Mike Allen, the Member of the Legislative Assembly for the Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo constituency, was arrested in St. Paul, Minnesota on Sunday evening. He had responded to a prostitution ad that was actually part of a sting operation by local police. He was one of 13 men caught in the operation, though he was probably the only one in town as a representative of a foreign government on a trip to discuss energy and trade.
Allen was released Tuesday morning and has not yet been formally charged, but tendered his resignation from the Progressive Conservative caucus anyway because he’s such a stand-up guy. As party whip Steve Young said, “Mike is a great person but sometimes people do dumb things so I think this is a shock.”
Of course, one might question why a “great person” would solicit prostitutes while on a taxpayer-funded trip to discuss state business, but that would just be picky. It would also probably be nit-picking to ask why Allen, as a “great person,” is holding onto his position as MLA; he has said he plans to continue serving as an independent MLA.
[CTV] [image via Alberta Education/Flickr]