomorrow’s council meeting, Henk de Boer (CDA, Zuidoost) will withdraw his earlier suggestion that a PvdA council member would have sent anonymous letters abusing Alderman Jude Kehla (also PvdA) for his plans to clamp down on subsidies.

Two assistant council members (GroenLinks and CDA) have received anonymous letters in which Kehla is called ‘the black Wilders’ (a reference to right-wing populist Geert Wilders). On his weblog, De Boer published a rumour according to which PvdA council member Henk Lalji would have written one of the letters.

An investigation by the district secretary revealed that there is little ground for this suggestion. For example, De Boer assumed that only council members have access to the letterboxes, but it has become clear that this applies to civil servants as well. Also the students’ council of the Augustinuscollege, which had a meeting at the district office on 4 February, had access to the letterboxes.

In response to the findings of the secretary, party leader Muriel Dalgliesh of the PvdA has today sent an open letter to the council in which she calls on De Boer to make a public apology in tomorrow’s council meeting. De Boer told News from Amsterdam that he will do so.

Dalgliesh is angry at how the rumour about the anonymous letters was picked up by the media. “Even the Brabants Dagblad [a regional paper in the south of the Netherlands] wrote about it”.

The background of the conflict is an interview in het Parool in which Kehla criticised eight subsidised organisations and announced an overhaul of the subsidy system. The interview caused irritation among his fellow party members. Tomorrow night, both the PvdA and local party OZO will ask whether Kehla’s remarks reflect the view of the entire administration.

Photo from Zuidoost website. The council meeting tomorrow night will be broadcast on-line at 8 pm.