McDonough County Voice - Of GOP Victories, Schock: "I'm Only as Good as My Team'

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By Jackie Smith

At the coattails of Republican victories at virtually every level of government, U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock's remarks echoed similarly to those in winning races late into the evening Tuesday.

Now thrice re-elected, the 33-year-old congressman said the experience had been humbling in both his remarks at his victory party in East Peoria and during an interview with The Voice about four hours after the polls closed.

Just hours before Schock's opponent, "conservative Democrat" and Danvers native Darrel Miller, admitted that though he lost by a large 182,696-61,652 margin across the 18th Congressional District, he'd personally enjoyed bringing "relevant issues" to the "public square" for discussion.

"For instance, I don't think any candidate has as much to say about strengthening social security or the farm program as I do," Miller said, in reference to what'd been his campaign push for common-ground solutions to end the Washington gridlock.

But it's big issues items -- those that so often over the last term lead to partisan disagreement -- that Schock said he now has his eye on, adding some instances in the last two years have been "extremely frustrating."

"Next year my hope is that those 300 bills that got bipartisan votes," he said, "will get to the president's desk for approval."

Other areas such as tax reform, Schock said, warrant keener eyes and consideration to help evade businesses like Walgreens relocating headquarters outside of Illinois because of high rates and assuage general proprietors' fear of Internal Revenue Service audits for how complicated complying with the system has become.

Achieving these ideals, the re-elected congressman said, will take more unity on the Hill -- something he added the mass GOP victories witnessed nationwide should help accomplish.

Indeed, Schock spent a great deal of his pre-election time traveling between districts, lending a hand to the campaigns of colleagues on his side of the aisle. Referring to the entire House GOP, he concluded: "I'm only as good as my team."

"My team gets stronger," he said, "and my ability to be more effective for my district gets stronger."

Schock confirmed Tuesday night his last visit to Macomb had been the Oct. 25 Western Illinois University football game against Northern Iowa.

Of the roughly 200 towns within his district, he said "communication is key" between himself and local-level officials. He pointed to what he called "great relationship" between Macomb Mayor Mike Inman and state Rep. Norine Hammond, R-Macomb.

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