Politics: Is local media carrying Schock’s water on allegations?
Rich Miller says on his Capitol Fax Blog that the local media is accepting Aaron Schock at his word regarding his apparent violation of the law when he notarized backdated tax shelter documents for his father about eight years ago:
* It’s truly unfortunate that the local media doesn’t seem to be calling Schock out on this fabrication, allowing the arguments to be played as a he said, she said affair without providing factual context…
Is it a smear campaign – or a concerning lapse in judgment? It depends on which candidate for the 18th congressional district you believe.
* Secondly, Schock is hiding behind the ol’ “the Democrats are trying to smear me†and “negative politics is so horrible†gambit…
Schock says the story was fed to the Associated Press by the National Democratic Party and is nothing more than a smear campaign three weeks before the election.
Local reporters never called the national party or the Associated Press to verify the claim, however.
Miller also isn’t buying the claim that it was just a clerical error. Schock’s father’s testimony was that the backdating was done intentionally. Also, the only reason no one benefited was because the shelters themselves turned out to fradulent.
And the whole “youthful” indescretion” thing isn’t washing with me either. He was old enough to BE a notary public in the first place, which means somewhere along the line he willingly assumed the responsibiity to vouch for the honesty of the documents he was notarizing. He was also a member of the Peoria School District 150 Board at the time. Presumably, somewhere along the line, he told voters to trust him despite about his age.
Now that he got caught screwing up, he’s playing the “youthful indescretion” card like he was caught shoplifting or something.
My advice — and he’s taken my advice before — is to just say “I screwed up” and stop blaming others and stop making excuses. The underlying offense isn’t all that bad. And as both Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon learned, its not the crime it’s the coverup that willl bite you in the ass.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
First point is that Mr. Miller and the Capitol Fax blog’s analysis is dead on and I hope that our local media reads it and takes it to heart when questioning other politicians.
Secondly, a narrative is coalescing around Candidate Schock. Each and every one of these instances from the nukes to Taiwan, the bill over the Bush fundraiser, and now this. In each instance, Aaron Schock’s reactions have created doubts about his judgment and fitness to be a U.S. Congressman.
I partially disagree with your analysis about the crime not being that bad. In the grand scheme of things, I’m sure he’s not the first notary to cut corners, but we have a public official abusing a position of public trust. It is not that much of a stretch for voters to equate him with former Mayor Lynn Howard. Also, in 2006, the G.O.P. was overwhelmingly rejected by the voters because of their K street connections and their own “Culture of Corruption.” The Schock’s associated with people who defrauded them, and I for one am concerned when a candidate such as Mr. Schock has lobbyists like former Tom DeLay Chief of Staff Susan B. Hirschmann host a reception to raise funds for his campaign. I’m concerned that he received money from the House Conservative fund run by Tom Feeney one of the “most corrupt” members of Congress according to CREW. I’m concerned that he features Eric Cantor on his website, a man who had a sandwich named after him at Jack Abramoff’s restaurant. Aaron has chosen to walk in Jack Abramoff’s footsteps by aligning himself with people who took illegal trips to play golf in Scotland and who were involved in scandals involving Indian casinos.
October 16th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
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October 16th, 2008 at 2:50 pm
Sounds like death from a 1000 paper cuts.
October 16th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Getting a hummer in the Oval Office is a crime now? But seriously Billy, great post, well put, except I’d change that one word in the last line from “crime” to “act”. Otherwise, dead on.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Schock’s campaign has focused on issues. Ads on griculture, energy, environment, economy. I haven’t seen ONE ad by Callahan saying what she is for. Her whole campaign is negative.
Under this level of never making a tiny mistake, no one could run for Congress. People are subjecting Schock to a level of microscopic scrutiny that they don’t subject his opponent or other candidates to.
Good grief, you people who are voting for Obama despite the fact he took up Tony Rezko’s financial help to buy that land around his house that Obama wanted, are you saying that doesn’t matter but this rises to the level of not being fit? At the time in 2005 that Obama used Rezko to help get the land he wanted, it was in newspapers all over that Rezko was under federal investigation. That’s just hyperpartisan having it both ways.
Schock is the first candidate to reimburse a city for police protection that the Secret Service requested. Yesterday federal election commission reports were filed. NOT ONE municipality was reimbursed for police protection used at Obama fundraisers all over the country–many at $28,500 per person.
The Journal Star put a minor incident as the banner headline only three weeks before the election. They put the costs of the president’s police costs as a banner headline too on the front page. Neither merited that level of sensationalism. I remember many cartoons the Journal Star has done on Schock but not one on Callahan for calling for the draft. They endorsed McConaughey in the primary. Hardly carrying Schock’s water.
October 16th, 2008 at 7:50 pm
False testimony to a grand jury is a crime regardless of the act that preceeded.
October 16th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
If Schock is so “focused on issues” why doesn’t he show up at campaign forums and debate his opponents? He didn’t even show up for the recent discussion on Channel 47’s “At Issue.” That’s ridiculous. Is he afraid to face the mature, thoughtful people running against him?
October 16th, 2008 at 10:14 pm
Aaron is an arrogant young smart boy that needs to get a real job and a look at the real world of work. I am sick of career politicians. There are just too many things pointing to his personality defects for us to ignore. Vote Democrat or Green – both are far better than Aaron – for honest and experienced leadership.
October 16th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
All of the numerous comparisons to Obama (who I have NO intention of voting for), the complaining of negative campaign techniques, and the ranting about the level of scrutiny are completely irrelevant. They merely serve to distract people from the real issue. That is whether or not they feel that Schock has committed a serious offense as a result of backdating.
The truth is that there are a lot of people on both sides of this debate and CJ is probably right when he says that it will end up being a non-issue. I am probably even going to vote for Schock even though I did not vote for him in the primary and have been fairly outspoken regarding his candidacy on this blog. Yes, there probably is more to this story than we know and the idea of an 18th District congressional seat managed behind the curtains by Steve Shearer is scary but some of Callahan’s positions are much scarier to me.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:10 am
Billy Dennis: Hear – hear!
Your last paragraph proves the value of “learning from history”.
You nailed it – nicely-done.
October 17th, 2008 at 8:26 am
That may be true, but I guarantee you, if someone asked me specific questions about something I notarized 8 years ago, whether it be for my parents or Mickey Mouse, you’d be hard-pressed to get any answers.
October 17th, 2008 at 8:27 am
…and speaking of Mickey Mouse, I understand he is now registered to vote!
October 17th, 2008 at 8:57 am
“Aaron is an arrogant young smart boy that needs to get a real job and a look at the real world of work.”
I agree. Aaron needs to head downtown and get a “real job” at some place where they make you wear a little white namebadge that reminds you to change your drool bib every hour.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:00 am
SuperJ: Well THAT was helpful. Aaron Schock is no idiot, whether you want him to be your Congressman or not.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:44 am
Sorry Bill, maybe my snarkiness obscured my point there.
Just saying that “work ethic” is not one of Aaron’s shortcomings. In fact, I’d say it’s (by far) his greatest strength.
October 20th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Sending Aaron Schock to Congress certainly won’t help Peoria or this district. Electing a freshman Republican to a body that will be solidly Democratic for a generation is foolish.
But then, I don’t think he will be there that long. You could see the ambition in him when he first ran for the school board. That position was soley to make his name recognizable for his run at State Representative.
He’s too young to run for U.S. Senator in 2010—when the term of the person Blagojevich names to finish Obama’s expires—and I don’t think he’ll run against Blagojevich then. So I reckon it’s Blagojevich in 2014 or the U.S. Senate in 2016. He’s not so naive as to run against Durbin in 2014.
So six or eight years in the House. Any bets?