Thom de Graaf
Thomas Carolus de Graaf is a Dutch politician of the Democrats 66 party and jurist. He has been the Vice-President of the Council of State since 1 November 2018.
Early life and education
De Graaf was born in Amsterdam in 1957. De Graaf's father, Theo de Graaf, was a Catholic People's Party member of parliament and from 1968 until 1977 mayor of Nijmegen. De Graaf attended the from April 1969 until May 1975 and applied at the Radboud University Nijmegen in June 1975 majoring in Law obtaining a Bachelor of Laws degree in June 1977 and worked as a student researcher before graduating with a Master of Laws degree in July 1981.De Graaf served on the municipal council of Nijmegen from May 1978 until April 1979. De Graaf worked as a researcher at the Radboud University Nijmegen and the from July 1981 until September 1985. De Graaf worked as a civil servant for the Ministry of the Interior from September 1985 until May 1994. He worked at the Department for Law Enforcement from September 1985 until February 1986, as deputy director-general of the Department for Legislative Affairs from February 1986 until August 1988, as deputy director-general of the Department for Legal Affairs from August 1988 until September 1991, and as deputy director-general of the Department for Law Enforcement from September 1991 until May 1994. De Graaf served on the municipal council of Leiden from April 1990 until May 1994.
Political career
De Graaf was elected to the House of Representatives in 1994 general election, taking office on 17 May 1994. He served as his party's spokesperson for the interior, Kingdom relations, and law enforcement, and as deputy spokesperson for foreign affairs and European affairs. He was also vice-chairman of the parliamentary inquiry committee that looked into the investigative methods used by the Dutch inter-regional police force, leading to the resignation in 1994 of the Minister for Internal Affairs, Ed van Thijn.After the parliamentary leader of the Democrats 66 in the House of Representatives announced that he was stepping down following increasing criticism of his leadership, De Graaf was chosen as his successor, taking office on 21 November 1997. In the 1998 general election, the new Leader of the Democrats 66 Els Borst was elected to the House of Representatives and became parliamentary leader, taking office on 19 May 1998. Following the 1998 cabinet formation, Borst opted to remain Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport in the Kok II cabinet and unexpectedly announced that she was stepping down as party leader. De Graaf announced his candidacy to succeed her, and won the leadership election defeating fellow member of parliament Roger van Boxtel. He took office as party leader on 30 May 1998.
For the 2002 general election, De Graaf served as the lead candidate. The Democrats 66 suffered a big loss, falling back from fourteen to seven seats. The party lost another seat in the 2003 general election, and was left with six seats in the House of Representatives. On 22 January 2003, De Graaf announced his resignation as party leader on account of the election defeats, but continued to serve in the House of Representatives, chairing the parliamentary committee for Kingdom Relations. Following the 2003 cabinet formation, De Graaf was appointed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Governmental Reform and Kingdom Relations in the Balkenende II cabinet, taking office on 27 May 2003.
De Graaf resigned on 23 March 2005 after his proposal for the introduction of democratically elected mayors had been rejected in the Senate, with a deciding vote cast by the Labour Party group under the leadership of Ed van Thijn. The proposal was especially important as it had become a symbol of the government reform that D66 had pursued since its founding. Alexander Pechtold succeeded him in the cabinet.