I can't read the story since it's in Dutch but just from your summary it's pretty amusing to this American. The fact that the mayor's associate wasn't is the scandal! Our scandals usually work the other way.

Do you know where we can find this article in English, jouke? The only words I could make out were "journalist" and "prostitute". Sounds interesting!

Ha. I'm glad you like the irony as well octothorpe.
I know that americans can have an image of the NL as a place of unbridled prostitution and drug use. But the truth is that for a large group of people those are elements that are accepted as part of society but not condoned in the personal social circle. So we see the absurdity of the situation as well. De Volkskrant hints at this 'reversal of values' in the title 'success-prostitute turns out to be journalist with a dubious reputation'.

msali, the gist is as follows:
It seems she wrote some articles on her life as a prostitute under an assumed name in popular newspapers. The city of Amsterdam hired her as an adviser based on those articles. After that she got a book deal at a renowned literary publisher. Several of her recommendations ended up in Amsterdam prostitution policy. F.i. a language test.
The newspapers investigations show that it's highly unlikely that she was a prostitute. At that time she was running a publishing agency under her real name in Antwerp. And before that as a journalist she wrote for a lot of newspapers and magazines.
The newspaper talked to a lot of acquaintances of her. A lot of them accuse her of lies and fraud. F.i. at a well known investigative tv programme she was sacked on the spot for fraud and deceit. Which in the NL legally takes gross transgressions of the employment contract.
I like the response from the city spokesman: 'the council man realised when he started working with people from this realm of life that there was a chance they wouldn't be speaking the whole truth'.
The article ends with pointing out that she has published a second book on the topic of so called 'lover boys' that coerce girls into prostitution. And she has just started as a columnist for a major womens magazine.

Google Translator:

"The city of Amsterdam has its prostitution policy advised by a journalist with a dubious reputation. Under the pseudonym Patricia Perquin published 'Behind the window on the Ramparts', her 'true story' as a prostitute. Mayor Van der Laan and former Alderman Asscher were impressed. Her real name is Valerie Lempereur.

"The author has twice with a lawsuit tried to ban the Volkskrant to reveal her identity. The judge ruled Friday shortly before nine o'clock, however, that the newspaper may publish it on her. If "Patricia Perquin 'Lempereur wrote a series of articles for Parool and AD. Later was published by Prometheus her book. On the basis of her stories, she was enabled by the municipality of Amsterdam as an advisor. Several of its recommendations, such as language test*, came in June 2012 in prostitution note of the city visit. Studies of the paper shows that it is doubtful that the journalist four and half years full time as a prostitute on de Wallen has worked, as it did in her book claims. In the period they ran in Antwerp for two years his own publishing. Before that she worked in the Netherlands and Belgium as a society and crime journalist, including for Nieuwe Revu, Story, Family and The Latest TV News. The Times spoke with 25 acquaintances Lempereur. Some of them dare not for fear of reprisals by name to be called. Many, often known people accuse her of lying and deceit. As she was by crime reporter Peter R. de Vries in his program summarily dismissed because of "fraud and deceit, committed several times. Mayor Van der Laan of Amsterdam and former Alderman Asscher have no comment. "But Asscher realized the possibility existed that he was not the whole truth would hear if he would speak to people in this world," said a spokesman. recently published White Girls Madam, the second book of Patricia Perquin, the victims of loverboys. Since last week they also columnist for Libelle."

Working in de Wallen pretty much demands the ability to negotiate prices in a number of languages.

Or, on review, what jouke wrote.

Ha. That's not half bad Ardiril.

About the language test: I think it's meant to be a test of command of Dutch. Probably under the banner of fighting women trafficking. Making them more self reliation and such.
The command of English and German etc to negotiate prices won't need an stimulus on the Wallen I think.

I like that Google Translate refers to 'the Ramparts' for the red light district. It has been some centuries since we've parsed the meaning of that name thus.

You are probably more likely correct about fighting trafficking. I was going from my observation that the District is heavily trafficked now by a diverse array of global tourists.

self reliation reliant
beer makes you stupid

Fascinating! Thanks jouke.

Ha ardiril, 'heavily trafficked by global tourists'. That's hilarious.
Because the Dutch tourist office officially goes by the archaic name Vereniging Vreemdelingen-Verkeer. Traffick and the cognate verkeer both used in the original sense of general movement.

When I say "that is hilarious" I obviously mean "I'm chuckling for obscure reasons that nobody else shares".

All of the women I saw in the red light windows on my trip to the NL looked sullen and bored.

Yes, complaining about our lack of customer service is a favourite complaint among american expats in the NL.
The tourist office and the city council should enforce a policy to change that. Teaching prostitutes to 'smize'. Like call center workers having to create a smile in their voices.

I was treated graciously everywhere I spent my money.

One question: do business owners own the sidewalk in front of their places? An Italian restaurant owner demanded that I "get out of his restaurant" when I was under the awning outside in the pouring rain trying to consult my (English) IENS.

Restaurants and cafés can have a so called 'terras'. Chairs and tables and parasols and awnings to sit outside. The space is legally not their property. But city council regulations demarcate where they're allowed to place chairs etc and offer their services.

This was in the middle of December and there were no outside tables nor any barriers enclosing the space.

terra not-so-firma

(HJ, it's not a plural.)

Okay, terras-not-so-firma.

Kinda sucks the second time around. I wish I were smarter.

Don't feel bad. Just view it as a learning moment. Plurals in Dutch are often with suffix -en. So in this case it's 'terrassen'.

Glad I could help.

Thanks! I do appreciate it.

Soon I will be able to understand everything Paul de Leeuw says.

Italian shop-keepers tend to do most of the daily maintenance of their sidewalks (washing and sweeping every morning), so even if legally they don't "own" it, they do take responsibility for it.

I'm glad to see the Netherlands working on stopping human trafficking, too.

Especially if you can make money from it. In summer having a terras means major business. As true north-western europeans we can't stand to be inside as soon as it starts to be sunny in spring.
According to wikipedia the translation of 'terras' is sidewalk-café.
But terrassen next to streets where cars drive are not popular. In my hometown these are popular places to sit on a terras and have a coffee or beer in spring: werven ≡ Click to see image ≡ (that's below the street level on medieval quays) and on squares like the Neude ≡ Click to see image ≡

jouke, those look amazing.

It's the great attraction of the urban experience in old city centers. Een terrasje pakken The way to meet friends and enjoy the return of spring. (we're at the same latitude as Newfoundland so our winters are rather dark)
'To catch a terrace' would be an attempt at literal translation.