GOP Congressman Aaron Schock Hires Lawyers as Ethics Questions Grow

Republican Congressman Aaron Schock - who is widely thought to be a closeted gay - has growing problems as ethics concerns grow over Schock's billing private air travel and other perks to his congressional office and/or his campaign fund.  Now, Schock has hired hugely expensive Washington, D.C., legal counsel to defend him from the circling political and legal wolves.  I truly don't wish Schock ill, but if he's a closeted gay voting against gay rights, he will deserve going down in flames.  Politico looks at Schock's very costly move.  Here are highlights:

Rep. Aaron Schock has hired two prominent Washington defense attorneys and a public relations firm to respond to the swirling controversy and a potential ethics probe over how he has financed his lavish lifestyle.

The move by the embattled Illinois Republican comes amid continuing questions about his use of campaign and office accounts to pay for pricey travel and accommodations. His office has refused to respond to specific questions from POLITICO, including issues raised over the past week about a trip he took to London nearly four years ago as part of an annual event featuring Prince Charles.

Schock has hired William McGinley and Don McGahn of the Washington law firm Jones Day to lead his legal team. Veteran GOP communications operatives Ron Bonjean and Brian Walsh are helping manage his response, according to sources close to the matter.

Schock’s decision to hire outside help to manage the continuing fallout signals a new, more serious stage of the unfolding scandal. He has flown on private jets, stayed in five-star hotels and collected tens of thousands of dollars in mileage reimbursements from his campaign and the government. In addition, Schock used his campaign account last year to purchase a nearly $74,000 Chevy Tahoe that he uses while in the district.

POLITICO has repeatedly sought information regarding Schock’s trip in June 2011 to London. He stayed at Claridge’s, a five-star hotel where the least expensive rooms currently cost $500 per night. He also was scheduled to visit the city’s posh clothing stores and dined at Windsor Castle and Buckingham Palace, according to the documents.

The trip, which included events organized by the nonprofit Prince of Wales Foundation, was not an official government trip and was not reported as a gift. Schock’s office would not say whether he paid for it. If he personally covered the cost of the trip, Schock would not be required to disclose it.

If it was a political excursion, Schock could have used campaign funds. However, the London itinerary does not appear to involve any congressional or political activities.

Scrutiny of Schock’s opulent and somewhat unusual spending has been mounting for weeks. It started when The Washington Post revealed that he had redecorated his Capitol Hill office to look like “Downton Abbey,” the PBS show about British aristocracy. Schock has publicly declared that he will cover the costs of that renovation.

On March 18, he left for a 10-day trip to Saudi Arabia, along with Republican Reps. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, that was paid for by Saudi Arabia’s antiquities and tourism commission. House members and employees may accept travel paid for by a foreign government without review by the ethics panel. But members must disclose such trips taken under the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act on their annual financial disclosure forms.  Stutzman and Lummis listed the trip; Schock did not.

Columba Bush - Another Maureen McDonnell?

With former Virginia first lady Maureen McDonnell sentenced last week to a year in prison - a far too light of a sentence in my view - for her role in the criminal corruption rampant at the Governor's mansion, some are speculating that Jeb Bush's wife has similar extravagant spending habits and issues with truth and veracity.  Obviously, the Bush clan has far more money that the McDonnells did, but some are none the less vetting Columba Bush.  Here are highlights from the Washington Post:

In 1999, Columba Bush, the famously private wife of then-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, was detained and fined by federal customs officials for misrepresenting the amount of clothing and jewelry she had bought while on a solo five-day shopping spree in Paris.

The incident left the Florida first lady deeply mortified and her husband politically chagrined. Jeb Bush said the first lady had misled customs officials because she did not want him to know that she had spent about $19,000 on the trip.

The ordeal did not stop her from spending freely, however. Less than a year later, she took out a loan to buy $42,311.70 worth of jewelry on a single day, according to records filed with the state of Florida by Mayors Jewelers.

That purchase was part of a pattern by Columba Bush of borrowing to buy tens of thousands of dollars of jewelry at a time from the South Florida store over a 14-year period. Documentation available online, which does not include the details of two transactions made less than six weeks apart in 1995, shows that she spent a total of more than $90,000 at the store.

That kind of spending, though well within his means, may present a challenge for Jeb Bush as he prepares for a presidential run with a message that the playing field between rich and poor is not fair or level.

In recent years, candidates in both parties have had to answer questions about high-dollar transactions by themselves and their family members, whether a $400 haircut for John Edwards, six-figure speaking fees for Hillary Rodham Clinton, or the number of homes and cars Mitt Romney owned.
While spouses are not on the ballot, they too find their lifestyles the focus of curiosity — and, frequently, partisan attack.

During Bush’s two terms as governor, from 1999 to 2007, the first lady maintained a low profile, living much of the time in their Miami-area home rather than in the state capital, Tallahassee.

While the 2000 purchase listed the governor’s mansion as her home address, documents suggest that, on at least one earlier occasion, Columba Bush wanted the paperwork sent to a postal box.

In 1997, when she bought a Roman coin necklace for $15,000 and a $16,600 Rolex watch studded with diamonds, she listed as her mailing address one that is currently used by a UPS Store in Miami. At the time, the shipping facility operated under the name Mail Boxes Etc.

After Columba Bush was forced to pay $4,100 in fines and duties for the purchases she had tried to slip past customs agents at Atlanta’s Hartsfield International Airport, the governor said her shopping habits were no one else’s business.

“It is a lot of money. But look, that’s between her and me,” he said. The episode happened at a particularly sensitive moment, because Jeb Bush’s brother George, the governor of Texas, was making the first of his two successful bids for the White House.