Rita Verdonk is back and immediately hijacks the party

Elections are coming up, in March for the city council, and old acquaintances are rising again. In The Hague, for example, Rita Verdonk becomes number two of Groep de Mos, the largest party in the city council. And she immediately behaves like the boss: another veteran, former PVV member Hero Brinkman, has been thrown off the list of candidates by her.

At the VVD, for which she was once a minister in Balkenende-2, they recognize that image of Verdonk: the number 2 who cannot accept that and grabs power. In 2006 she tried to dethrone party leader Mark Rutte, because she had won more votes in the elections. It almost led to a split in the VVD, which could be averted by sending Verdonk away. The coup was prevented just in time.

Richard de Mos, undisputed leader (until now) of the party named after himself, was not yet politically active at the time and may have missed the Verdonk affair at the time. Otherwise, he would have thought twice before going into business with Verdonk. Because there is quite a lot attached to this former minister, who after her VVD time no longer got a foothold in politics. She founded Trots op Nederland, lost fourteen of her eighteen faithful within a year, and suffered an ignominious defeat in the elections. Her party won zero seats.

Her party’s merger with Hero Brinkman’s Independent Citizens’ Party was also short-lived. Verdonk, who himself did not aspire to lead the party, would pay for Brinkman’s election campaign, but ultimately did not. This is probably the cause of the break.

Brinkman has been active for Groep De Mos for some time and was one of the candidate councilors who could count on an eligible place on the list. But Brinkman was told in the autumn of De Mos that the intended number 2, Rita Verdonk’s name was not yet known at the time, did not want him and that he was therefore removed from the list of candidates. Verdonk’s influence reaches far; The Moss does what she wants. Group members are very concerned about this. Their leader is fishing in from the right (Verdonk) and the left (former PvdA alderman Constant Martini) who have had nothing to do with the party in all those years. They only go for themselves.

Richard de Mos, who compiles the electoral list without consultation and on his own (party members have nothing to say about this), is lyrical about Verdonk. He calls her a ‘dyke of a woman’ who, with her rich management experience, is the perfect running mate. She has been recruited as the first candidate for alderman. De Mos takes into account that his return as alderman will not be welcomed by other parties, because of the suspicion of criminal activities of which he is suspected by the Public Prosecution Service.

Moreover, De Mos thinks he will bring in a voice gun with Verdonk. The party is in good shape in the polls, but De Mos is counting on an even bigger win with the new number 2. That is highly questionable; Verdonk’s popularity disappeared like snow in the sun after 2006. And young voters don’t know her.

For Rita Verdonk, her nomination is the first step towards what she has always aspired to: to be the boss. Because Verdonk cannot manage with a second place, that does not fit in with the nature of the beast. If Richard de Mos were to be convicted and left politics as he announced earlier, Verdonk is ready to take over.

That, and nothing else, is her main motivation.