GOP's Aaron Schock Resigns Congressional Seat

This blog has followed the misadventures of Aaron Schock, GOP Congressman from Illinois, and the stories of his lavish spending and whispers about his suspected homosexuality.  With each passing day, more questions have arisen about Schock's spending habits, questionable charges for reimbursement, and, of course, his cute, young male personal photographer.   Today, Schock announced that he is resigning his seat in Congress effective March 31, 2015.  Here are highlights from Politico:

Schock’s resignation, effective March 31, came so abruptly that the Illinois Republican didn’t even give Speaker John Boehner or his leadership team a heads up. Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) had been planning to keep Schock on the GOP’s vote-counting team. Fellow congressmen from Illinois also had no idea.

Schock’s decision to quit – on the heels of questions from POLITICO about tens of thousands of dollars seemingly phony mileage reimbursements – represents the denouement of a boom-and-bust saga starring one of the Republican Party’s most promising young figures. The 33-year-old rocketed from the Peoria school board to Congress in less than a decade, amassing power, prestige and prominence on the national political scene. By the end of last year, he was eyeing a seat at the House GOP leadership table.

He jetted around the globe, with a professional photographer in tow to document his life for Instagram. He hired the wife of a donor to redecorate his office to look like PBS’s “Downton Abbey.” He booked private planes to take him back to Illinois and a donor’s helicopter in his district.  But Schock’s accounting of those activities was sloppy at best.

Records show that Schock personally claimed reimbursement for roughly 170,000 miles driven from January 2010 to July 2014. But the only vehicle he owned during that time was sold with just 80,000 miles on the odometer.  Asked for his response to those findings, Schock announced his resignation.

“[T]he constant questions over the last six weeks have proven a great distraction that has made it too difficult for me to serve the people of the 18th District with the high standards that they deserve and which I have set for myself,” he said in a statement. “I have always sought to do what’s best for my constituents and I thank them for the opportunity to serve.”

Schock was plainly struggling to deal with the media onslaught as his attorneys simultaneously reviewed his accounting. He canceled several fundraisers, and some of his Republican colleagues questioned whether he would be able to weather the growing scandal. His office stopped responding to several inquiries, including questions about a limited liability corporation he set up using his home address and the purchase of land from a donor.

With controversy swirling around him, two Republicans announced they would challenge him in a primary. That threat would have been unthinkable months earlier, since Schock was widely known for spreading campaign largesse to local pols.