In 1973 Tichelaar finished his havo (secondary school) and enrolled at the Pedagogische Academie (academy for primary school teachers) in Heerenveen. Before he entered politics, Tichelaar was vice-director of a primary school, general secretary of the education labour union General Union of Education Personnel, and chair of its successor the General Education Union, which is affiliated with the FNV, the major Dutch federation of labour unions.
Since the 2002 election he was a member of the Tweede Kamer (House of Representatives). He focused on education and agriculture. He was also chair of the committee for finance.
During the 2006–2007 Dutch cabinet formation, Tichelaar was secondant of Wouter Bos during the confidential negotiations. He was unexpectedly chosen over MPs like Nebahat Albayrak, the PvdA's second candidate on the list, because of his experience with negotiations from his union years. Since Tichelaar had also had many conversations with CDA leader Maxime Verhagen about the reasons why the 2003 information talks between the two parties had failed, he was expected to understand the CDA party best among PvdA MPs.[1]
Since 1 May 2009 he was the Queen's Commissioner (since 30 April 2013 named King's Commissioner) in the province of Drenthe. He resigned on 1 March 2017, after first denying, and then admitting, to have favoured the companies of close relatives more than once. Evidence emerged that he had put forward the company of his sister in law, for a project in one of the province's buildings, pushing aside the already accepted proposition of a third party. In 2013 he had interfered in favour of his brother in law, a hotel entrepreneur, who had a conflict with one of the municipalities in Drenthe.[2][3]
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