By Dave Dahl

Tonight might be the best night’s sleep Aaron Schock has had in the last four years.

“I’m looking forward to having this weight off my chest and not having it be the first thing I think about every morning and the last thing I think about before I go to bed,” Schock told reporters in Chicago after reaching a “deferred prosecution agreement.”

The federal government will drop corruption charges if Schock – a former state and U.S. representative – makes $110,000 restitution. $42,000 is for the IRS, the rest for his campaign fund.

Schock says ambitious prosecutors targeted him in accusing him of bilking taxpayers and raiding his campaign coffers to fund a lavish lifestyle that included a “Downton Abbey”-themed office and a private jet to a Chicago Bears game.

A former colleague, State Sen. Dave Koehler (D-Peoria), wonders why the Schock case seemed like a big deal when he was accused but went out with a whimper now. Koehler also wonders why former Gov. Rod Blagojevich and former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., were sentenced to prison.

Koehler says Schock may have crossed the line between public service and celebrity. “It seemed to me the initial parts of the case … (indicated Schock was) not in keeping with the kind of representation we’re used to (in Peoria),” Koehler said.

“This is the position that Bob Michel had. That Ray LaHood had.”

Neither of whom have been photographed with Ariana Grande.

A spokesman for Schock’s successor in Washington, U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Dunlap), provided a written statement:

“I heard the news that Aaron came to an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice to reduce felony charges against him. This has been a long, expensive legal process for Aaron and this misdemeanor plea will allow him to move on with his life, I wish him well.”