* We talked a little about this Associated Press story yesterday…
Aaron Schock, the Republican state representative making a strong bid for the 18th District seat in the U.S. House, once notarized documents with false dates while helping his parents set up tax shelters, his own father testified in federal court.
* Schock is taking a three-pronged approach to his counter-spin.
First, he’s calling the false date a clerical error…
“It was a clerical mistake and it was made over eight years ago.”
* That’s not what his own father testified to under oath, however…
[Aaron Schock] declared that he witnessed the documents being signed on Jan. 1, 2000, but they weren’t actually signed until more than a year later. […]
Richard Schock said they put money and property into a variety of corporations and a charitable trust beginning Jan. 1, 2000, as directed by two of the defendants in the federal trial, Kenton Tylman and Debra Hills. But despite repeated requests, Tylman and Hills did not provide some of the documents for them to sign until spring of the next year.
He testified that the couple signed the documents with the earlier date because that’s when the tax shelters were formally established.
A trial transcript shows Richard Schock was asked, “And your son, Aaron, would not have signed this on January 1 of 2000; isn’t that correct?”
“That’s correct,” he replied.
That doesn’t sound like a “clerical mistake” to me.
Oops.
* It’s truly unfortunate that the local media doesn’t seem to be calling Schock out on this fabrication, allowing the arguments to be played as a he said, she said affair without providing factual context…
Is it a smear campaign - or a concerning lapse in judgment? It depends on which candidate for the 18th congressional district you believe.
* Secondly, Schock is hiding behind the ol’ “the Democrats are trying to smear me” and “negative politics is so horrible” gambit…
Schock says the story was fed to the Associated Press by the National Democratic Party and is nothing more than a smear campaign three weeks before the election.
Local reporters never called the national party or the Associated Press to verify the claim, however.
* More…
Schock, 27, called Callahan’s tactics and those of the national party an “act of desperation” from a candidate he says is behind in the polls.
“Voters don’t like the gutter attacks, the gutter politics and they don’t like to see the candidates throwing mud at one another,” Schock said.
* And, finally, the 27 year old congressional candidate is employing the “youthful indiscretions/ancient history” angle…
Schock says the documentation was an accident that happened when he was nineteen, and with almost three weeks till Election Day, his contenders are trying to smear his image.
“I think it’s an act of desperation to go to this document over eight years ago and try and say, well somehow now, Aaron Schock is not qualified.” Schock said.
Amazingly, this angle has remained completely unchallenged in the local press.
* One more thing. This is mentioned in pretty much every story…
Schock’s family did not benefit from backdating the documents
They didn’t benefit because they were defrauded. However, they were obviously trying to profit from what turned out to be phony tax shelters, and admitedly involved their son in the process.
* More congressional stuff…
* Cheney phones in to lunch
* Bailout, economy divide U.S. Senate picks
* Durbin still holds heavy war chest
* Durbin reports $6.5 million in campaign fund
* Bean, Greenberg cordial — to a point
* Foster opens up large cash lead on Oberweis
* Incumbents raising big cash in Illinois congressional races
* Around the horn: Ozinga, Hassert, Duckworth
* Congressman Rush’s son pleads guilty in sex case