Robertus Hendricus (Rob) Hessing (born 23 June 1942) is a Dutch former politician who held the position of State Secretary for the Interior and Kingdom Relations on behalf of the

Pim Fortuyn List The Pim Fortuyn List ( nl, Lijst Pim Fortuyn, LPF) was a political party in the Netherlands named after its eponymous founder Pim Fortuyn, a former university professor and political columnist. The party was considered populist, right-wing popu ...

(LPF) in the

first Balkenende cabinet The first Balkenende cabinet was the executive branch of the Netherlands government from 22 July 2002 until 27 May 2003. The cabinet was formed by the Christian-democratic Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), the nationalistic Pim Fortuyn List (L ...

. From 2003 to 2007 he was a member of the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

Biography

Hessing worked as a police officer and was chief of police in

Eindhoven Eindhoven () is a city and municipality in the Netherlands, located in the southern province of North Brabant of which it is its largest. With a population of 238,326 on 1 January 2022,Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, as well as a security officer for the Dutch diplomatic service. He was initially a member of the

Christian Democratic Appeal The Christian Democratic Appeal ( nl, Christen-Democratisch Appèl, ; CDA) is a Christian-democratic political party in the Netherlands. It was originally formed in 1977 from a confederation of the Catholic People's Party, the Anti-Revolutionary ...

but served as State Secretary for the Interior as a member of the

in the first Balkenende cabinet. After the cabinet was dissolved a year later following the 2003 Dutch general election, Hessing was elected as a senator for the LPF, replacing the original lead candidate

Bob Smalhout Bob Smalhout (13 October 1927 – 2 July 2015) was a Dutch physician, professor and author. Smalhout, an anesthesiologist, worked at the Utrecht Academic Hospital and the Utrecht University. Smalhout was the Lijsttrekker (top candidate) for the ...

who withdrew before the elections. Hessing was the only LPF politician to be elected to the Senate and formed a one-man faction. On 12 June 2007 he left the Senate because the LPF after the party failed to gain enough votes in Senate elections. Hessing is the brother of

Democrats 66 Democrats 66 (; abbreviated D66, ) is a Social liberalism, social liberal List of political parties in the Netherlands, political party in the Netherlands, which positions itself in the Centrism, centre of the Left–right political spectrum, p ...

politician

Ruud Hessing Ruud and Rud are surnames of Norwegian origin. Both are also Norwegian place names of numerous farmsteads named Rud or Ruud from Old Norse ''ruð'' meaning clearing. Ruud is also a Dutch masculine given name meaning "famous wolf" although it is also ...

. He was also awarded the

Order of the Netherlands Lion The Order of the Netherlands Lion, also known as the Order of the Lion of the Netherlands ( nl, De Orde van de Nederlandse Leeuw, french: L'Ordre du Lion Néerlandais) is a Dutch order of chivalry founded by King William I of the Netherlands on ...

References

1942 births 21st-century Dutch politicians Living people Members of the Senate (Netherlands) Pim Fortuyn List politicians Politicians from The Hague {{Netherlands-politician-stub