GOP Congressman Aaron Schock Caught In Another Schockingly Brazen Lie About Mileage

Last week, Republican congressman Aaron Schock announced he would leave the House at the end of the month due to a smoldering controversy over his spending habits–such as redecorating his office to look like something out of “Downton Abbey” and billing his congressional and campaign accounts for flights on private planes. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the revelation that the Illinois Republican sent taxpayers and his campaign the bill for over 170,000 miles driven in his personal car–more than double the mileage that was actually on the odometer. Well, the Chicago Sun-Times peered further into the guts of Schock’s disbursement requests during his six-plus years in Congress, and found some more highly suspicious details. Apparently Schock expected us to believe that during his first year in Washington, the congressman from central Illinois put over 42,000 miles on his car.

Aaron Schock with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in 2014 (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)
Aaron Schock with Indian prime minister Narendra Modi in 2014 (courtesy Wikimedia Commons)

According to the Sun-Times, before buying the Chevrolet Tahoe that all but ended his congressional career, Schock owned a GM Envoy. He bought it in May 2007, during his second term in the Illinois House of Representatives. At the time, it had 24,300 miles on the odometer. When he sold the Envoy on December 30, 2009; it had 77,400 miles on the odometer–meaning that he’d put an additional 53,100 miles on the car in just over two years. However, according to House disbursement records, Schock billed the federal government for almost 32,700 miles. He billed his campaign for an additional 9,600 miles.

For those of you keeping score, that means Schock was reimbursed for driving 42,300 miles–more than 79 percent of what was driven on the Envoy–in just a year in Congress. Remember, he had just been sworn in for his first term that January. Even allowing for the size of Schock’s district at the time, it just doesn’t seem believable that Schock would put that many miles on his car in only a year. Just like with the Tahoe, there really isn’t a good-faith explanation for this–at least one that I know of. Sounds like we’ve stumbled on yet another shockingly brazen lie–and yes, the pun was intended.

Schock refunded all of the reimbursements he received from taxpayers during his five-plus years in Congress. It hasn’t been nearly enough to stop a federal investigation into his spending habits. Apparently it’s advanced far enough that a grand jury will be empaneled in April. Under the circumstances, I have to hope that when Schock calculated how much money he’d have to pay back, he also figured out how much he needed to spend on a retainer fee for a lawyer.

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.