Jet Bussemaker

Infobox_Politician
name = Mariëtte Bussemaker


caption =
birth_date = Birth date and age|1961|1|15|df=y
birth_place = Capelle aan den IJssel, Netherlands
residence =
office = State secretary of Health, Welfare and Sport
salary =
term_start = 2007
term_end = present
predecessor = Clemence Ross-Van Dorp
successor = incumbent
office2 = Member of the Tweede Kamer
salary2 =
term_start2 = 2002
term_end2= 2007
party = Labour Party (PvdA)
religion =
occupation = Assistant professor Political Science
children =
website =

Dr. Mariëtte ("Jet") Bussemaker (born 15 january 1961 in Capelle aan den IJssel, Zuid-Holland) is a Dutch politician and is state secretary for Health, Welfare and Sport.

Jet Bussemaker attended primary and secondary education in Oegstgeest. She continued to study political science at the University of Amsterdam specializing in political theory. She graduated cum laude. In 1993 she received her PhD in political and social-cultural sciences at the same university. Between 1993 and 1998 she was assistant professor of political science at the University of Amsterdam. She had been a member of the GreenLeft party during that period, but in 1995 she left that party to join the Labour Party.

In the 1998 elections Bussemaker was elected into the Tweede Kamer. She specialized in employment policy, health care and taxes. In 2000 she was co-initiator of a proposal to allow conscientious objection for working on Sundays. This proposal became law in 2002. She remained assistant professor during her membership of the Tweede Kamer, now at the VU University of Amsterdam.Citation
title = Newsletter of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
date = 2007-06-27
url = http://english.fsw.vu.nl/Organization/index.cfm/home_page.cfm/subsectionid/86ED222F-C9AE-5B1D-E039EE4CE66CCC95/fileid/86ED26A3-F4FF-7A5F-1DF4CC797E1F9360/pageid/86ED2A1D-A88C-B4CF-E2A610F23504BC49
accessdate = 2008-08-01]

In May of 2008, Bussemaker received strong criticism from MPs and fellow Cabinet members after stating for the radio that she supported 2008 American Presidential candidate Barack Obama, and that she would consider the election of his Republican competitor John McCain to be a disaster. She did this in defiance of a ban prohibiting Cabinet members to talk about Foreign politics on personal titleCitation
title = Expatica, Dutch news in brief
date = 2008-07-28
url = http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Dutch-news-in-brief_-Monday-28-July-2008-.html
accessdate = 2008-08-01] , instituted earlier after Bussemaker's fellow Labour party member and Finance Minister Wouter Bos expressed a similar sympathy for Barack ObamaCitation
title = Expatica, Balkenende annoyed at Bos' support for Obama
date = 2008-06-02
url = http://www.expatica.com/nl/articles/news/Balkenende-annoyed-at-Bos_-support-for-Obama.html
accessdate = 2008-08-01] .

References