Politics & Administration

Yesterday, Zuidoost District Alderman Emile Jaensch (VVD) threatened to reveal the name of a council member who has commented anonymously on his weblog. This morning, he revealed that the comments came from the computer of Roy Ristie (D66/OZO). Ristie says he cannot rule out that the comments are his. He considers proposing to prohibit council members from commenting on weblogs anonymously.

Ristie says he frequently comments on weblogs and sometimes uses aliases. “It’s not about me, it’s about the debate. There’s no rule whatsoever that says which name you should put under your comments. My comments never have an abusive, threatening or illegal nature. In fact, there’s no problem whatsoever.”

Is a council member in Zuidoost to get in trouble tonight? Alderman Emile Jaensch (VVD) of Zuidoost threatens to reveal the identity of a council member who posts reactions on his weblog under false names. This morning at a quarter to 10, he set a 12-hour ultimatum: “Shall I reveal your identity or will you throw in the towel yourself.”

Jaensch says that reactions have been posted on his weblog under the names Tanja, DJ DAZZ, Els and Van Dongen, all from the same IP address. This IP address would be connected to the computer of a council member in Zuidoost, referred to as ‘he’ by Jaensch.

Tomorrow, activist René Danen from Amsterdam will be one of the candidates for the national board of GroenLinks. However, current chairman Henk Nijhof does not want Danen on the board, among other things because of his court case against Geert Wilders (PVV). René Danen responds: “Nijhof is acting as if he’s Wilders’ lawyer.”

In an interview on Nu.nl, Nijhof says that Danen does not belong on the GroenLinks board because he would be stifling free speech with his court case against Wilders. Danen’s past call to boycott activist magazine Ravage would also fit in this picture.

Among other things, the city council appears to serve as an employment agency for political functions elsewhere. Since the 2006 election, 16 out of 45 council members have left, Binnenlands Bestuur reports. Most of them became alderman, MP or mayor. Nationally, 23% of the council members have left since the last election.

In Amsterdam, 4 council members have become aldermen, 3 became MP, 3 mayor of another city, and one found a job elsewhere. Four left for personal reasons and one for political reasons.

What issues are being debated in the run-up to the local election? A new website will follow trends on Twitter and on weblogs, with separate pages for Amsterdam and for the new districts.

For each municipality, the website shows messages from people who are involved with local politics online. There will also be opinion articles, links to online forums and rankings, for example of the municipalities where politicians are most active on Twitter.

“As far as I’m concerned, the district councils can be abolished.” With this ‘territorial mark’, party leader Pieter van Geel indicated what kind of budget cuts the Christian-Democrat CDA has in mind. Van Geel, who was a guest at the Pauw en Witteman show, claims the national government has to cut 35 billion euro over the coming years and thinks that government and politicians should not shy away from cutting away bureaucracy.

Getting rid of the district councils is relatively painless for the CDA, which is having its party congress today. District councils exist only in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, cities where the CDA has little followers and therefore few seats. In the 2006 election, the CDA obtained 12 out of 322 district council seats in Amsterdam.