| "What? There's a TV show whose interior shots look like my office? No way!" |
One of the youngest members of Congress, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL), just got himself into a strange public relations spat over office decor.
When Washington Post reporter Ben Terris popped into Schock's new office Monday in the Rayburn House Office Building, the outer room stuck out to him for its bright red walls and gold wall sconces. A woman at the front desk told Terris that the decor was inspired by "Downton Abbey," the British period drama that airs on PBS.
After a woman who introduced herself as Shock's interior decorator offered to guide Terris though the rest of the rooms, he snapped photos of the crystal chandelier and bunches of pheasant feathers that completed Schock's new digs.
Terris wrote that a staff member asked him to delete the photos he'd taken. After much back-and-forth, Cole later offered Terris a chance to speak with Schock about anything other than his office space (it should be noted that extra furniture or decor not provided by the House is paid for by the lawmaker).
“He’s happy to talk to you, just not about the office,” Cole reportedly told Terris. “I’m really sorry and want you to know this is not fun for me.”
Cole even was coy about Schock's "Downton Abbey" fandom.
"I don’t even know if he watches it; I don’t know what shows he watches," he told Terris. "But I don’t think he watches much TV.”
Nah, he doesn't watch TV. And if he did why would he watch a British TV program when there are so many awesome 'Merican made reality shows on?
However Terris did NOT delete the photos and they are on full display on his Twitter account.
People want more photos from Schock's office. Here are pheasant feathers.
http://t.co/dhDUoBMnNF pic.twitter.com/gu1Qc4oSFS
— Ben Terris (@bterris) February 3, 2015
Last one. Full shot of Aaron Schock's office. http://t.co/PJ1NGekafQ pic.twitter.com/2SjsGQlKhp
— Ben Terris (@bterris) February 3, 2015
By the way this Schock guy is a handsome fellow how come he is not yet married?Oh, well this explains a lot.
They just can't help telegraphing their desire to return to the gilded age.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Koch Brothers are pretty much the epitome of the Robber Barons, so it makes sense.
DeleteRepublican politicians seem to love hollywood style even when they think it's all full of liberal elitists.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.people.com/article/sarah-palin-appear-SNL-anniversary-broadcast
calling Barney Frank.
ReplyDeleteCalling Rush Limbaugh. Although it is much more subtle than Rushbo's NY apartment he was trying to sell.
DeleteBarney Frank admits that he's gay, this guy seems to be pretty deep in the closet.
Delete2:05, maybe if we are lucky he will go so deep in his closet he'll end up in Narnia and forget where the return is.
DeleteI wonder what Ms. Lindsey's abode looks like? Maybe like Rush's, all baby blue and gold filigree?
DeleteLol, didn't Sarah re-decorate the mayor's office without authorization into a bordello complete with red velvet-flocked wallpaper?
ReplyDeletePalin will be appearing on SNL. Again. Yep, she's hard up.
http://www.people.com/article/sarah-palin-appear-SNL-anniversary-broadcast?xid=rss-topheadlines&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
CPAC has also announced she'll be there. What on earth does it take to get RID of this bitch?
DeleteCPAC and SNL are comedy shows. She has lost any respect she might still have had among the wingnuts. They've all admitted that her speeches have been recycled garbage for years.
DeleteShe doesn't have anything else to offer besides the same old non-sense and stunts for publicity. The serious politicians are trying to avoid infamy, Psycho Sarah courts it.
Fuck Palin. She's a sideshow at this point so everyone wants her to show up just to do something stupid.
DeleteI feel dense having to post this, but I truly am curious. Someone mentioned in the thread about the Norse temple that Andrew Sullivan had posted a teaser about Sarah. I clicked the link which led to a music video from '87 (Never Gonna Give You Up). I don't get it. (Be kind, IMer's. It's a cold day here in Wasilla, like -2 this morning. My brain feels frozen).
ReplyDeleteIs Sully just having fun with 72 hours left of the Dish? It's a joke that SP will never give up the truth about Trig and the Magical Birth Story? Or it's that the Palinite Rubes will never give up their obsession about her? Or both? Or neither?
Maybe I just got too excited to think there was finally a crack in her fantastical tale ~
Sounds like you were Rick Rolled.
Deletefrom the dish site
DeleteCaptain Ahab Strikes Gold At Last?
FEB 4 2015 @ 12:34PM
The timing couldn’t be more perfect (or frustrating): a new, fascinating factoid shedding light on Sarah Palin’s fantasies.
But the link was just a music video
I put up a poster in my cubicle once. It covered a stain on the partition.
ReplyDeleteIf I had money to blow on things like this Downton office, I'd still skip the feathers because the dust collection is really disgusting (unless I also had money to blow on servants).
You beat me to it! Who's going to keep this place dusted?
DeleteUnnamed upstairs maid. Daisy & Mrs. Patmore are too busy in the kitchen, & it's not Mrs. Hughes job. Although Mosely will be happy this task isn't his. The underbutler Thomas might be willing though.
DeleteNo Thomas is taking drugs to cure him from "teh gay" so he won' be of any help.
DeleteHaving already seen all of Series 5, let's just say Thomas' attempts are about as effective as modern ones. Aaron's not as cute as Jimmy, but at least he would probably be more responsive.
Deleteschock = closet tail-gunner
DeleteMaybe the feathers were a gift from Ms. Lindsey. or even Mitch McConnell??
DeleteIt's hard to believe someone would be fiscally conservative with public money when they are so blatantly fiscally irresponsible with their own.
DeleteHow much do you wanna bet this guys has this office redecorated to a stark manly cave once these photos hit the internet? So...more money wasted on decorating.
Aside from a lamp, a desk, a few chairs and a waste basket, what do you need?
EXCLUSIVE – Koch Brothers, Rick Scott And Jeb Bush Exposed In Florida Scandal
ReplyDeletehttp://samuel-warde.com/2015/02/exclusive-koch-brothers-rick-scott-jeb-bush-exposed-florida-pipeline-scandal/
He may love Downton Abbey, but he voted against public funding for PBS and NPR.
ReplyDeleteDownton Abbey is not produced by PBS, they just air it. The production moneys come from private British production companies. If you are trying to point out irony, swing and a miss bud.
DeleteNot a miss at all, 2:46. As you point out, PBS is the one broadcasting it in the US.
DeleteWell Liz, it could be watched on any channel willing to air it, or watched on dvd or netflix etc... Even a bigger swing and a miss for you Liz. Biggest swing and a miss ever Liz.
Deletehttp://americablog.com/2014/01/7-gayest-aaron-schock-instagram-posts-2013.html
ReplyDeleteHilarious. Seriously any guy that cares about decorating an office (at all), much less as themed and extravagant as this- it has to be at least a 99.95% chance that he is a super homo.
ReplyDeleteNothing wrong with that. The problem is his denying it while hypocritically denying marriage rights for his gay brethren. He should know it's okay to come out.
DeleteYes thanks 1:38, Captain Obvious.
DeleteThat is what this whole post is about. Derrr.
He may deny being gay, but he sure got a double dose of the decorating gene.
Delete1:52, you're welcome. Need anything else pointed out?
DeleteCaptain Obvious
While its sad enough that Republican men of Lindsey Graham and Larry Craig's generation may well stay in the closet to the end of their days, Aaron Schock is an even more sad example. Whether he wants to be or not, he's a cautionary tale for Millennials how little the GOP is prepared to budge acknowledging the humanity and equality of gay people.
DeleteWith his good looks, Schock may believe he needs no one's pity. He'd be wrong.
I think he needs to drop that boyfriend. His taste his terrible.
ReplyDeleteLike the saying goes: Some people are work horses. Some people are show horses. Mr. Schock most definitely falls into the latter category. It appears that he overreached a bit with this flamboyant display.
ReplyDeleteA Fan From Chicago
Chicago, do you hear much about him in your news up there? He represents the capital, Springfield?
DeleteWhy is Aaron Schock so defensive about his beautiful office?
ReplyDelete...But despite the fact that she did do this for free, his office was totally ungrateful, begrudging her the opportunity to show off her work and get more work from it, though I suspect that’s exactly why interior decorators would donate their time this way.
Then, my phone rang.
It was Schock’s communications director, Benjamin Cole.
“Are you taking pictures of the office?” he asked. “Who told you you could do that? . . . Okay, stay where you are. You’ve created a bit of a crisis in the office.”
A staff member then came and asked me to please delete the photos from my phone. So started a day of back-and-forths with a congressman’s office about interior design.
Cole complained that this was a “gossipy piece” and tried to shut it down. He even tried to deny that Schock is a fan of Downton Abbey. For a comms director, Cole is not the brightest bulb, it appears, because the quickest way to pique a journalist’s interest in something is to try to hide it from them or bully them into keeping your dirty little secret. You’d think that lesson would be learned after a Maryland Republican county council member Kirby Delauter thought, wrongly, that he could forbid a journalist from using his name in an article that is critical of him. The result was that his name—and the criticisms—got spread far and wide, because journalists really don’t like it when you suggest that they should see themselves more as non-paid P.R. agents for you instead of, you know, journalists.
Long story short: If you don’t want a journalist to think something is a big deal, start by acting like it’s not a big deal. If Schock’s office had approached this like it’s no big deal, this story would have been in the Washington Post style section and would have mostly been forgotten. Now it’s going viral. They wanted to shut this down, I suspect, to shut down speculation about what’s going on with Schock. But now that speculation is going into overdrive.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2015/02/why-is-aaron-schock-so-defensive-about-his-beautiful-office/
They over reacted and badly.
DeleteWould have been a simple fix.
"No, the senator is not a fan of Downton Abbey that I know of, but the decorator is. She donated her services, was given free rein to do as she pleased and was given a budget, which she stuck to. The senator is not sure how he likes the look but says he will give it a chance. Next question."
That's how it should have been handled.
Benjamin Cole resigned today. Allegedly over some racist Facebook posts and tweets dating from October 2013.
DeleteYeah. Right. Sure. We believe you.
That office is bad ass! I want one like it.
ReplyDeleteLMAO !!
Deletefer sure ..
I think his decorator—a woman—is terrific. The office is reverential but fresh.
Delete(But Schock still committed an ethics violation if he accepted her services for free.)
It's FABulous!!!!!
DeleteYou can pick up the paint and trim at Home Depot. Check thrift stores for the other stuff. A little weekend warrior work and your place will look like the Senator's office. (But not like Downton Abbey.)
DeleteBe sure to match that correct shade of brothel red.
You even want that hideous eagle coffee table? The rest isn't too bad, except for the shade of red and there being way too much, but that coffee table is gag worthy. Rivals the wagon wheel coffee table in When Harry Met Sally.
Delete"Fiscally conservative" Congress, Rep. Aaron Schock (R-IL) who spent taxpayer's money to frivolously decorate his office so what's new?
ReplyDeleteWe had a fiscally conservative mayor who frivolously decorated her Wasilla mayor's office and she loved the bordello decor.
Palingates:
Fiscally Conservative Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin hired a city manager at $50,000 a year to do her job. Sarah also decorated her office twice at $50,000 a pop, and left Wasilla $22 million in debt.
We can't assume from the descriptions given that Shock used any taxpayers' money to decorate. What it appears he DID do—and this is improper—is accept free decorating services. Those red velvet settees may bite him in the butt.
DeleteI've heard he's into that.
DeleteAll I know is that guy has great taste. Love the furniture, colors, and accessories.
ReplyDeleteIf they force him to resign, he should be an interior decorator.
You even like that hideous eagle coffee table?
DeleteGag me.
I could do without all the feathers too. Wonder if they hunt pheasant in Illinois and those are from birds personally killed by the Senator.
The rooms at Downton Abbey are much more tastefully done than that idiot's office. He had an interior decorator?
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Yeah, he did. Some woman did it for him, but he's in trouble for that because although she donated her services, congress members aren't allowed to accept gives (including gifted services) for more than 50 bucks. Her work redecorating all that comes in way more than 50 bucks, so he's in trouble now.
DeleteM from MD
He SO deserves to have some ethics committee discinpline the H--- out of him, he should change his name to Spencers Cock..
ReplyDeleteRick Snyder: Michigan To Recognize 300 Gay Marriages From 2014
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/02/04/gay-marriage-michigan_n_6615410.html
‘I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.’”
ReplyDeleteSarah Palin’s wasteful ways
She poses as a fiscal watchdog, but when Palin was mayor, she grabbed city funds to give her office a pricey "bordello" makeover.
Sarah Palin has been touting herself as fiscal watchdog throughout her political career. But Palin’s tenure as mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, was characterized by waste, cronyism and incompetence, according to government officials in the Matanuska Valley, where she began her fairy-tale political rise.
Four years later, the ambitious Palin won the Wasilla mayor’s office — after scorching the “tax and spend mentality” of her incumbent opponent. But Carney, Palin’s estranged former mentor, and others in city hall were astounded when they found out about a lavish expenditure of Palin’s own after her 1996 election. According to Carney, the newly elected mayor spent more than $50,000 in city funds to redecorate her office, without the council’s authorization.
“I thought it was an outrageous expense, especially for someone who had run as a budget cutter,” said Carney. “It was also illegal, because Sarah had not received the council’s approval.”
According to Carney, Palin’s office makeover included flocked, red wallpaper. “It looked like a bordello.”
Although Carney says he no longer has documentation of the expenditures, in his recollection Palin paid for the office face-lift with money from a city highway fund that was used to plow snow, grade roads and fill potholes — essential municipal services, particularly in weather-battered Alaska.
Carney confronted Mayor Palin at a City Council hearing, and was shocked by her response.
“I braced her about it,” he said. “I told her it was against the law to make such a large expenditure without the council taking a vote. She said, ‘I’m the mayor, I can do whatever I want until the courts tell me I can’t.’”
“I’ll never forget it — it’s one of the few times in my life I’ve been speechless,” Carney added. “It would have been easier for her to finesse it. She had the votes on the council by then, she controlled it. But she just pushed forward. That’s Sarah. She just has no respect for rules and regulations."
http://www.salon.com/2008/09/17/palin_mayor/
Todd needed a bordello to run his whore operation out of so Sarah decorated her office like a whorehouse so that Todd could use it after hours.
DeleteOther than being a challenge to cover for the next inhabitant, the red paint is dramatic, not terribly expensive, a good backdrop for the photos. Pheasant feathers are free if you know a bird hunter. 10 gallons of Federal Red, and you are ready for Christmas, New Year's, Valentine's Day and Fourth of July. Brilliant decorating. I don't see any great expense here. More gilt than guilt. Voting record is another matter.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he painted it himself,including the gold lining,and that the furniture and bric-a-brac was just some old junk he found in a closet.Have you priced the work of a painter in the DC area? I think you would be very surprised.You might also want to price the work of the decorator.The upholstery likely was not red to begin with as well on those antiques(price those in DC?) and that work will set you back a pretty penny.
DeleteI really like how some of the paintings are just surrounded by the frame rather than attached. Easily copied with some odd thrift store frames painted antique gold. Poor decorator--she's the one who is genuinely going to catch hell.
Delete“She rewards friends and cuts everyone else off at the knees.”
ReplyDeleteWhen Palin ran for mayor, she dismissed concerns about her lack of managerial expertise by saying the job was “not rocket science.”
But after a tumultuous start, marked by controversial firings and lawsuits against the city, Palin felt compelled to hire a city manager named John Cramer to steady the ship.
“Sarah was unprepared to be mayor — it was John Cramer who actually ran the city,” said Michelle Church, a member of the Mat-Su Borough Assembly, who knows Palin socially.
“As vice-president she’ll certainly have to rely on faceless advisors with no public accountability. Haven’t we had enough of that in the past eight years?”
http://www.salon.com/2008/09/17/palin_mayor/
Please use OT:
DeleteGryphen I love you, but really, why the innuendo that this guy is a Gay? He may be a total duche bag, but his sexuality has nothing to do with this.
ReplyDelete2:07-click on the link Gryph provided at the end
DeleteIf he wanted a deep rich color without confirming speculation, he could have gone with federal blue. That would be quite appropriate for a government office. However, any guy who pairs a turquoise belt with a pink plaid shirt doesn't have innate discretion.
ReplyDeleteI love the red walls with white and gold trim. Elegant. The accessories bother me.
BLACK candles??? Does his coven meet there?
Prints of paintings scrambled with mismatched frames doesn't say "coloring outside the lines" so much as "look what I found at the flea market at 10 for a buck!"
Wall-to-wall carpet screams "middle class". Breaking it up with area rugs would help. A lot. And they could tie the red/black/brown seating together. (Maybe.)
What I truly wonder about is the statement that he hadn't seen his office yet. Congress started a month ago. Where has he been?
Panache and hypocrisy ... in red.
ReplyDeleteOh good god. I don't care if he paid for this himself - It looks ridiculous!! I am not saying it is in bad taste, but He is a member of congress-not the British Aristocracy! He should be investigated for hubris, immaturity, stuipidy. Maybe he and Lindsey Graham could share offices...and closets.
ReplyDeleteLet me guess.
DeleteThis guy is a freshman senator?
Any chance also a 'bagger? I mean...politically.
Could there be any better definition of a douchebag?
ReplyDeleteThis link is also important:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2015/02/03/schock-renovations-downton-abbey/22814807/
Apparently he has a history of spending close to $100,000/year of TAXPAYER MONEY on feathering his nest (real feathers, also, too) from a fund that also covers staff and travel and such needed to conduct business. His priorities are wrong.
WTF?
ReplyDeleteAnd on top of that she brought in a city manager to actually run the city day to day. So what executive experience did she have as mayor?”
“After all her boasting about her executive experience, what did she do?” asks a longtime borough official, who, like many in local circles, requested anonymity because of Palin’s reputation for vengeance.
“The borough takes care of most of the planning, the fire, the ambulance, collecting the property taxes. And on top of that she brought in a city manager to actually run the city day to day. So what executive experience did she have as mayor?”
-Salon
MAYOR SARAH PALIN WTF DID YOU DO?
The reason I watch Downton is the beautiful costuming and the gorgeous colors in HD. Trust me, there is never anything even close to this absolutely hideous decorating.
ReplyDeleteEgad!! Another conservative who is awaiting the countdown to his being caught in the embrace of a 190 lb cabana boy or showing up to functions with his best pal from prep school. These republican queens just fuckin kill me, they really do.
ReplyDeleteGryph, I think the title on this piece is misleading. By going back to the source article, it says that Congressmen/women have basic furniture provided, and all the accoutrements are paid for by the individual. Schock's decorating decisions are definitely very Marie Antoinette and should be ridiculed. The problem is that they were not paid for by the taxpayers.
ReplyDeleteHe is not supposed to accept gifts which this is.
DeleteWell, to be fair, it's the decorator who is a fan of Downton Abbey. That's clear.
ReplyDeleteAt least the pictures are "murican". But I don't get the frameless and pictures hung in frames that wrong size and shape. This a new trend in decorating? Whatever.
I think it's way too much red and as happens when "muricans" try to imitate the British, it just comes off as desperate and borderline tasteless.
Do you really want us to spell out why this handsome young Republican is still unmarried? Really?
Is gay marriage illegal in Illinois?
Benjamin Cole got fired today over racially based slurs he made in 2013. WTF? Anyone think it has everything to do with Abbeygate?
ReplyDeletethinkprogress.org/politics/2015/02/05/3619395/aaron-schock-communications-racist/
Apparently the journalist saw the office before the Senator did. Still Cole did handle it badly. I suspect his firing is not coincidental and has nothing to do with Facebook posts dating back to Oct. 2013.
www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hes-got-a-downton-abbey-inspired-office-but-rep-aaron-schock-wont-talk-about-it/2015/02/02/1d3f1466-ab1f-11e4-abe8-e1ef60ca26de_story.html