Halsema: ‘I should have had a different intuition’ | Inland

Halsema said that she had never identified Booij as a friend at any time and was therefore ‘greatly surprised, shocked and mortified’ about the accusation of favoritism.

She acknowledged that the consultant, who was hired at her instigation as program director for the city’s 750-year anniversary, was in 2018 in a group founded at the initiative of the late Eric van Bruggen and advised during her application for the mayoralty.

But in the years that followed she had ‘sporadic contact’ with Booij. “Maybe a few apps. It never occurred to me that it could be constructed as a friendly relationship. That’s why I got mugged. I regret that the image has arisen.” Incidentally, Halsema could not fail to emphasize that there was nothing wrong with her political antenna.

Booij’s appointment sparked outrage in the city council. Especially the compensation of 10,000 euros per month for 20 hours of work per week was a stumbling block. In addition, various groups felt that the job should have been put out to tender. The SP and the PvdD, among others, spoke of a semblance of favoritism. PvdD party chairman Van Lammeren thinks the whole affair ‘isn’t nice. The SP hopes that Halsema will learn ‘lessons’ from the affair and JA21 now sees a pattern of ‘clumsy operation’ at the mayor.

D66 leader Van Dantzig said that his group was outraged that the mayor bounced the ball in the previous debate. The council could also have been sharper, it was said at the time. “At your service,” said Van Dantzig, who insisted on political sensitivity. As far as he’s concerned, this is the end.

At the request of the council, the municipality had a second opinion carried out as to whether the job should have been put out to tender. Not the case, concluded Groningen professor Van Romburgh, who contradicts the conclusion of Professor Kuipers (Radboud University) who previously said the opposite in the Telegraaf. Fvd party chairman and former lawyer Anton van Schijndel also questioned the second opinion. ‘A discussion between tender lawyers’, said Halsema, who amply acknowledged that the Booij affair was extremely ‘messy and not pretty’. For example, his invoices were continued to be paid, while the job was finished on paper.

There was no clear answer as to how this was possible, although Halsema mainly blamed the municipality. There was confusion about the term of his contract, among other things. The corona pandemic was ‘no excuse’, but it could explain why it was a ‘mess’ in the official organization, it sounded.

CDA party chairman Diederik Boomsma reported that after some time Booij raised the alarm with the municipality about the status of his job. Halsema did not tell the mayor to the council, which was unable to respond further.

At the request of the council, Halsema has now promised a laundry list of improvements. For example, consultants have to start working with time sheets and Halsema wants to place such functions with the municipality in the future, rather not to outsource it via a freelance contract, or to put it out to public tender.

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