GOP Closet Case Aaron Schock Facing Questions About His Expensive "Male companion"

Aaron Schock's boyfriend??

GOP Congressman Aaron Schock's troubles about his lavish lifestyle and extravagant travels just keep on growing.  now, it seems that Schock violated House of Representative rules when he took Jonathon Link - Schock's "photographer - to India to accompany the congressman on the trip, but failed to disclose Link's name appears anywhere on the travel disclosure form Schock filed afterwards. There has been much speculation that Schock is gay and now, some are questioning Link's real relationship with Schock.  Schock may be a jerk, but Link - -pictured above - does seem to have some some attractive attributes even if they have nothing to do with photography.  Here are highlights from CNN:

Another week, another report about a possible violation of House ethics rules by Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Illinois.

The congressman traveled to India last August 24-29 on a trip sponsored by the Global Poverty Project, an international anti-poverty group. The group also paid for Schock's Dallas-based photographer, Jonathon Link, to accompany the congressman on the trip, the group's spokesperson confirmed. But Link's name appears nowhere on the travel disclosure form Schock filed afterwards, as required by House rules.

The National Journal first reported about the disclosure oversight.

Schock's office paid Jonathon Link $4,166 for "communications" in September 2014 and listed him under "personnel" in its quarterly expense records, making him an official staffer. It is unclear if that payment was for the services rendered in India and Link did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Schock, a fourth-term congressman from a reliably Republican district, has been under scrutiny over his use of taxpayer and campaign money to pay for flights on private jets -- including planes owned by key donors -- concert tickets and other entertainment expenses. 

He's also under fire for lapses in reporting some of his expenses and already has taken steps to correct or amend some of those errors. He has hired a public relations team as well as a pair of lawyers, William McGinley and Donald McGahn, to review the compliance procedures in his official office, campaign and leadership PAC to decide whether they can be improved.

Global Poverty Project spent $4,000 to fly Link from Dallas to New Delhi and to lodge and feed him. According to the travel disclosure form Schock filed, the group spent $5,000 on his travel, $525 on his lodging, $300 on his meals and another $389 on travel insurance and ground transportation. Schock stayed at the Radisson Blu Plaza in New Delhi at a rate of $152.03 a night and at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai at a rate of $159 a night, according to the disclosure form.

One can only wonder what next week's revelation will be!  Meanwhile, some on the far right are beginning to call for Schock's resignation.

New York City - First Full Day

Last night was fun and the boyfriend and I went dancing at the Monster just a short walk down Christopher Street from the place we are staying. After a lazy morning, we had lunch at a deli near Times Square and then spent the afternoon at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. We spent the bulk of our time in the newly reopened Greek and Roman exhibition and then a lesser amount of time in the Egyptian exhibition and European painters area. As a history major, I have taken courses and read lots of books on the Greco-Roman and Hellenistic periods. The exhibition was amazing and thoroughly enjoyable.

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This evening, we stopped back by the Monster for a cocktail with another couple from Hampton Roads before going to Cowgirls - a lesbian bar/restaurant - for a light dinner. Once the boyfriend wakes up from his "disco nap" we will head out to a club and enjoy New York's lively gay night life. Tomorrow I expect we will do a Broadway show and more sightseeing. No doubt the ex-wife will be peeved that I am having a nice time - AND that the b/f is paying for everything so she cannot claim that I've spent a dime that should have gone to her. While I am here, I am also working on some legal documents so that she can't claim I should have worked all day today.

New York City

UPDATED January 3, 2009: We went to the Stonewall on Saturday for a drink and found it to be a very cozy place with great paneling and numerous framed photos from the Stonewall riots. It was definitely interesting to be in a place that has such an important place in the saga of the fight for gay rights and legal equality.

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We arrived safely in New York City and stopped by the Monster for a cocktail before dinner at a wonderful dinner at a Spanish restaurant named Seville. The condo that we are staying at is 1/2 block from the Stonewall Inn (pictured above) and hopefully we will visit it while we are in town. Amazingly, at the Monster we ran into a couple that the b/f knows from the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. I'm not sure what we will do later, but I suspect we will check out a few gay clubs and perhaps get some dancing in.

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I will try to do some posts while we are here. Hopefully, I will be able to catch up with some other participants of the LGBT blogger summit who live here in New York while we are in town. Overall, it's exciting to be here with the b/f and to experience a far different side of NYC than I have experienced in the past while married and in the closet

Outer Banks Weekend

My posting will be sparse (if not non-existent) this weekend inasmuch as we are headed down to Nags Head this evening for a weekend house party at the home of one of the boyfriend's good friends. Since my laptop died, any Internet access will be via friends' laptops, assuming we can even get an Internet connection. The photo above is from Jockey's Ridge - the largest natural sand dune system in the eastern United States covering 420 acres and rising 100 feet above the rest of the barrier island - which is a few blocks from where we will be staying on the oceanfront. It should be a fun weekend with a house full of gays, a few straights and a lesbian or two.

Charlottesville Weekend

The b/f and I are in Charlottesville for the weekend - yep, he is meeting my mother and some of my siblings. The weather is gorgeous and it should be a wonderful time. We'll tour the University and probably hit some of the local wineries. Posting will be minimal until we get back home to Tidewater.

Outer Banks Sojourn

My boyfriend and I had a wonderful escape to the Outer Banks even though the winds off the ocean had to be 35- 40 knots and were pushing the raging surf up to the dune line at high tide. His friend's vacation house is beautiful and, unlike many of the newer monstrosities that have been built in recent years, has the wonderful feel of a true beach house. As for his friend, she is a warm, open minded and fun person and I am glad that I had an opportunity to get to know her better. The house party next month should be a lot of fun.

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Today we attended the second session of the discussion group at my parish reviewing the proposed statement on human sexuality. As was the case of last week, today's session showed a great deal of understanding and acceptance. I hope and pray that the church wide assembly will do the right thing and adopt a gay accepting and gay affirming policy.

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Tonight the boyfriend and I plan on spending a quiet evening at his home watching a movie or just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. I cannot recount how much having the boyfriend in my life has enhanced my happiness. I truly hope that I give him the happiness he has given me.

Outer Banks Weekend

My posting over the next few days will be reduced since the boyfriend and I are headed down to the Outer Banks of North Carolina later today. As a result computer/Internet access will be reduced. We will be staying at a friend's ocean front vacation home and helping her set up for a weekend house party in a few weeks where a whole bunch of us gay boys and gay friendly straights will descend upon her place. The photo above is a recent one that my son took of a sunrise over the Atlantic Ocean. To me, early morning on the beach or out in the water surfing is such a beautiful and magical time.

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The Outer Banks - Hatteras Island in particular - are among my favorite places. It's a desolate beauty in the winter and pure sea, surf and sand in the summer. I have been down countless times, including the "boys' surf trips" I did with my son and various of his friends over the years. Other favorite places are the lake house at Brantingham in the Adirondacks and places in British Columbia that I visited with my son back in 2004. Once one hits the Outer Banks, it is as if the real world has been left behind. I suspect that we will have a wonderful time.

Saturday Morning Reflections

The past week was insane at the office, especially when a defective Windows download crashed my office computer network, basically leaving the firm dead in the water for most of Thursday. To add to the mix, my roommate advised me that he has decided to get out of the Navy early, so I will be going through the routine of finding a new roommate who is both responsible and compatible. So far the weekend is making up for it all. Last night the boyfriend and I spent a relaxing evening at his beautiful home over dinner and then watching a video. He continues to amaze me with his gentleness, sensitivity and beautiful heart. He truly is a sweetheart and I consider myself so very, very lucky to have found him. I am savoring getting to know him on a deeper and deeper basis. At times I still feel he's almost too good to be true and hope that our relationship becomes even deeper and enduring.

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Tonight we have a fundraiser to attend featuring Leslie Jordan who has starred in Sordid Lives and appeared on Will & Grace. His show is called My Trip Down the Pink Carpet and is reportedly hysterically funny. We will be going to a post-show event where we hopefully will get to meet Jordan as well. Tomorrow will likely be the last of the Sunday afternoon pool parties at the home of some friends in Virginia Beach.

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On a sad note, I have been watching the news coverage of the devastation in the Galveston-Houston area where I lived during my days as in-house counsel to Union Texas Petroleum, an independent international oil company. I was particularly saddened to see that Brennan's of Houston, Brennan's was totally destroyed by a fire. Brennan's was a favorite spot to take visiting out of town guests for the fabulous brunch that was one of its trademark offerings. It was among the first places my oldest daughter went out as a baby (a photo of the patio balcony - one of a number of elegant rooms - where we often sat is set out below). The restaurant also was the location of a scene in the movie Terms of Endearment. I suspect it will be one of many old haunts that will have been destroyed or severely damaged by Hurricane Ike. Here are some highlights from the Houston Chronicle:

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Brennan's Restaurant, a Midtown institution famous for its turtle soup and bananas foster and a time-honored eatery among local society, was ruined by the blaze. A 45-year-old man and his 4-year-old daughter, along with a third man who was not related to them, were taking refuge from the storm inside the brick structure. . . . Reached on his cellular phone, Alex Brennan-Martin, Brennan's co-owner and part of a family of famed New Orleans restaurateurs, declined to comment, apparently too emotional to speak.

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In 2005, Houston Chronicle restaurant reviewer Alison Cook included a personal note that rang true with many who grew up with Brennan's as a touchstone for a fancy night out. "I have a long and mostly happy history with this restaurant, which opened in the former Junior League building in 1967," Cook wrote. "Through my post-college jobs, Brennan's was a place where I got comfortable with fine dining, where I discovered the joys of Meursault wines, learned to eat grillade and grits, and decided that 'brunch' was a word to be welcomed instead of feared.

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Brennan's traces its history to a New Orleans restaurant of the same name opened in 1946 by Owen Edward Brennan. The son of a local shipyard worker, Brennan had already staked a claim on the local landscape when he acquired the Old Absinthe House on Bourbon Street three years earlier. The Absinthe House was built in 1798 and was known to be pirate Jean Lafitte's secret hangout, and after buying it, Brennan staged lifelike mannequins of the notorious Lafitte and Andrew Jackson in what he called the "Secret Room" — the room in which a pact was supposedly made to assist in New Orleans' defense against the British at the Battle of New Orleans.

Labor Day Weekend Retrospective

As I indicated in a post yesterday morning, I had a truly wonderful weekend spending the vast majority of the weekend with my boyfriend of roughly a month and a half. We did, in fact, end up spending the afternoon at a friend's pool sipping white sangria my boyfriend whipped up. The pool crowd is both interesting and fun. The owner of the house with the pool is a single gay man who lets neighbors from the surrounding close knit neighborhood congregate and socialize at his pool. The other neighbors are a mix of single gays, gay couples and several middle aged straight couples, all of whom are totally accepting and cool hanging out with the gay boys. It's a unique crowd and exemplifies how all neighborhoods should be in my view.

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I intend to protect my boy friend's privacy, but one strange coincidence came up that I want to mention, in part because it will allay questions of what he looks like. We were chilling last night and watching the gay romance theme movie, The Trip, which I have seen before but which he had never seen before. The coincidence is that the Tommy character in the movie played by Steve Braun (especially in the portion of the movie where he has mid-length hair) looks remarkably like my boyfriend in an old high school senior picture he had showed me earlier in the weekend. It was really uncanny. So, those of you who want to know what my sweetie looks like, go rent the movie and picture a somewhat older version of Tommy. :)

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One thing the weekend definitely re-enforced for me was just how sweet and talented my boyfriend is. He has a beautiful heart, is intelligent and is totally comfortable in his own skin. I also very much like the way he confidently and unapologetically introduces me to all of his friends as his boyfriend. I find all of these to be very attractive qualities and hope that as time passes we come treasure each other even more. Is he "the one"? I'm not sure yet, but he is definitely a contender.

New Boyfriend

I spent much of the past weekend with a sweet guy that I began seeing about a month ago. It's funny because we first met perhaps almost five years ago and although it turns out both of us felt attraction to the other at that time, he was in a relationship that continued for a number of years more. By happen stance we have seen each other several times in recent months at fundraising and marketing/networking events. Then a month ago he took the initiative and told me he was single now and that he'd like to have dinner with me. From then on we've been seeing each other frequently and yesterday decided that we'd date each other exclusively and see where things go.

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He's smart and a good conversationalist, sweet, caring, sensual, and treats me like no one ever has before. It feels wonderful, although strange at the same time. He truly makes me feel special. Like my incorrigible angel, he seems to see things in me that I don't even see or feel. It feels so comfortable and safe and so far he has made me very happy. Hopefully, I make him equally happy. I certainly want to do so.

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And yes, he knows about this blog. :)