WASHINGTON, Feb. 4 (UPI) -- Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Ill., has redecorated his new office in the style of the show Downton Abbey and possibly violated ethics rules to do it.
Schock's outer office now has bright red walls and gold sconces with black candles.
"It's actually based off of the red room in 'Downton Abbey,'" the woman at the front desk told the Washington Post.
Downton Abbey is the British period drama that plays on PBS.
Schock's communications director was not pleased the Washington Post was covering the new office renovation. Benjamin Cole called it a "crisis in the office" and "not fun" for him. That probably is because the congressman could be seen as frivolously spending taxpayer dollars or allegedly accepting a gift that would violate House ethics rules.
Each congressional office gets a set budget to take care of all office expenses. What is left of that budget is returned to the treasury.
The decorator, Annie Brahler, owns a design company in Illinois and says she decorated the office free of charge. While that means taxpayer funds may have been spared, it was all the instigation the left-leaning group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington needed to file an ethics complaint, citing the office as an improper gift, reported USA Today.
