Schock staffer says he warned private flights might be illegal

A senior adviser for former Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) says he tried to sound the alarm over the ex-lawmaker’s potential ethics violations.

Benjamin Stroud Cole, who resigned from Schock’s office in early February over racially charged Facebook posts, says he raised concerns with Mark Roman, then Schock’s chief of staff, over the former congressman’s private flights, The Chicago Sun-Times reported on Thursday.

Cole recalled that he asked Roman earlier this year if private air travel taken in 2014 had broken House rules.

{mosads}“At some point in late February or early March 2015, I called Mr. Roman to tell him that I was concerned our travel on the RLI Corp. Flight may have violated federal election laws, congressional ethics rules or both,” Cole said in an affidavit containing his testimony before a federal grand jury in Peoria, Ill., on May 6.

Roman responded that he would guarantee the flight in question was “properly accounted and reimbursed,” the affidavit said.

Cole said he was unnerved by an April 2014 trip Schock took from Washington to Peoria. He alleged that Schock and his staff flew round-trip on a jet provided by RLI, a long-time campaign donor to the Republican.

When news broke last February that Schock might have inappropriately spent taxpayer dollars on a number of activities, Cole remembered the questionable flight, the affidavit said, and contacted Roman with his concerns.

It is unclear whether Cole was still working in Schock’s office at the time he made the call to Roman.

Cole resigned from Schock’s staff on Feb. 5 after screenshots of racially insensitive posts from his Facebook page went public. In one, Cole compared two black people to “zoo animals” practicing a “mating ritual.”

Schock, 34, resigned on March 17 amid mounting concerns over his office’s finances.

Questions about Schock’s spending initially emerged when reporters noticed lavish renovations to his congressional office modeled after the look of PBS series “Downton Abbey.”

Critics have since accused him of additional improper spending on musical concerts, travel arrangements and other activities.

Schock’s father, Richard Schock, expressed mixed feelings about his son’s actions in Congress on March 18.

“Two years from now he’ll be successful, if he’s not in jail,” he said of his son.

Schock is under a federal criminal investigation.