At some point you have to wonder
how long this can continue.
Rep. Aaron Schock owns what appears to be a fairly accurate replica of “The Falcon” — the internal White House nickname for one of President Obama’s official podiums — and based on photos, uses it at times when speaking in his Peoria, Illinois, district.
It cost about $5,000, and you have to wonder whether a $5,000 podium is really what Peoria, Illinois, needed to see Schock standing behind.
That podium may or may not be being carried from place to place in the Schock campaign's $74,000 Chevy Tahoe. If it was, perhaps it was you the taxpayer paying the mileage.
According to the latest House disbursement records, Schock was reimbursed $1,218 for what is listed in House records as “private mileage” between last Sept. 1 and Oct. 1. The money came from Schock’s taxpayer-funded House member allowance. [...]
The House Ethics Manual does not appear to address the issue of charging taxpayers for mileage when a campaign-purchased vehicle registered in the name of the lawmaker is used for official House purposes.
Because that doesn't really come up that often, we presume. Anyway, the Office of Congressional Ethics (yes, it still exists) is soliciting input from the people who work with Schock into, jeebus,
you name it?
Investigators from the Office of Congressional Ethics have begun reaching out to Rep. Aaron Schock’s political orbit, a possible first sign of an official investigation of the Illinois Republican.
OCE is seeking to speak to people who have either worked for Schock or interacted with him.
Rep. Schock seems like a nice enough fellow. I'm not sure he's nice enough to require presidential-style podiums,
Downton Abbey offices, a $75k SUV, private plane trips to football games, and trips around the world, all at either campaign or taxpayer expense depending, apparently, on when or if a reporter finds out about it.