Langedijk mayor resigns over commotion around official residence

Jan Hoekema, husband of recently resigned Senator Marleen Barth, also decided to hand in his resignation. He is stepping down as acting mayor of Langedijk in Noord-Holland, RTL Nieuws reports.

The reason for his resignation is the media commotion that arose around an agreement he made with the municipality of Wassenaar after he retired as mayor of the municipality. Hoekema and Barth arranged that they could stay on in the Wassenaar official mayoral residence at a reduced rent after Hoekema was no longer mayor there.

According to Hoekema, he doesn't want the municipality of Langedijk to suffer under the negative media attention around him. "I leave with pain in my heart, because the beautiful municipality of Langedijk has stolen my heart", he said, according to the broadcaster.

Last week Hoekema's wife Marleen Barth resigned as leader of the PvdA in the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate. Her resignation was due to the media commotion around the Wassenaar mayoral residence, combined with the fact that she decided not to attend an important debate on a new donor law so that she could go on holiday in the Maldives.