House ethics rules changed in January 2013 to allow members of Congress to fund private flights with taxpayer dollars as long as they pay for just their share of the cost. But Schock paid for private flights with his House account before that rule changed and it’s not clear if Schock only paid for his portion of the flight after the rule change, according to the Associated Press investigation.
Schock billed taxpayers more than $24,000 for eight private flights in 2011 and 2012 on a plane owned by Schock donor Darren Frye. Frye donated $10,200 to Schock’s reelection campaign and political action committee, GOP Generation Y Fund, in 2013 alone according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
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Before the dust settled on that affair, Schock’s office had to manage another crisis when a senior adviser, Ben Cole, resigned after the aide compared black people in his neighborhood to zoo animals.
