Gom van Strien

Gommarus Adrianus "Gom" van Strien (born 10 June 1951) is a Dutch politician, he has been a member of the Senate for the Party for Freedom since 7 June 2011. He has served as deputy parliamentary leader since 25 September 2012. He was named formation scout after the 2023 Dutch general election but resigned within days, after he was linked to a fraud case involving his former employer, Utrecht Holdings.

Early life and career
Van Strien was born in Geertruidenberg on 10 June 1951. He studied physics at the Catholic University Nijmegen between 1970 and 1976. He then studied business administration at the University of Twente between 1976 and 1978. From his graduation until 1986 he worked for Statistics Netherlands, he then worked one year for Rijkswaterstaat and then started working for Utrecht University. At the university he was first secretary and later director of the faculty of veterinary medicine. From 2000 until 2009 he was general director of the Utrecht University holding company. From 2009 until 2011 he was director of TrekhaakCentrum.nl.

Political career
From 1984 to 1988 van Strien served as chair of the local organization of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy in Alphen aan den Rijn. Fellow party members called his term in office as unremarkable apart for his sudden departure. In 1999 he left the party after being disillusioned with the change in leadership from Frits Bolkestein to Hans Dijkstal.

In 2009 sent an application letter to Geert Wilders to become a member of the Senate for the Party for Freedom. After the 2011 Dutch Senate election van Strien became a member of the Senate for the party on 7 June 2011. He has served as deputy parliamentary leader since 25 September 2012. In 2015 he called the Senate a fake parliament. In the senate he mostly deals with financial issues. He was second on the Party for Freedom list for the 2019 Dutch Senate election and was reelected.

After the 2023 Dutch general election he was named formation scout (Dutch: verkenner) on a proposal of election winner Geert Wilders on 24 November 2023. Wilders called him someone "with not too great a political profile". Shortly after being named he stated he did not remember his 2015 remark of the Senate as a fake parliament. In the weekend following his nomination Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad published an article implicating van Strien in a fraud case brought forth by his former employer, Utrecht University holding company. Van Strien denied the allegations. On the morning of 27 November 2023, the day of his intended start as formation scout, he stated that he would lay down his tasks as formation scout. Van Strien later stated that it was a mistake that he did not inform Wilders of the allegations when he was considered for formation scout. He had discussed the matter with Party for Freedom Senate leader Marjolein Faber and both decided it was best not to bother Wilders with the matter.

His home in Arcen was raided by the Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD) in May 2024 as part of an investigation into the criminal complaint by Utrecht Holdings.

Personal life
Van Strien is married and has three children. He is fond of maritime history and genealogy and wrote a book on his own family's history. He was made Knight in the Order of Orange-Nassau on 21 February 2009.