Per Sandberg

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For the Swedish actor, born 1962, with the same name, see Per Sandberg (actor).
Per Sandberg
Member of Parliament
for Nord-Trøndelag
In office
15 September 1997 – 12 September 2005
Member of Parliament
for Sør-Trøndelag
Incumbent
Assumed office
12 September 2005
Personal details
Born (1960-02-06) 6 February 1960
Levanger, Norway
Nationality Norwegian
Political party Progress Party
Spouse(s) Line Miriam Haugan
Children Kim Roy
Charlotte
Jakob
Occupation Politician

Per Sandberg (born 6 February 1960) is a Norwegian politician for the Progress Party, who is serving as a Member of Parliament for Sør-Trøndelag constituency. He was previously serving as a member of parliament for Nord-Trøndelag from 1997 until 2001, as well as being deputy leader of the Progress Party from 2006 until 2014.

An veteran five-term politician, Sandberg has stoked controversy on several occasions, and has been described as the "proto-typical Progress Party man" (Norwegian: Ur-FrP'eren). Being Norways second most active MP on social media, he has consistently been named as one of Norway's "most annoying politicians", ranking in the top 10.[1][2][3]

Early life and education

Sandberg was born in Levanger, Nord-Trøndelag to self-employed father Rolf Sandberg (1926-2010) and part-time worker Rannveig Ertsås (1930–2006). He has three siblings, sister Mona, and brothers Harald and Stig, (Stig committed suicide in 1997).[4]

After finishing Upper Secondary school, he held numerous different jobs including as bartender and waiter at a Ski resort in Ustaoset, and later as a factory worker at Norske Skog Skogn, where he became the local trade union representative. In 1981 he settled in Levanger. He was notably in the service of UNIFIL in Southern Lebanon in 1986 during the Lebanese civil war, where he worked as a cook.[5]

Political career

Early political career

Sandberg modestly started his career in the Progress Party after contesting the municipal elections of 1987 as a mere "list fill", he had agreed to run as a favour to a friend, but ended up securing a seat in the Levanger municipal assembly by coincidence.[6] He has later held numerous political offices, steadily rising in the ranks. He was a member of the Nord-Trøndelag county council from 1995 to 1997, until the 1997 parliamentary election, before which he secured the party nomination, beating his friend and future minister Robert Eriksson.[7] During the election campaign, he attended BBQs and events through the whole constituency in a borrowed Volvo 240 with only party stickers as election material. He ended up, winning the seat, with 140 votes ahead of the Center party favourite Marit Arnstad.[8]

Member of the Storting

Since 2005 he has been an MP for the neighbouring county of Sør-Trøndelag. He has been deputy leader of the Progress Party since 2006, and since 2009 the Chair of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Justice.[5] On 28 October 2013, Sandberg announced that he was stepping down as deputy leader of the party in 2014, citing a "...lack of motivation to continue the work". Sandberg will continue serving as a member of parliament for the Progress Party.[9]

Shortly after making his announcement to step down, Sandberg published his political autobiography Mot min vilje - oppklaringen av et politisk liv, in which he severely criticised several members of the Progress Party, as well as the political direction the party had taken following the 2011 Norway attacks.[10]

Political views

Law and order

Sandberg has been highly critical of newer prisons such as Halden fengsel, which he claims to have "hotel-standard", this according to him being a mockery against most people. He has also been critical of the fact that the prison have better facilities than most public nursing homes and child protection institutions.[11] In addition he has claimed that criminal foreigners and Eastern European gangs "laugh" at the Norwegian prison conditions.[12]

Immigration

In 1999 Sandberg proposed that the government should be able to expel foreigners from Norway if their children committed serious crimes,[13] and in 2002 proposed a full stop of immigration from countries outside the Schengen Area.[14]

In 2003 he proposed to introduce electronic tags on asylum seekers to stop them from escaping while their asylum application is processed.[13] He has also feared the growth of Muslims in Norway, and claimed that certain areas could eventually be subdued to Sharia law.[15]

Other

In 2007 Sandberg claimed Al Gore of being "a big fraud", a "Christian-fundamentalist" and "super-capitalist who have earned over 600 million NOK on the climate cause".[16]

Controversies

He made headlines when in January 1997 he headbutted and punched an asylum seeker from Yugoslavia in the face after the latter had called him "pale-white, fat and rich" and "racist".[17] Sandberg was fined 3,000 NOK.[13]

In mid-autumn 2006, Sandberg, who is his party's spokesman for transport, was caught driving at a speed of 100 km/h in a 60 km/h zone i Målselv in Troms fylke, for which he got a suspended sentence of 21 days, lost his driver's license for eight months and was fined NOK 9,000.[18]

On 12 December 2006 he addressed the Norwegian parliament (Stortinget) having consumed three shots of Akvavit and a beer.[19] The president of the parliament, Thorbjørn Jagland, said that "to address parliament under the influence of alcohol is something one just does not do. It has got to do with respect for parliament and for one self".

The incident caused a media sensation. As a result of this incident, and the subsequent intense pressure from the media, Sandberg later wrote that he slipped into a depression, and that he contemplated suicide, only to be saved at the last minute by a phone call from his fiancé.[20] Sandberg would later claim that Thorbjørn Jagland himself had been consuming red wine along with the rest of the presidency at the time, before they voted in parliament.[21]

In November 2011, in the middle of a public Labour-Progress feud and a heated session in parliament, Sandberg accused the Labour Party of exploiting the Utøya massacre for political gain. This caused Labour party member Helga Pedersen to storm out of the parliament, apparently weeping, while others left the session[22] Sandberg immediately apologized for the comments, which was accepted. Party leader Siv Jensen also publicly apologized on Sandbergs behalf the next day, before launching another attack at the Labour party leadership.[23]

On 2 May 2013, Sandberg publicly stirred up anti-Roma sentiment by saying, “At the borders, police can [under existing laws] stop organized groups of Roma, Bulgarians or French because we know from experience that these people disrupt the peace and it has also been proven that many of them engage in criminal activities.”[24]

Threats and assaults

Sandberg has on several occasions been the victim of physical assaults. In January 2008, Sandberg was physically assaulted by being gripped by the throat and kicked by a man outside the Norwegian parliament. He managed to escape as Socialist Left politician Hallgeir Langeland happened to be nearby and came to his rescue.[25] In July the same man, who had mental problems and had been given residence permit in Norway on humanitarian grounds, also punched down Labour Party politician Knut Storberget.[26]

On another occasion, three men approached him, along with his political aide at a restaurant in Oslo, and according to Sanberg "was ready to attack", the situation was resolved when the men were evicted from the restaurant and Sanberg was promptly whisked out the back-door.[27] On 27 March 2009, he was attacked by three youths while riding the tram in Oslo. The attack ceased when fellow passengers came to his rescue, the attackers fled before the police arrived.[27]

Personal life

While working at Ustaoset in 1976, he met Danish waitress Ulla Kjær Frandsen. They have two children, (Kim Roy in 1982, Charlotte in 1984).[28] He married his first wife, Line Miriam (neé Haugan) on 7 August 2010. Together they have a son, Jakob (born 2006).[29] He divides his time three-way between his Parliamentary office in Oslo, his parliamentary constituency in Sør-Trøndelag and his home in Lenvik, on the island of Senja, where he lives with his family.[30]

Bibliography

  • Sandberg, Per; Bjørn Borge Lunde; Roger Pihl (2013). Mot min vilje - oppklaringen av et politisk liv (in Norwegian). Oslo: Juritzen forl. ISBN 9788282053525. 

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Per Sandberg.
  1. ↑ "Siv Jensen er årets mest irriterende politiker!". tv2.no. Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  2. ↑ "Norges mest aktive politikere på Facebook over tid". Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  3. ↑ Kruger, Robin. "Frustrert Sandberg ikke mest irriterende i år heller". tv2.no. Retrieved 23 December 2013. 
  4. ↑ Johnsen, Vibeke (31 May 2013). "Sandbergs bror tok sitt eget liv". Nettavisen.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Sandberg, Per ( 1960- )". Stortinget.no (in Norwegian). 
  6. ↑ Agerlie, Kristin (17 June 2006). "Tilfeldig at det blei Frp". NRK (in Norwegian). 
  7. ↑ Sandberg, Per (2013). Mot min vilje: En oppklaring av et politsk liv (in Norwegian). p. 74. 
  8. ↑ Sandberg, Per (2013). Mot min vilje: En oppklaring av et politisk liv (in Norwegian). pp. 82–83. 
  9. ↑ Hultgreen, Gunnar (28 October 2013). "- Jeg går av som nestleder". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 28 October 2013. 
  10. ↑ Kristiansen, Bjørn S.; Sørenes, Kjetil Magne; Ringheim, Gunnar (13 November 2013). "- Personlig har jeg gitt opp Korsberg for lenge siden". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). Retrieved 6 December 2013. 
  11. ↑ Kristoffersen, Randi; Kvalvik, Victoria (11 February 2010). "Per Sandberg langer ut mot det nye fengselet i Halden". Fredriksstad Blad (in Norwegian). 
  12. ↑ Staude (24 August 2009). "Hissig debatt bak murenefirst=Tone". NRK (in Norwegian). 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 Raja, Abid Q. (5 May 2006). "Per Sandberg, en bleik, feit riking?". Morgenbladet (in Norwegian). 
  14. ↑ "- Kun vestlige innvandrere". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). 29 November 2002. 
  15. ↑ "Frp: – Uten oss får Norge sharialover". VG Nett (in Norwegian). 2 May 2006. 
  16. ↑ "- Al Gore er en bløffmaker og kristen- fundamentalist". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). 31 December 2007. 
  17. ↑ Midtbø, Mia Kristin (14 December 2006). "Sandbergs tidligere tabber". Adressa (in Norwegian). 
  18. ↑ Stenersen, Robin (29 November 2006). "Per Sandberg mistet lappen". VG Nett (in Norwegian). 
  19. ↑ Heyerdahl, Nicoloi (14 December 2006). "Drakk tre akevitt før han talte i Stortinget". Aftenposten (in Norwegian). 
  20. ↑ Krekling, Daniel Vojislav. "Per Sandberg i ny bok: Nær ved å ta mitt eget liv". Nrk.no. Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  21. ↑ "Sandberg hevder Jagland drakk selv". Nrk.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  22. ↑ http://stavrum.nettavisen.no/?p=3876
  23. ↑ Hegtun, Hallvor (24 November 2011). "Beklaget Sandberg-utspill og angrep Eskil Pederse". Aftenposten.no. Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
  24. ↑ Dougherty, Sarah (21 November 2013). "14 unbelievably racist things European politicians are saying about the Roma". Globalpost.com. Retrieved 20 December 2013. 
  25. ↑ Strømsheim, Gro Wold (18 April 2008). "- Vi kan ikke la oss knekke av trusler". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). 
  26. ↑ Tvedten, Hilde Marie (12 July 2008). "Storberget slått og sparket på åpen gate". Dagbladet (in Norwegian). 
  27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Sanberg, Per (2013). Mot min vilje: En oppklaring av et politisk liv. p. 388. 
  28. ↑ Sandberg, Per (2013). Mot min vilje: En oppklaring av et politisk liv. pp. 42–43. ISBN 9788282053525. 
  29. ↑ Sandberg, Per (2013). Mot min vilje: En oppklaring av et politisk liv. p. 224. 
  30. ↑ Simonsen, Maria Holm. "«Takk, Line»". Folkebladet.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 21 December 2013. 
Political offices
Preceded by
Petter Løvik		 Chair of the Standing Committee on Transport
2005–2009 		Succeeded by
Knut Arild Hareide
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