TJ Walker breaks down the Aaron Schock scandal: lavish office, Instagram glamour shots, questionable expenses, and a shirtless magazine photo that sparked bipartisan outrage. Walker offers Schock a path back: focus on committee work, introduce serious bills, ditch the flashy behavior, stay conservative.
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Is Congressman Aaron Schoch's career going down the drain? You may remember Congressman Schock from six weeks ago or so when he was all over the news for apparently having his Washington, D.C. congressional office decorated in bright red as if it were something from Downton Abbey. Now, that alone in and of itself is not enough to destroy a career, but what it did is make people question him, start scrutinizing him more because it was initially sort of dismissed of, well, a decorator donated her services and nothing inappropriate. But then it got people wondering. Well, should a member of Congress be receiving tens of thousands of dollars of services from a professional services company that looked like an ethics violation? Now, that matter has not been entirely resolved, but that led to more scrutiny of how this member of Congress spends money, taxpayers spending money, and fortunately for reporters, and unfortunately for Congressman Schoch, he left an electronic paper trail or breadcrumb trail for reporters. He posts everywhere he goes on his Instagram account so they could see that he's off to watch a Bears game, off to a Katy Perry event, off to south by Southwest. All these things that look glamorous and fun but ostensibly have nothing to do with the job of a member of Congress. And he's billing taxpayers and campaign coffers for these extravagances. And it's not appropriate in either case. Now the other thing working against the congressman is not so long ago he posed bare chested for a men's magazine. And yes, he had good abs. He is a young member of Congress in his early 30s and is in excellent shape. But it just struck a lot of people as not serious, as frivolous. Now, unless you think this is just his Democratic opponents or members of the liberal media out to get him, here's what Eric Erickson said in an editorial yesterday. Well known conservative blogger, very Republican blogger, pundit, highly influential among conservatives. Here's what he said. I will not belabor the point. Representative Aaron Schock has proven himself incapable of handling his own money, the money of his donors, and taxpayer money. He has lived excessively off the backs of taxpayers who must be reimbursed and off of donors to whom he is now a servant. He appears to be just a celebrity who lacks the necessary integrity to handle the power of the purse. Perhaps Downton Abbey needs someone to fill the role of an American playboy chasing a Crawley. The suggestion from Erickson on what the congressman's next move should be. National Review. Another conservative Republican leaning organization, Media Organization, piled on and wrote yesterday. Let's say it aloud. Aaron Schoch is a crook. Now folks, those are harsh words to overcome. When people on your own team and your own side are saying this, it cannot be dismissed as partisanship. Now, Aaron Jacques is from a very, very Republican district, so he is in no danger of losing a general election to a Democrat. His real challenge is going to be if a well known, well funded Republican in his district runs against him in the primary next time. That's where he's vulnerable because that member of Congress can run on the platform of shock is an embarrassment. Look how he's humiliating us in the national media. Now here's my advice to Congressman Shy and he's not one of my clients. But my advice to him would be stop with all the travel to fun places. Instead, focus on two working hard in committees in Washington, D.C. and spending time in your district, meeting with constituents, going to breakfast meetings of kiwan clubs, things that are not very glamorous, frankly. That's where he should spend his time, number one. Number two, he needs to introduce some form of serious legislation that deals with the substantive problem in America. And he needs to spend his time researching it, working it, lobbying for it, generating media coverage for it. He's got to get his name associated with something other than Playboy and Downton Abbey. The third suggestion I have for him is perhaps grow a little paunch. Look like other members of Congress don't look like you spend seven hours a day in a gym preening for a men's magazine. The fourth step. Fourth, keep your shirt on. It's a long time between now and the 2016 primaries. Relatively a long time. There is time for Congressman Chock to rehabilitate his reputation, but he needs to act now. If he just continues as he is, saying cute little things like haters gonna hate, which is what he said when confronted over his Downton Abbey escapade, he's going to look silly, excessively youthful and like an unserious person.
