Aaron Schock leaves Congress amid spending scandal

WASHINGTON—Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., has resigned amid weeks of scrutiny over his lavish spending habits.

Schock, 33, made the surprise announcement in a statement on Tuesday, saying he has always sought to do what is best for his constituents: “[T]he constant questions over the last six weeks have proven a great distraction that has made it too difficult for me to serve the people of the 18th District with the high standards that they deserve and which I have set for myself.”

Schock, once seen as a rising star in the Republican Party, came to Washington in 2009 at age 27—meeting the age requirement by just two years. He was then the youngest person in Congress and the first born in the 1980s. He talked a lot about his faith and ethics in a 2009 WORLD profile, but questionable decisions are precisely what led to his demise.

Schock’s troubles began in early February when a Washington Post style reporter paid an unannounced visit to his Capitol Hill office in the Rayburn House Office Building. Reporter Ben Terris found elaborate Downton Abbey–inspired decor and an interior decorator who was only too happy to show him around. Schock, on the other hand, refused to talk about it.

The odd encounter led to an ethics complaint and then an investigation, including numerous allegations of improper spending. The final straw may have been a Politico report that found Schock billed both taxpayers and his campaign for some 172,000 miles on his personal vehicle between January 2010 and July 2014. When he sold the Chevrolet Tahoe last summer, it had less than 83,000 miles on it.