The interlocutory proceedings that Positive Landsmeer filed today against mayor Léon de Lange took a very short time. The judge did not consider itself competent to make a ruling in the case where a report is the subject of discussion in particular: “I think it belongs in politics. Not for the court.”
The judge’s decision comes as a surprise to the mayor and the research agency that wrote the report. André La Fontaine of Positive Landsmeer knew it before. He had been informed about the doubts of the judge through the clerk of the court, but nevertheless decided to allow the interlocutory proceedings to proceed.
This caused angry looks from the other tables. At the research agency ‘steam came out of the ears’. To ease the suffering, Positive Landsmeer must reimburse the costs of the mayor and the research bureau.
Why is Positive Landsmeer fighting for this?
At the trial, Positive Landsmeer hoped for a review, or rather a new report about possible unethical behavior in the council. After this report stepped alderman Marion Breij of Local Landsmeer op. This happened after a motion of no confidence submitted by party chairman Eric Knibbe of the CDA, one of the coalition parties.
Breij has been discredited a number of times in recent months, starting with the submission of the municipality’s vision on the environmental regulation of the Province and in December last year with the Pepermolen issue.
The research report will be discussed in the city council tonight. “This is going to escalate further,” said La Fontaine to the subdistrict court in Zaandam. La Fontaine believes that the research agency has not acted with integrity and that Breij has not been able to express its side properly. It is striking that her old party, Lokaal Landsmeer, remains impartial. According to Astrid Kuiper of GroenLinks, Breij himself chose not to say anything.
Need money from Landsmeerders
Yet La Fontaine was not immediately taken aback after this setback. In his own words, he goes ‘with the hat along’ the residents. Whether the Landsmeer residents are really waiting for it, that remains to be seen. La Fontaine does not have to wait for support from other political parties. For example, Astrid Kuiper of GroenLinks thinks it is a waste of time and money for all those involved.
Mayor Léon de Lange agrees with this. Next week, more than a year after the elections, the new coalition will be installed. According to most parties, it is therefore time to look forward instead of backward.