Aaron Schock playing fast and loose with election rules?

I've written before about how Republican Party loyalists are a bit annoyed at Aaron Schock. Less than a year after they spent millions getting him re-elected to the Illinois House of Representatives, he decided to abandon that seat to run for the one being vacated by U.S. Rep Ray LaHood.

This means that the GOP is more likely than not to loose the seat to the Democrats. Until Schock defeated Ricca Slone, the 92nd was considered a safe Democratic seat. But Schock -- who has a knack for picking opponents who have weaknesses in their base -- won back in 2004.

And now Schock is making tongues wag yet again. This time, some of his fellow GOPers are upset at the special favors he's getting from the party organization, and for possible violations of campaign finance rules.

Here are some of the complaints I'm hearing:

• The Shock for Congress campaign is passing out the same literature, they say, that was distributed by the Schock for State Representative campaign. Presumably, that literature was purchased long before anyone knew Ray LaHood wouldn't run for re-election and long before Schock officially entered the race. So the literature must have been bought with money raised for a state race. That's a big no-no.


• The Schock for Congress campaign is using the same phone number from the state rep campaign. This account with the phone company was opened with money raised for the state rep campaign. Unless Schock office gave up that phone number, and handed it over to the congressional campaign and paid for with federal campaign funds, it might not be exactly legal.


• And some of the ire is directed at the Peoria County Republican Central Committee. They have allowed Schock to set up his Congressional campaign office inside their offices. That's a no-no too, apparently. In fact, sources say the desire to separate state and federal election efforts was one of the reasons the county GOP moved its offices away from its location next to Ray LaHood's local offices at 4238 N. Knoxville to its new location at 8835 N. Knoxville Ave.

Via Schock's own Website:



Here's a closer look:


And here is an image from the Peoria County Republican's homepage:



It's exactly the same address. Right now, I'm not sure if this means that "state" campaign funds are being used on behalf of a "federal" campaign. If so, it's a violation of federal campaign finance laws, or so I'm told. If not, then it's ethically questionable.

What I do know is there is serious talk about making a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission. THAT is a big deal, unlike the allegations that passed back and forth when Schock ran against State Rep. Ricca Slone. Those were treated like most allegations of cheating are treated in Illinois -- with a certain amount of amused interest by the media, but with no real consequences (at one point, they were debating the ethics of free hot dogs and soda, for crying out loud).

But this is a federal race, and the national media is looking at it. And the media looooves to write about Republicans accused of campaign violations. Those guys have no sense of humor.

While 11 out of the 20 Republican county chairs in the 18th district have reportedly endorsed Schock, that doesn't mean that Schock is endorsed by the party as a whole. The GOP and the Democrats alike pick their parties' nominees through primary elections, not in smoke-filled cloakrooms.

Letting Schock set up an office inside the county's party HQ months before the primary sends a message to the rank and file: What you want doesn't matter. The powers-that-be have pre-selected their favored candidate, so just give up and go home. It's a great way to de-energize the party faithful.

And I'm sure that those folks who have contributed to or are working as volunteers for either Jim McConoughey or John Morris are absolutely thrilled (note the sarcasm, please) that their party itself is using their money to provide facilities to Schock.

And I'm also hearing that one of the people who is a bit POed is none other than Ray LaHood. As an incumbent, LaHood is very much aware of the effect this sort of nonsense is having on the GOP's chances of recapturing Congress.

And the thing is that Schock has a history of bending if not breaking what should be simple and easy to understand campaign rules. With the media and voters hype-sensitive to crooked electioneering, one wonders what other rules Schock might break or bend.

I'm recalling the history of the district. In 1956, Rep. Harold Velde endorsed his top aide Bob Michel, who won the party nomination in a crowded field. In 1994, Michel in turn endorsed Ray LaHood, his aide, instead of the more conservative Judy Koehler.

Perhaps LaHood might want to consider doing the same thing. Considering that everyone is assuming what whoever wins the GOP primary is going to win the general election, they may as well pick someone who acts like a grown-up and plays by the rules.

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