So Fort McMurray MLA Mike Allen says he has gone back to Alberta 鈥渢o face the music.鈥�
Did he not hear the strains of that music playing warningly in his head when he allegedly sought the services of a prostitute, while representing the Alberta government at a conference in St. Paul, Minn.? Allen is the latest in a long line of politicians who never seem to think they鈥檒l get caught doing naughty things, even though history shows that politicians鈥� peccadillos attract discovery the way trailer courts attract tornadoes.
And when the politicians do get caught, they read from the same script. It fools no one.
When former U.S. congressman Anthony Weiner was caught sexting pictures of himself to various women in 2011, he said he felt 鈥渄eeply ashamed鈥� of his 鈥渢errible judgment and actions,鈥� adding that what he鈥檇 done was 鈥渧ery dumb.鈥� But he鈥檇 been doing it for three years.
In all those three years, did the thought never occur to him that he was doing something very dumb and might be caught?
After he told his staff he was off hiking in the Appalachians, but was really in Argentina visiting his mistress, former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford held a press conference in 2009, apologizing to his family for 鈥渢he way that I let them down ... There are moral absolutes, God鈥檚 law is indeed there to protect you from yourself. There are consequences if you breach that.鈥�
The theology lesson about consequences and the remorse for letting his family down, conveniently kicked in only after 鈥� not before 鈥� he was outed for cheating on his wife and lying to his staff.
A politician can sprout a conscience in public faster than a lawn sprouts toadstools after it rains.
Talking to Jay Leno about getting caught in a prostitution ring that was targeted by a federal investigation, former New York governor Eliot Spitzer decried his own behaviour as 鈥渁 failure of judgment in a grotesque way that is a moral failing.鈥�
Investigators reportedly thought that Spitzer spent about $80,000 on hookers over a number of years. Apparently, throughout those years, he was functioning on amoral auto-pilot, a state in which 鈥済rotesque鈥� and 鈥渕oral failing鈥� were not in his vocabulary.
Allen鈥檚 downfall came after he apparently logged onto the website backpage.com, which is pretty innocuous until you look beyond the 鈥渂uy/sell/trade antiq.-collectibles鈥� to the 鈥渆scorts, body rubs, strippers & strip clubs, dom & fetish鈥� etc. That鈥檚 where undercover police placed the ad to which Allen responded, an ad that led him to a rendezvous with two female undercover officers and his arrest and booking under suspicion of engaging in prostitution. 鈥淚 apologize to my family, my friends, my constituents, my colleagues, my staff, and to all Albertans for the embarrassment I have caused in failing to live up to the standards expected of me and the standards I expect of myself,鈥� Allen said.
Why weren鈥檛 those standards top of mind until after he鈥檇 been caught? Why didn鈥檛 he think of 鈥渁ll Albertans鈥� before, not after?
Why didn鈥檛 he recognize earlier his imminent alleged 鈥減rofound lapse鈥� of judgment and then decide not to do it? Healthy cynicism tells us that if Allen had linked up with a hooker instead of two police officers, nobody would have found out about his apparent failure to live up to the standards he now bemoans not having lived up to.
Wouldn鈥檛 it be so much simpler not to do dumb stuff in the first place? Like fellow MLA Wayne Cao, who attended the same conference, and whiled away his free time at a museum, where the worst trouble you can get into is maybe knocking over one of those velvet-rope things.
Yet, politicians keep believing that they can get away with being bad. Maybe they delude themselves into thinking that even though the record is riddled with the forced repentance of other politicians who have gotten caught, it won鈥檛 happen to them. But it always does.
In his interview with Jay Leno, Spitzer said that 鈥渉ubris is terminal.鈥�
Well, politicians, this express train goes to the Hubris Terminal. All aboard!
