Jacques Tichelaar


Jacques Tichelaar is a Dutch politician and former trade union leader and educator. He is a member of the Labour Party. Since 1 May 2009 he has been the King's Commissioner in the province of Drenthe. He resigned on March 1, 2017.
Previously he was a teachers' trade union leader from 1994 to 2002 and an MP from 2002 to 2009. He acted as a Parliamentary group leader from 2007 to 2008.
In 2002 he received an honorary doctorate in business administration at Kingston University.

Biography

In 1973 Tichelaar finished his havo and enrolled at the Pedagogische Academie in Heerenveen. Before he entered politics, Tichelaar was vice-director of a primary school, general secretary of the education labour union ABOP and chair of its successor AOB, which is affiliated with the FNV, the major Dutch federation of labour unions.
Since the 2002 election he was a member of the Tweede Kamer. He focused on education and agriculture. He was also chair of the committee for finance.
During the 2006–2007 Dutch cabinet formation, Tichelaar was secondant of Wouter Bos during the confidential negotiations. He was unexpectedly chosen over MPs like Nebahat Albayrak, the PvdA's second candidate on the list, because of his experience with negotiations from his union years. Since Tichelaar had also had many conversations with CDA leader Maxime Verhagen about the reasons why the 2003 information talks between the two parties had failed, he was expected to understand the CDA party best among PvdA MPs.
Since 1 May 2009 he was the Queen's Commissioner in the province of Drenthe. He resigned on March 1, 2017, after first denying, and than admitting, to have favoured the companies of close relatives more than once. Evidence emerged that he had put forward the company of his sister in law, for a project in one of the province's buildings, pushing aside the already accepted proposition of a third party. In 2013 he had interfered in favour of his brother in law, a hotel interpreneur, who had a conflict with one of the municipalities in Drenthe.