Aaron Schock Resigns Amid Gay Rumors, Instagram Lockdown, And Spending Controversy
If there’s one thing that 33-year-old Aaron Jon Schock is not, it’s that Schock is nowhere near boring. The Republican congressman from Illinois has kept the press active for years, serving in the state’s 18th congressional district since 2009. On Tuesday, Schock announced his resignation from Congress due to spending controversies, reports the Huffington Post? – and his spending habits aren’t the only things that have filled web pages for the past half of a decade or so about buff Aaron, who showed off his chiseled chest via the cover of Men’s Health in 2011. That’s something you don’t normally see when talking politics.
According to the Associated Press, Schock’s decision to quit his House seat came on the heels of recent reports of his Downton Abbey style office decor, along with private jet jaunts and incorrectly categorized expenses. Caviar tastes aren’t the only things that tongues have been wagging about Aaron for quite some time now, with the Huffington Post writing about a journalist who inadvertently outed Schock as gay, a claim that the representative went on record to deny directly to the Huffington Post‘s Gay Voices Editor-at-Large Michelangelo Signorile at the 2012 Republican National Convention. Aaron’s answers denying being gay were specifically an issue due to Schock’s reported anti-gay voting record.
The same publication reports that Schock’s Instagram account was locked down amidst the controversy — presumably switched to a private status at the time of the Huffington Post article’s publication, however, a current view of Aaron’s Instagram account shows he enjoys more than 17,600 followers and has a feed replete with Schock doing political things like visiting middle schools, breweries and praising the members of the military.
Schock said the continual questions about his spending, like the reported $100,000 that Aaron spent on a designer for his office designs, as reported by ABC News, were the distracting reasons for him deciding to quit.
“Today, I am announcing my resignation as a Member of the United States House of Representatives effective March 31. Constant questions 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. I have always sought to do what’s best for my constituents and I thank them for the opportunity to serve.”
Schock admitted that since coming to Congress at a young age, he has always been the type who isn’t a “crusty old” guy, but one who posts Instagram photos of himself being active and alive. And yet the rumors about his alleged denied sexuality and overspending swirl, maybe even more so now that Aaron has given up his House seat.
[Image via Men’s Health]
