A second chance he wasn’t willing to give

You have to wonder what MLA Derek Fildebrandt thinks of recall legislation now.

You have to wonder how he’d react if he was on the receiving end of a legislatively approved movement to have him fired.

After the past week of revelations about his real and alleged misdeeds, Fildebrandt would seem to be the ideal candidate for recall — if we had such a law.

Keep in mind Fildebrandt has been a big supporter of such a law whereby disgruntled voters in a constituency could sign a petition to have their MLA fired and a byelection held.

Here, for example, is what Fildebrandt said in August of 2014 when he was the Alberta director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

“Citizens deserve the right to hold their elected officials accountable more than once every four years.”

Back then, Fildebrandt was taking aim at Alison Redford, who had stepped down as premier but was still an MLA, after a scandal involving her misuse of government aircraft.

“Considering how former premier Redford has treated taxpayer’s money with disrespect, yet remains the MLA for CalgaryElbow, the CTF believes that her constituents deserve the right to recall Redford if they so choose,” said Fildebrandt, who seemed to enjoy playing the role of unforgiving firebrand.

Now Fildebrandt is the one under relentless attack from his critics.

And his critics seem to be multiplying as fast as the news stories about his questionable conduct — pocketing money by renting out his taxpayer-funded apartment in Edmonton, apparently double dipping on his meal-expense claims, and being charged with hit and run after one of his neighbours alleged he had backed into her parked car with his pickup truck.

His detractors are taking particular glee at his troubles because Fildebrandt had set himself up as the fiscal conscience of the province, as the “voice for common sense,” as he put it in February 2015 when he decided to run for the Wildrose Party in the provincial election.

“In Alberta, we take responsibility for our own actions,” he said. “We don’t blame others.”

And yet when the story broke last week about him renting out his taxpayer-funded apartment on Airbnb, he blamed Brian Jean, the former Wildrose leader and current United Conservative Party leadership candidate, for a “smear” campaign.

When the story broke Monday about his apparent double dipping on meal expenses — where nine times he claimed both a daily meal allowance plus individual expenses for the same meals — he blamed “administrative errors.”

When the story broke Tuesday about his hit-and-run charge, he issued a statement announcing he was stepping down from the UCP caucus to sit as an Independent MLA. But he couldn’t resist blaming the “media controversy,” as if he was once again the victim and not the author of his own misfortune.

He did offer what sounded like a sincere apology. “I’m a flawed man, and I can do better.”

Fildebrandt is asking for patience and understanding from his supporters and critics, things he has never seemed to extend to others.

In 2015, when the NDP suspended MLA Deborah Drever from caucus for a series of inappropriate social media postings she had made before being elected, Fildebrandt was not in a forgiving mood.

“This is a textbook example of why we should have recall legislation,” he declared.

Now, he seems to be the one who is a “textbook example.”

Even before his hit-and-run charge came to light, interim UCP leader Nathan Cooper criticized Fildebrandt on Tuesday for a “pattern of behaviour that is unacceptable.”

Party officials say Fildebrandt’s bombastic and at times immature conduct over the past two years has managed to alienate many of his caucus colleagues. By Wednesday night, he had little choice but to quit caucus or be kicked out.

For the record, I’m not in favour of recall legislation. It’s a gimmick, in the same category as fixed-election dates and governing via referendums that might work (or, come to think of it, often don’t work) in the United States.

Now Fildebrandt is asking for a second chance, something he wasn’t willing to offer to any other “flawed” politician.

After his experience over the past week, and his plea to his constituents for another opportunity “to do them proud,” he might want to rethink his support of a recall law — if he hasn’t already.