Politics: My advice to Aaron Schock
Put aside the issue of whether or not your campaign is obligated to reimburse $38,000 to the City of Peoria for expenses if occured suring President Bush’s visit to your fund raiser. Don’t even consider the legal and ethical issues.
Just send the city a check, no questions asked, no admission of guilt, just a desire to not burden taxpayers. Better yet, invite the photographers to a check-passing ceremony on the floor of the City Council’s chambers. I’m sure my friend Gary Sandberg would be happy to attend such a happy event.
Essentially, you would be achieving victory by surrendering.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:45 am
Van Auken would bring the drinks i’m sure LOL.
September 26th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Good advice, but then Aaron wouldn’t be Aaron. A tiger can’t shed its stripes and an arrogant little ideologue can’t either. He’s creating quite the narrative of being an arrogant little hothead. We’ve got the Taiwan nukes comment, the Barack Obama-Jimmy Carter “socialist” smear, his ducking of debates and running his campaign as if he were a four term incumbent by being “unavailable for comment,” and my favorite even though it won’t resonate with voters, the creation of his leadership PAC months before the election.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Spoiled little bastard probably never shared his toys when he was a little kid, either.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:28 am
I agree with you, Bill. If Insane Clown Posse can cut the City a check to cover expenses incurred, so can Mr. Schock.
September 26th, 2008 at 9:35 am
No shit? They actually cut a check for the expenses?
Wow.
Schock has less class than the Insane Clown Posse. WTF.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:05 am
I wouldn’t say that Aaron is less civic-minded than ICP. But perhaps they understand public relations a big better.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:10 am
I wouldn’t say that Aaron is less civic-minded than ICP. But perhaps they understand public relations a BIT better.
September 26th, 2008 at 10:15 am
True. They might have PR people who take care of that, whereas Schock only has campaign managers whose job is to control his public image.
Oh wait…
September 26th, 2008 at 10:55 am
This is just spliting hairs. Will the Obama’s followers stand up andask for the money to be paid to our city, for the same protection he got when he came to town to endorse David Koehler.. Sme deal , everybody wants to talk about Aaron Schock and his campaigm . If we are going to complain, then Obama’s people need to PAY also. This is just wrong to split hairs, when the city did the same thing for both .
September 26th, 2008 at 11:48 am
Obama coming to town wasn’t the same deal: that event was open to the public, no?
The Decider’s event was a closed fundraiser; had he decided to stay and address the public it wouldn’t have seemed so bad.
September 26th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
The point is well taken , however the city and taxpayers paid for Obama to have the safe protection, such as Bush’s trip. We paid for both and now that its time for election, we have Mr. Sandburg [as always ] biching about it . I don’t see or hear anyone complaing …..
September 26th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
Here’s my advice to everybody else: GET OVER IT. Like it or not, Aaron Schock is going to be the next congressman for this district. Like it or not, he is going to be in the minority. Like it or not, a congressman’s job still is to “bring home the bacon.” So, like it or not, Schock will have to work hard as a 1st term minority congressman to bring home said bacon. Why would the City of Peoria want to yank his chain over this. This City lets $38,000 fall out of its pockets everyday ( see consultants contract to design logo). We should say, “sorry to have bothered you about this next-congressman Schock, now can we talk about federal funds for [fill in the blank].”
September 26th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Wow, dd, do you have a crystal ball?
Because, if I read my calendar correctly, the election isn’t for more than a month. Nothing’s decided until we all punch in our little boxes behind closed doors (er, curtains).
This is a severe screw-up akin to the nuclear weapons comment. Something like this is likely to really hurt Schock’s campaign this late in the game, especially as taxpayers are watching their money go down the government drain of the proposed bail-out.
September 26th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Don’t need a crystal ball to tell that Schock is going to win. Look at the facts: the district is drawn so that ANY republican (even one as unqualified as Schock) will win; the democrats couldn’t even come up with a candidate until the came up with an equally light-weight candidate; the National democratic party is not willing to bet any serious money on their candidate, so they don’t really think she has a chance; and Schock has more than enough money to win. As to past and possible future mistakes by Schock – they won’t matter. The people who think this presidential security thing is bad, weren’t going to vote for him anyway. And the people who were going to vote for him before, don’t get it. So, yeah I’m resigned to the fact that Schock will win. But, I don’t care, because I’m voting for the GREEN guy. Why not? At least my vote will matter.
September 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Several years ago, in the heat of the presidential campaign, Veep Dick Cheney and Wyoming Congressman Alan Simpson came to town for a rally. The event required security from the city as the event occured at the riverfront. It was not open to the public, though admittedly the tickets were free. there was no “public” purpose. Question, did the city make the VP pay for security? If not, then the precedent has been set such that Schock should not be criticized for not paying up. I agree with Billy that the smart political play might be to end the back and forth by footing the bill. But if the basis is the existing ordinance, then any political event e.g. Obama’s speech at the state capital, would require reimbursement.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:22 pm
Gotta Agree with Billy here, whatever precedent that was set before is really irrelevant to Schock’s campaign. This story is in the news now, about his campaign, and it should’ve probably been dealt with before it hit the paper if possible. I would think if played right it could’ve been a rallying point for even more fundraising. I would be really surprised if this had any effect on this election, but I gotta think Aarron’s got plans for even bigger elections in the future, and this sort of thing tends to come back up.
September 26th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Mother Hun,
Please go to either PeoriaChronicles or Peoria Rocks for better explanation. You will see that the Koehler rally in 2006 where Sen Obama attended, there were NO police provided by City of Peoria, NO Police escourt provided by City of Peoria, NO Police security provided by City of Peoria, NO 25-30 tandem trucks provided by City of Peoria, NO Fire equipment or personnel provided by City of Peoria. Koehler Campaign paid for all costs asscoicated with the staging equiptment and seating and coordinated everything thru Peoria COUNTY, NOT the CITY in as much as the event was to take place on County property.
Only expense from the City was when crowds reach too large to remain on Peoria County property, NOT CITY of PEORIA, property, Main Street was closed with baracades for about one hour. Sen. Koehler offered to pay for those costs incurred by the City when I talked with him on Wednesday.
Only thing more offensive than the City NOT being reimbursed for it’s costs would be CHARGING FOR COSTS OF SERVICES THE CITY DID NOT PROVIDE. Capis?
September 26th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
How much business did this event generate for the area? How many local hotel rooms were slept in, meals served at local restaurants and supplies purchased at local retailers by Secret Service, regional media and others to prepare for the president’s brief visit?
How many new outfits were bought, how many cars washed, how many catering companies hired, how many beverages served, how many waitstaffers employed, how many haircuts given, how many cleanup crews worked?
Just a thought.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
Not a very good one.
September 26th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
He’s not going to write a check for it!
September 26th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
How did the city of Springfield deal with the purely political event when Obama and Biden appeared there recently? Did they send a bill to Obama after the fact? Just curious.
September 26th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
Postsimian,
Your obvious superior intellect is clearly showing through by your colorful use of expletives.
Calling Aaron Schock a Bastard sure wins me over to your side. You don’t have to like him, you don’t have to vote for him, but calling him a bastard is over the top. Sounds like a Colleen Callahan Television Ad. Good Job.
September 26th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Must have touched a raw nerve.
Go ahead and vote for the bastard. That way I’ll know who to blame when the bastard screws everything up and makes us bastards the laughing stock of the country.
Or you could just be honest and say,”I’m voting for that bastard anyway, and nothing you could say would convince me not to, making my little cry-fest arbitrary and unnecessarily dramatic.”
3-2-1… GO!
*crickets chirping*
September 26th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
*Sigh*
Can we please refrain from gratuitous obscenities and name calling?
September 27th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Postsimian,
Wow. You are scary. You do only have one vote right?
September 27th, 2008 at 12:43 am
Look in the mirror, bub.
September 27th, 2008 at 2:36 am
I don’t think the event boosted the economy that much Super J.
Interesting thought, but it wasn’t like they were shooting a movie here-a crew numbering in the hundreds, working for months.
The event probably brought the city as much money as a large wedding would have.
September 27th, 2008 at 9:10 am
I believe Sandberg as to the City of Peoria’s role in the Koehler event. What were the County’s costs?
September 27th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Ahh, but the comment was
“Only expense from the City was when crowds reach too large to remain on Peoria County property, NOT CITY of PEORIA, property, Main Street was closed with baracades for about one hour. Sen. Koehler offered to pay for those costs incurred by the City when I talked with him on Wednesday.” NOTE: there was no concern at the event or in two years since, but then there were a number of councilmembers in the background…there are photos, clearly enjoying themselves.
So there was expense. and the councilman actually talked to the the DEMOCRATIC Senator. However, the REPUBLICAN cadidate, was called out publically. Apparantly the city councilman is prosing the city foot the bill for small amounts if there are democrats involved, but larger amounts if there are republicans. or perhaps we support and provide protection for presidents the council likes and not for ones they don’t
The president came to Peoria, the White House initiated the event. Federal law makes provisions for what is to be paid back for campaign purposes. If the council wishes as a home rule community to set an ordinance, then it may chose to do. But the press, the harping, the drama, and the hostiality–interestingly enough to constituents that policitians are pledged to serve, and the attention getting is policital. It’s not like the council hasn’t voted to allocate funds in support of policital ideas for buddy candidates in the past, ironically in unaminmous vote by the way.
When council members get trashed and cause altercations with other community members and police are pulled off active cases for such events, is that council member reimbursing the police for personal power trips, or is that lumped under constituent services. Or is that okay since they are “permanent residents’, which I am guessing is the only way one has value in Peoria. That would make a great idea for a slogan for the $30,000 logo. We all pay taxes. Much of the money is not spent how I would spend it. I don’t see a clear personal benefit from every dollar spent in the community, but realize that we live chose to live together in the community and there are many mutual expenses.
Further regarding the Bush event. It did pump some money into the ecomomy. I bought new clothing and ran into other doing the same, Ian’s correct, a large wedding, but money it did generate. The small businesses that helped with the event benefitted from business that they would not have normally had.
The comments about the rich and elite attending. Some were, I am neither, and am positive I earn significantly less than any of the local politicians. Those comments are rude and misinformed.
Additionally much concern (of mine alone apparantly) is noted of the level of obvious hatred and disdain expressed in the blogs about people I would guess some of you have never met or been personally involved in. I have said this before, the right to free speech needs to be tied directly to the responsible use of it. The same folks that are so disrespectful to our leadership, are then awed when our children attack teachers in the classroom, or curse at elderly neighbors, etc.
September 27th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Great job Paul , as always well said..
October 16th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
[...] advice — and he’s taken my advice before — is to just say “I screwed up” and stop blaming others and stop making [...]