Brabant provincial administrator Anne-Marie Spierings is still going through the dust after the MeToo riot within D66, in which party prominent Frans van Drimmelen was involved. Spierings was party chairman at the time and now admits that she should have insisted on his departure.
De Geffense writes this in a hidden message on Facebook, which is in the hands of the Brabants Dagblad†
Spierings was party chairman of D66 from 2018 to 2021. That is why many party members – including leader Sigrid Kaag – blamed her as one of the culprits in the disastrous handling of the affair. For example, it would have ensured that the investigation report into transgressive behavior was divided into a public and a confidential part.
The latter part showed that party prominent Van Drimmelen had indeed been guilty of transgressive behaviour. But instead of a forced departure, it seems that the board tried to cover up the matter.
“I have sincerely tried to make good decisions as party chairman.”
A mistake Spierings now deeply regrets, she writes in her message in the closed Facebook group of D66. “Of course I could and should have made an urgent request to the man to cancel his membership. I have sincerely tried to make good decisions in my role as party chairman. I am sorry that I did not succeed in that on a few moments. ”
Where Spierings, in his own words, also fell short, is the contact with the victim of Van Drimmelen. “The female involved had a hard time when the case played out in 2015. I have not been able to prevent it all from being brought up again for her. I am sorry and it hurts me too.”