Schock treatment: Congressman reviews his travel spending
Illinois GOP Rep. Aaron Schock has launched his own review of tens of thousands of dollars in reimbursements he received for official use of his personal vehicle, following questions raised Tuesday about the practice. Nearly every month since heâs been in Congress, the fourth-term Republican has received roughly $1,000 in âprivate auto mileageâ reimbursements from his Member Representational Allowance. At the same time, he has chartered private jets on the taxpayersâ dime, incurring hefty, five-figure bills. And his campaign has shelled out upward of $50,000 for the use of his vehicle. Story Continued Below When originally asked by POLITICO about the reimbursements, his office defended the practice, citing Schockâs extensive travel throughout his Peoria, Illinois, area district. âMy district increased from 130 towns to 205 towns after redistricting in 2010,â Schock said in a statement. âI have made a concerted effort to get to each area as often as possible. Between official and campaign activities, my vehicle easily travels thousands of miles a year. This doesnât just include travel in district, but also airport pickups/drop-offs in Chicago, St. Louis and elsewhere.â He added: âThis weekend alone, I traveled 800 miles with events in Quincy, Bloomington, Peoria, Roanoke, Washington and other towns. I am proud that the voters and elected officials of Illinois 18th district can see me out in the district.â When pressed for further information â including details of his official travel in and out of the United States, and of campaign travel â Schockâs office sent a different statement hours later, indicating that it wasnât sure who was driving his car at certain times, whether Schock was present and whether it was allowed under House rules. âCongressman Schock and his team have a well-deserved reputation for constituent service,â the second statement from his office read. âThis is due to extensive travel throughout the district which is 205 towns and 19 counties. The Congressmanâs staff has access to his vehicle so it is used frequently when he is both in and out of the district. For example, this weekend over 800 miles were driven crisscrossing the district for events. Congressman Schock takes his compliance responsibilities seriously and procedures concerning this issue will be reviewed to determine whether they can improved.â Kenneth Gross, a leading ethics and campaign finance attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, said reimbursements for using personal vehicles are a âperennial headache.â âReimbursements for cars are a perennial, ongoing problem that often get into allocation issues, personal use and campaign use and official use â all three of them come into play,â he said, speaking broadly about the issue, not about Schockâs specific situation. âIf you are going to do an allocation, you need to have some basis for that allocation.â Multiple sources familiar with Schockâs officeâs operation have raised questions with POLITICO about the miles Schock says he drives and how much heâs pocketed in reimbursement charges. Schock has a busy schedule in Washington and around the world â and April 2014 was a perfect example. On April 6, he was in Las Vegas for the Academy Of Country Music Awards. He missed House votes the next day. On April 19, he was in Hawaii, where a photographer posted on Instagram a shot of the chiseled Illinois Republican surfing off Waikiki Beach. He then jetted off to Asia for a six-day congressional delegation trip to China, South Korea and Japan. On April 28, he was back in New York, where he appeared on MSNBCâs âMorning Joeâ and Fox News. Schock was also in Washington for 11 days that month, casting votes on the House floor. Yet in April, Schock received a reimbursement for nearly $1,200 worth of mileage, amounting to approximately 2,100 miles on his personal vehicle. The same month, his aides received a total of $702 in reimbursements, which would equal 1,255 miles in driving. The next month â May 2014 â Schock traveled to Brazil with three other lawmakers for several days as part of an official cultural exchange. Still, Schock received $1,232 in automobile reimbursements, roughly equal to 2,200 miles in official travel. His aides received $750, equivalent to a further 1,341 miles in travel. (Schockâs office declined to say how long he was in Brazil, and whether additional days were tacked on as a vacation. He wonât have to file a disclosure until the summer.) Schock, who has a prized seat on the Ways and Means Committee, has collected tens of thousands of dollars in taxpayer money for miles he says were put on his personal vehicle. It amounts to more than 150,000 miles driven for congressional business using his car since he took office in the beginning of 2009. In total, Schock is claiming his vehicle has been driven about a quarter-million miles in roughly six years while conducting official and campaign duties. And that doesnât include upward of $70,000 in taxpayer travel his office has racked up on private planes, which his office says is to help him get around the district more efficiently. In addition, Schock has been reimbursed tens of thousands of dollars more for travel as part of his burgeoning political operation, although this is more difficult to track because individual trips are not disclosed. Schock and his aides boast that he visited 40 districts on behalf of Republican candidates in October 2014 alone. In 2014 alone, Schockâs campaign reimbursed him $18,354 for mileage. His campaign later bought a Chevrolet Tahoe for nearly $74,000. His campaign has also purchased a Ford. Schockâs campaign committees have reimbursed him more than $50,000 for campaign mileage, amounting to nearly 100,000 more miles driven since 2008. Heâs also racked up tens of thousands of dollars in private aircraft charters while conducting campaign work. Schockâs spending has come under scrutiny in recent days. It started when The Washington Post revealed that he had redecorated his Capitol Hill office to look like âDownton Abbey,â a show airing on PBS about British aristocracy. POLITICO reported Monday that Schockâs campaign was spending heavily on lush hotels like the Four Seasons and a posh ski resort in Aspen, Colorado, in addition to money his campaign and taxpayer-funded congressional office have spent on private airplane flights around his district and across the country. A pro-Democratic watchdog group has filed multiple complaints with the Office of Congressional Ethics in relation to his use of official funds for the office renovation and the sale of his home to a donor. The office has already been looking into whether the Illinois Republican solicited a contribution above legal limits for a super PAC that was designed to target incumbent Republicans. Schock has maintained that he did nothing wrong, and he has not been charged with any ethics violations. Schockâs heavy travel schedule started before the last year. March 2013 was also a frantic time for Schock. He spent the first weekend in Selma, Alabama, for a civil rights pilgrimage. He voted on 10 different days in Washington, casting votes on the Republican budget and a bill to keep the government open. And he closed out the month flying business class to India for a trip paid for by the National Indian American Policy Corp. Schock received $770, which equals 1,362 miles driven. His trip to India spilled over to April, and he returned on April 7. The House was in session for 12 days that month, and Schock did not vote on three days. He was reimbursed $1,278.75, which would mean his car was driven 2,263 miles. Taxpayers also shelled out $1,300 to two private aircraft vendors that month.