Cecilia Lonning-Skovgaard has resigned as mayor of employment and integration in Copenhagen.
Re-elected for another four-year term in November, she took to Facebook yesterday to confirm her resignation, accusing “intense press coverage … in recent months” which revolved around allegations that her violent leadership created a toxic work environment around her.
It had reached a point where “the negative press stories had begun to overshadow the party and the possibility of pursuing bourgeois-liberal politics in Copenhagen”, she explained.
Her successor has been confirmed as left-wing colleague Jens-Kristian Lütken, who is the party’s group chairman in the Citizens’ Representation and a member of the Children and Young People and the Technology and Environment Committee.
It was written on the wall
The drop came for Lonning-Skovgaard this week.
First, an internal report on Monday confirmed that 27 percent of the 188 employees who worked under her in the employment and integration department had experienced abusive behavior in the workplace.
Launched in February, the report further revealed that almost half of them attributed the abusive behavior to the political leadership.
Within a few hours, Venstre Ungdom withdrew its support for Lonning-Skovgaard – and so did Venstre councilor Cille Hald Egholm.
DR then reported on the condemned findings yesterday. Her resignation followed quickly.
The advice came too late
“I must also make no secret of the fact that the intense press coverage of recent months has been harsh on me and my family,” the outgoing mayor said.
The whole affair began in January, when the unions Djøf and HK wrote an open letter on behalf of 2,000 of its members, criticizing the mayor for having a “deeply problematic leadership style”.
In response, Lonning-Skovgaard agreed to receive counseling.
Lonning-Skovgaard took office as employment and integration mayor on 1 January 2018. She was her party’s leading candidate in both the 2017 and 2021 local elections.
Source: The Nordic Page