He may be 74 years old, just had two surgeries and radiation ahead; Casper Kloos can be found in the Tynaarlo city council in the coming period. The voter chose, and when called upon, he is there.
As number 8 on the list, Casper Kloos received 344 of the 2,857 votes for his party Liveable Tynaarlo. “Then you can’t ignore it. That would be voter fraud,” says Kloos in the Radio Drenthe program Cassata.
With his preferential votes, he occupies one of his party’s five seats.
Almost 30 years
Kloos entered politics in 1993. “I was involved with tenants, the houses they lived in were not well maintained,” he recalls. “If something isn’t right, you have to rattle on the door.” Kloos got ‘geeked over’ with the then municipality of Vries. “They didn’t want to give me data I asked for. I say: I’ll come get them.” Shortly afterwards he took part in the elections with his newly founded party Vries2000. “That gave me two seats on the council and I had my data.”
Over the years, the party evolved into Leefbaar Tynaarlo, of which Kloos was the face for many years. As an opposition party, he fought many battles in the council with the sitting colleges. After the elections in 2018, Leefbaar Tynaarlo itself became a college party.
Opposition leader Kloos became leader of a coalition party. A role that suited him less. “You often talk with flour in your mouth. You have to seek consensus, keep your mouth shut more often if you think you have to say something.” He passed the baton to his son-in-law Jurryt Vellinga and was given a role as a mentor in the margins.
With his eighth place on the electoral list, Kloos definitely wanted to take a step back. “You get a day older and it’s good to give the younger guard the chance to develop themselves.” But the voter chose Kloos.
Operations
And so Kloos will once again take a seat in the council chamber in the coming years. In the middle of a period in which his body is put to the test. He recently had open heart surgery and also surgery for prostate cancer. He will start a series of radiation treatments next week. “After that, it’s hurry up. I have twenty years of grace, so I agreed with the doctors. When I’m 95 I’ll come by to see if everything is still okay.”
The large-scale Lifelines health survey in the north of the Netherlands revealed the condition. “Eight weeks ago I knew nothing. I had to hand in urine and blood, two days later I had to go to the doctor. The blood values were not in order. In the end it was good for everyone to participate in such a study. As the doctors say, you have fifteen to twenty years extra.”