Via the AP
by Jack Gillum and Stephen Braun
Spending Questions Continue To Surround `Downton Abbey` Congressman
Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock, a
rising Republican star already facing an ethics inquiry, has spent
taxpayer and campaign funds on flights aboard private planes owned by
some of his key donors, The Associated Press has found. There also have
been other expensive travel and entertainment charges, including for a
massage company and music concerts.
The expenses highlight the
relationships that lawmakers sometimes have with donors who fund their
political ambitions, an unwelcome message for a congressman billed as a
fresh face of the GOP. The AP identified at least one dozen flights
worth more than $40,000 on donors' planes since mid-2011.
The
AP tracked Schock's reliance on the aircraft partly through the
congressman's penchant for uploading pictures and videos of himself to
his Instagram account. The AP extracted location data associated with
each image then correlated it with flight records showing airport
stopovers and expenses later billed for air travel against Schock's
office and campaign records.
Asked
for comment, Schock responded in an email on Monday that he travels
frequently throughout his Peoria-area district "to stay connected with
my constituents" and also travels to raise money for his campaign
committee and congressional colleagues.
He
said he takes compliance with congressional funding rules seriously and
has begun a review of his office's procedures "concerning this issue
and others to determine whether they can be improved." The AP had been
seeking comment from Schock's office since mid-February to explain some
of his expenses.
Donors who
owned planes on which travel was paid for by Schock's House and
political accounts did not immediately respond to requests seeking
comment Monday.
Schock's
high-flying lifestyle, combined with questions about expenses decorating
his office after the TV show "Downton Abbey," add to awkward
perceptions on top of allegations he illegally solicited donations in
2012.
The Office of
Congressional Ethics said in a 2013 report that there was reason to
believe Schock violated House rules by soliciting campaign contributions
for a committee that backed Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., in a 2012
primary. The House Ethics Committee has said that query remains open.
"Haters are gonna hate,"
Schock, 33, told ABC News after the "Downton Abbey" story broke in The
Washington Post, brushing off the controversy by invoking a line from
one of pop singer Taylor Swift's songs.
Lawmakers
can use office funds for private flights as long as payments cover
their share of the costs. But most of the flights Schock covered with
office funds occurred before the House changed its rules in January
2013. The earlier rules prohibited lawmakers from using those accounts
to pay for flights on private aircraft, allowing payments only for
federally licensed charter and commercial flights.
Schock's
House account paid more than $24,000 directly to a Peoria aviation firm
for eight flights provided by one of Schock's donor's planes in 2011
and 2012. While the aircraft flies as part of an Illinois charter
service, the owner of the service told the AP on Monday that any
payments made directly to the donor's aviation company would not have
been for charter flights.
Beyond
air travel, Schock spent thousands more on tickets for concerts, car
mileage reimbursements — among the highest in Congress — and took his
interns to a sold-out Katy Perry concert in Washington last June.
The
donor planes include an Italian-made Piaggio twin-engine turboprop
owned by Todd Green of Springfield, Illinois, who runs car dealerships
in Schock's district with his brother, Jeff. Todd Green told a
Springfield newspaper that Jeff — a pilot and campaign contributor — and
Schock have been friends for a long time.
The
AP found that Green's plane traveled to at least eight cities last
October in the Midwest and East Coast, cities where Schock met with
political candidates ahead of the midterm elections. His Instagram
account's location data and information from the service FlightAware
even pinpointed Schock's location on a stretch of road near one airport
before Green's plane departed.
Campaign records show a $12,560
expense later that month to Jeff Green from a political action committee
associated with Schock, called the "GOP Generation Y Fund." That same
month, the PAC paid $1,440 to a massage parlor for a fundraising event.
In November 2013, Schock
cast votes in the Capitol just after Green's plane landed at nearby
Reagan National Airport. Shortly after Green's return to Peoria, Schock
posted a photo from his "Schocktoberfest" fundraising event at a brewery
in his district. Schock billed his office account $11,433 for
commercial transportation during that same, four-day period to a Peoria
flight company, Byerly Aviation.
The
AP's review covered Schock's travel and entertainment expenses in his
taxpayer-funded House account, in his campaign committee and the GOP
Generation Y Fund. Records show more than $1.5 million in contributions
to the Generation Y Fund since he took office in 2009.
Schock
used House office expenses to pay more than $24,000 for eight flights
between May 2011 and December 2012 on a six-passenger Cessna Golden
Eagle owned by D&B Jet Inc., run by Peoria agribusiness consultant
and major Schock donor Darren Frye. While D&B is a private corporate
aviation firm, it also flies with Jet Air Inc., an Illinois-based
aviation firm licensed by the FAA for charter service.
Records
show Schock used House funds to directly pay D&B instead of Jet Air
for the eight flights. Under the old rules that previously allowed
House funds to pay only for charter or commercial aircraft, Schock's
office would likely not have been authorized to pay for private flights
unless the House Ethics Committee approved it.
Harrel
W. Timmons, Jet Air's owner, said in a telephone interview that any
charter flights D&B flies through his firm are paid directly to Jet
Air. "They've got their own corporate jet and pilot," he said.
House records also show that,
since 2013, Schock has flown four times on a Cessna owned by Peoria auto
dealer Michael J. Miller and businessman Matthew Vonachen, who heads a
janitorial firm, Vonachen Services Inc. Schock's House office account
paid nearly $6,000 total for the four flights, according to federal data
published online by the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation.
Under
current House rules, the payments for the private flights would be
authorized if they paid for Schock's portion of each flight. It is not
clear from records how many other passengers flew on the same flights.
USA Today on Friday first reported potential issues with House ethics
rules in revealing some of the flights.
Vonachen
and his family donated at least $27,000 to Schock's campaigns, while
Miller contributed $10,000 to the Automotive Free International Trade
PAC. Schock has supported recent free trade agreements with South Korea
and with several other countries, which the Automotive PAC — a Schock
contributor — lauded.
Schock's
reliance on donor-owned planes is the most recent example of lawmaker
use of donors' planes for transportation. After Sen. Robert Menendez,
D-N.J. took two 2010 flights on a private jet owned by a wealthy eye
doctor and major donor, a 2013 ethics investigation prompted his
$58,500 personal reimbursement to the donor for the flights. His office
noted Monday that Menendez did not use taxpayer funds to pay for the
flights.
GOP Generation Y
paid more than $24,000 for tickets and festivals, including $13,000 to
country music events, $4,700 in expenses to Chicago ticket broker
SitClose.com, and $3,000 for a "fundraising event" to an organization
that runs the Global Citizen Festival in New York.
"You
can't say no when your boss invites you. Danced my butt off," one
former intern posted on his Instagram account with a picture of Perry at
her June 2014 show. PAC records show a $1,928 expense for the ticket
service StubHub.com two months later, listing it only as a "PAC
fundraising event."
Records
show Schock also requested more than $18,000 in mileage reimbursements
since 2013, among the highest in Congress. His office has previously
said it was reviewing those expenses.
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by Meredith Shiner
