Illinois congressman Aaron Schock now faces a possible ethics investigation over his newly-decorated office on Capitol Hill. NBC Chicago’s political reporter Mary Ann Ahern reports. (Published Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2015) 
 
 Washington watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics filed an ethics complaint Tuesday to investigate Rep. Aaron Schock after it was found the Illinois congressman may have used campaign funding to decorate his congressional offices. 
 
 Rep. Schock just recently redesigned his Capitol Hill congressional office with bright red walls and luxurious finishes such as a crystal chandelier and gold sconces, the Washington Post reported. 
 
 The lavish look was inspired by the PBS hit show “Downton Abbey,” Schock’s decorator told the Washington Post. 
 
 Anne Brahler, a downstate Illinois interior decorator, told the publication she was not paid for her services, and this was not the first time she designed Schock’s congressional office. 
 
 Accepting “gifts”, which are defined by the House as any item or service having monetary value, is something that is strictly prohibited by law. 
 
 “Perhaps it’s not totally surprising that the same congressman who spent campaign money on P90X workout DVDs wanted to create a more picturesque setting in which to be photographed, but the rules clearly require him to pay for those renovations himself,” CREW’s executive director Anne Weismann said in a statement. “Again and again, Rep. Schock’s seeming obsession with his image impedes his ability to conduct himself in ethical manner.” 
 
 What makes the office’s “Downton Abbey” theme even more interesting is Congressman Schock repeatedly voted to end federal funding for PBS. His spokesman has told reporters he is not a “Downton Abbey” fan. 
 
 Rep. Schock could not immediately be reached for comment. ||||| 
 
 Rep. Aaron Schock’s (R-Ill.) new office in the Rayburn Office Building, which was designed to resemble the dining room of the PBS show “Downton Abbey.” (Ben Terris/TWP) 
 
 The Rayburn House Office Building is a labyrinth of beige offices. 
 
 And then, there’s . . . Rep. Aaron Schock’s new digs. 
 
 Bright red walls. A gold-colored wall sconce with black candles. A Federal-style bull’s-eye mirror with an eagle perched on top. And this is just the Illinois Republican’s outer office. 
 
 “It’s actually based off of the red room in ‘Downton Abbey,’ ” said the woman behind the front desk, comparing it to the luxurious set piece at the heart of the British period drama. 
 
 [March 17: Schock has resigned; get the latest here.] 
 
 This was a bold room. But the confidence was a mirage. For on Capitol Hill, caution is king when it comes to the micromanagement of one’s image, even in the case of how a congressman decides to decorate his office. 
 
 And sometimes, a friendly outsider can inadvertently ruin a communications director’s day. 
 
 A blond woman popped out of an inner office. “Want to see the rest?” she asked. 
 
 She introduced herself as Annie Brahler, the interior decorator whose company is called Euro Trash. She guided me to Schock’s private office, revealing another dramatic red room. This one with a drippy crystal chandelier, a table propped up by two eagles, a bust of Abraham Lincoln and massive arrangements of pheasant feathers. 
 
 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. 
 
 
 
 Red walls stand out against the beige, eggshell, light blue, light gray or light yellow walls of neighboring offices in the Rayburn House Office Building. (Ben Terris/TWP) 
 
 House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio, right, at the ceremonial swearing-in of Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., left, Jan. 6, 2015 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP) 
 
 Washington has always been more “Veep” than “House of Cards.” 
 
 Schock, 33, is one of the rising stars of the Republican Party. He’s young, has six-pack abs that landed him on the cover of Men’s Health and is a prodigious fundraiser. He’s also one of the most media-savvy members of Congress, with an Instagram feed that features him surfing, hiking across glaciers, tangoing on the streets of Buenos Aires and smiling next to duck-faced pop star Ariana Grande. 
 
 An office decorated in a unique way would hardly be surprising; it would just be another interesting fact about a congressman who has built a brand as not just another politician. So why was this a crisis? 
 
 “You’ve got a member [of Congress] willing to talk to you about other things,” Cole said on the phone. “Why sour it by rushing to write some gossipy piece?” 
 
 The magnitude of this manufactured PR catastrophe seemed to elude Brahler, who lives and operates her business in Illinois. She was happy to discuss her work, saying she didn’t get why the staff acted so “prickly.” 
 
 Brahler met the congressman in his district years ago, and he was impressed with her work, which he had seen in magazines. She likes to say that she can turn things ready for the trash heap into something beautiful. 
 
 
 
 Pheasant feathers on display in Rep. Aaron Schock’s new office. (Ben Terris/TWP) 
 
 A bust of Abraham Lincoln on display in Rep. Aaron Schock’s new office. (Ben Terris/TWP) 
 
 When a member of Congress moves into an office, the bare essentials are provided by the House of Representatives. Furniture and computers are often handed down by other offices. New members are also entitled to a new paint job, although there are only a limited number of available colors — beige, eggshell, light blue, light gray or light yellow — that the House will provide. Additional decorations must come out of the lawmaker’s pocket. 
 
 Brahler offered her services for free, according to Schock’s office, although he had to pay for the objects. She had decorated his old office on the fifth floor of the Cannon House Office Building, one of the least desirable pieces of congressional real estate. While his new office takes a bit of inspiration from “Downton Abbey,” it’s not a replica of what’s seen on the PBS hit. 
 
 “I guess because he’s fresh-minded and forward-thinking, he’s not hung up on doing things the same way as everyone else,” Brahler said. “It’s gotten to where he’s comfortable with everything I do.” 
 
 Except, perhaps, when she gives a tour of his office to a journalist. 
 
 “You see, the congressman hasn’t even seen the office yet,” Cole told me later. “Surely, it wouldn’t be fair for you to write about his office until he has the chance to see it.” 
 
 I told him if I could be there when Schock first saw the office, I would hold off till then. Cole agreed, and we reached the Red Walls Accord of 2015. 
 
 That is, until Schock decided he wasn’t interested in doing a whole story about how his office is decorated. 
 
 “He’s happy to talk to you, just not about the office,” Cole said, sounding very tired of the ordeal. “I’m really sorry and want you to know this is not fun for me.” 
 
 Cole was back in touch later to add one more piece of information relating to Schock and “Downton Abbey”: “I don’t even know if he watches it; I don’t know what shows he watches. But I don’t think he watches much TV.” ||||| Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., speaks outside the state Capitol in Springfield, Ill., on Nov. 3, 2014. (Photo: Seth Perlman, AP) 
 
 Rep. Aaron Schock apparently appreciates a lovely office. 
 
 Schock has spent tens of thousands of dollars from his taxpayer-funded accounts on renovations, leather furniture and even granite countertops, according to congressional expenditure reports. 
 
 The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the Illinois Republican has had his office lavishly redecorated in a bold red theme inspired by the television show Downton Abbey. 
 
 There is no telling how much Schock paid for the renovations of his Capitol Hill suite — the House takes a few months to publicly report current expenses — but in prior years, Schock appears to have spent tens of thousands of dollars on office renovations and furnishings from his taxpayer-funded account. 
 
 Schock's spokesman did not return emails seeking comment or an explanation of the various expenditures, so it is not clear precisely what the expenditures were for. 
 
 In December 2009 he paid $7,400 to an Illinois design/build firm called KBL Design Center, and then another $21,000 to a hardwood floor company, a building contractor and company called Old World Granite and Marble that apparently makes high-end countertops. He then spent $6,600 on an Illinois painting contractor. 
 
 Two months later, Schock spent $79,061 on furniture purchases, including $5,123 from a company called Mulnix Industries that specializes in hardwood podiums. 
 
 Around the same time, Schock spent more than $4,000 with a fine-leather furniture company called Garrett Leather. 
 
 All of the expenditures came out of Schock's taxpayer-funded office account, which lawmakers can use to buy office furniture and pay for renovations.The official handbook for members of Congress says "Ordinary and necessary expenses related to the acquisition of items for use in offices are reimbursable from the applicable office funds." 
 
 Each member of Congress is given a set budget for operating their office each year, including hiring staff and all official travel; any furniture purchases and renovations come out of that budget. Money left over in the office budget at the end of the year can be returned to the treasury. 
 
 The Washington Post story quoted the designer of Schock's Capitol Hill office as saying she provided her design services to Schock for free. That led the liberal group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington to file a complaint Tuesday with the House alleging that Schock may have received an improper gift. 
 
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– Rep. Aaron Schock, an up-and-comer previously best known for baring his six-pack on the cover of Men's Health, has a new claim to fame in the form of his interior decor: It seems the Washington Post's Style reporter Ben Terris popped by the Illinois rep's digs in the Rayburn House Office Building, and ran into Schock's interior decorator, who showed him around. Terris describes the outer office thusly: "Bright red walls. A gold-colored wall sconce with black candles. A Federal-style bull’s-eye mirror with an eagle perched on top." "It's actually based off the red room in Downton Abbey," an aide helpfully told Terris of his outer office. The rest of Terris' piece describes Schock's team trying to squash the story. USA Today took the ball and dug back to 2009 and 2010 and found about $118,000 in office expenditures—including $4,000 on fine-leather furniture and $79,061 on other furniture—that Schock billed to a taxpayer-funded account. Which is turning into kind of an upstairs-downstairs conundrum: While it's not yet clear how much the Downton renovation cost, Schock's interior decorator says she worked for free, thus saving the taxpayer—but prompting CREW to file an ethics complaint claiming that Schock illegally received a gift. "Perhaps it’s not totally surprising that the same congressman who spent campaign money on P90X workout DVDs wanted to create a more picturesque setting in which to be photographed, but the rules clearly require him to pay for those renovations himself," says CREW’s executive director, per NBC Chicago. "Again and again, Rep. Schock’s seeming obsession with his image impedes his ability to conduct himself in ethical manner." The other irony being widely noted: Downton airs on PBS, which Schock has repeatedly voted to de-fund. Schock has yet to comment.