Gas station secured small business bailout money, then paid for big expensive Trump billboards

[Demovictory9]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/28/politics/trump-billboards-ppp-loan-invs/index.html





CNN)The billboards began popping up along a desert stretch of highway in Arizona and California in early August — plastered with "Make America Great Again!" in large capital letters or an image of President Donald Trump looking up to the sky and giving a big thumbs up.

The small company that funded the large billboards had just months earlier received a large cash infusion backed by the same administration now being celebrated, public records show.

Jones 1 Inc. was approved for a loan of between $150,000 and $350,000 at the end of April through the federal government's Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which was set up to help struggling small businesses save jobs during the pandemic.

The company, which owns a small Shell gas station and travel center in Needles, California, went on to lease "six beautiful Trump billboards" near the border of California and Arizona, which a local group of Lake Havasu Republicans heralded — thanking "a generous Trump supporter."

Six political billboards could cost anywhere from around $10,000 for four weeks to nearly $30,000 depending on the location, according to average price estimates provided by Lamar Advertising, which leased the space to Jones 1 Inc. It declined to provide the pricing of the specific billboards. But if they stay up through the election, which the local Republican group that inspired the billboards said is the plan, the costs could range from around $30,000 to around $120,000.

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Whether or not the money Jones 1 Inc. received through the Small Business Administration loan program was directly used to pay for the Trump billboards, business ethics professors and legal experts said non-essential spending like this violates the spirit of the program, which was meant for small businesses that desperately needed the assistance to keep paying workers

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"If you have enough capital to spend it on billboards, maybe you shouldn't have been one of the companies to receive this loan," said Liz Hempowicz, director of public policy at the Project On Government Oversight (POGO), a nonprofit watchdog group. "The responsibility really rested with the SBA and the administration to make sure they were spending these taxpayer dollars in a way that Congress intended."

[Cha]

1. Crooked Gassy Station: "Keep America FUCKED UP.. Vote

for the ASSHOLE"

Fixed it.

[Demovictory9]

2. !!!

[Cha]

3. lol So many fires to put out..

so little time!

[NanceGreggs]

4. "Sure I'll give you some PPP funds ...

... but I'd like you to do us a favour, though ..."

The quid-pro-quo is beyond obvious.

[NBachers]

5. I feel bilious