Last week, Göteborgs-Posten revealed that Moderate Daniel Filipsson, Social Democrat Simon Waern, and a former Left Party politician had a secret chat group.
In the group chat – dubbed "Gingänget" – the politicians made deals behind the scenes on various issues, but also spoke ill of both other politicians and officials in Alingsås. In another chat, one of them sent nude pictures.
The revelation came as a bombshell in the municipality, not least in the town hall.
My image is that it has been met with both shock and dismay and very great surprise, says Niklas Ehnfors, who is the communications manager in Alingsås municipality.
I don't think anyone could have imagined the content of these chats and what had been going on between these people.
Resigned Immediately
Both Daniel Filipsson and Simon Waern, who were then chairman and vice chairman of the municipal board, resigned before GP published their investigation and later left their parties as well.
The municipality will now investigate whether the two politicians should receive their severance packages, which have been heavily criticized by both politicians and other municipal residents.
According to Alingsås-Tidning, it's about almost 1.8 million kronor in fees and transition compensation for Filipsson, while it's about over 1 million kronor for Waern.
The duo needed to apply for compensation within three months, which Simon Waern did via an email already over the weekend. On Tuesday evening, Daniel Filipsson also applied via an email to the municipal board.
"I hereby apply for the compensation I am entitled to as a former municipal councillor according to the decision of the full council", he writes according to Göteborgs-Posten.
New Municipal Councillors
At the same time, Inger Carlborg (M) and Peter Norlander (S) have been appointed as temporary replacements for the two defectors in the municipal board.
It's clear that this has raised many questions and concerns internally as well among the officials here at the municipality, says Niklas Ehnfors.
But we also quickly had to shift focus to looking ahead and getting a new political leadership in the municipality and continuing to run all the activities that go on every day despite the scandals.