Jos Som

Jos Som (* 1953 in Didam ) is a Dutch politician and since 15 December 2000, the mayor of the town of Kerkrade as successor by Thijs Wöltgens.

Career

After his school career and his studies Som worked as a teacher. In his birthplace, he soon became a full-time councilors, the local government and so-called loco- Burgemeester (about: District mayor).

In 1994, the CDA politician was elected mayor of the municipality of Mechelen in South Limburg. After six years in that office he was sworn in on 16 December 2000 as mayor of Kerkrade. He was confirmed in office in late 2006. In this role he followed his predecessor Thijs Wöltgens.

Affairs

In 2004, 15 million euros were referred to the local football first division club Roda JC Kerkrade from the town of Kerkrade. At this time, Som was both mayor of Kerkrade and also a member of the Supervisory Board of the Association. Consequently, he was accused may not be able to separate the different concerns of society and community. The Interior Minister of the Netherlands Johan Remkes accused him of this. Soms answer was an article in the newspaper club Roda JC, according to that he knew himself well enough what he was doing. Accordingly, he denied a misconduct strictly.

In 2005, Som hit the headlines when he should have banned the politician Ayaan Hirsi Ali, participate in an event ( tree planting ) in Kerkrade. This was contradicted by Soms; he had only the organizers can convince them that a participation of Hirsi Ali " at this moment nichtnachvollziehbar " was. The Dutch Minister of Justice stated in the episode, Soms could have expected that Hirsi Ali's security is at risk.

In June 2005, allegations were raised against Soms that he had been favored when buying his first house in Gülpen, later in Kerkrade. Other irregularities in connection with its properties were accused in the sequence. Of these allegations, an external inquiry commission in the autumn of 2005 acquitted him. The Commission attested only some form of error, but did not speak from taking advantage by Jos Som.

In November 2005 it was announced that Som was the owner of a student house in Maastricht, which did not meet the applicable fire regulations. Twice suspended by the city of Maastricht to remedy the dangerous defects, Soms did not respond. Only when the resident students strongly procured hearing with the help of a lawyer, Som introduced the necessary improvements.