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Senate Hopeful Jim Lamon Rips Capitol Hill
Spending, But His Company Got COVID-19
Relief |
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Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Arizona Republic
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Published 4:50 p.m. MT May 5, 2021 |
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Republican Jim
Lamon, who entered
Arizona's GOP U.S.
Senate race this
week, suggested
Congress was
spending excessively
to deal with the
pandemic’s economic
fallout. |
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In an announcement
video, Lamon
lamented the power
"to spend so much
money, our
grandchildren will
struggle to pay off
the debt" while an
on-screen headline
noted that Congress
has already spent $4
trillion in COVID-19
relief spending.
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But records show his
own company, Depcom
Power, received $2.6
million in relief
last year from the
Paycheck Protection
Program, intended by
Congress to provide
some economic
reprieve for
payroll, rent,
mortgage interest or
utilities. Lamon is
the founder and
chairman of the
Scottsdale-based
solar engineering
and construction
company. |
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The company was
among thousands of
Arizona businesses
that received
federal aid. |
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In a written
statement on
Wednesday evening, a
spokesperson for
Lamon's campaign
said Depcom plans on
paying back the
funds. Under PPP
guidelines,
employers generally
are not required to
repay the money if
they used it on
certain expenses,
such as salaries. |
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In the earlier days
of the pandemic,
amid stay-at-home
orders in an effort
to curb the spread
of the virus,
Depcom's projects
halted, the
spokesperson said. |
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"In lieu of layoffs,
management took a
significant pay cut,
slashed personnel
spending, and
applied for a loan
not knowing how long
the shutdown would
last," Stephen Puetz
said. "Now that the
company has
recovered,
management
proactively approved
and budgeted
repayment of the
loan — which will be
repaid in full over
the next two years. |
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"This proactive
repayment is
extremely rare and
represents Jim and
his company's core
values of putting
America and its
taxpayers first,"
Puetz added. |
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Lamon is the first
Republican to enter
the 2022 Senate
race, where Sen.
Mark Kelly, D-Ariz.,
again faces voters,
this time seeking a
full six-year term.
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The race is expected
to draw more GOP
candidates, and
hundreds of millions
of dollars, in what
will surely test the
potency of
Trump-friendly
figures like Lamon,
in a newly purple
Arizona. |
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Casting himself as a
political outsider
who would take on
the establishment
and the “elites,”
Lamon, 65, of
Paradise Valley,
criticized the
trillions the
federal government
has spent and
approved in response
to the yearlong
pandemic. |
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“Our political and
media elites have a
lot of power — it's
a power to divide us
and distract us,”
his introductory
video said. “To
amplify the angry,
the lies, and
suppress the
reasonable. The
power to spend so
much money, our
grandchildren will
struggle to pay off
the debt.” |
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The video cites
information from a
CNN story published
in February that
said Congress had
approved $4 trillion
in COVID-19 relief
funds. |
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The multiple rounds
of COVID-19 stimulus
funds signed into
law by former
President Donald
Trump and more
recently, President
Joe Biden, have gone
toward direct
stimulus checks to
individuals and
families,
vaccination
programs, health
care centers, state,
local, and tribal
governments,
business programs
and more. |
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Depcom Power Inc.
received $2,660,600
in PPP funds last
year, according to
ProPublica’s
database of federal
aid. The company
employs 1,600
workers across the
nation, according to
its website. |
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In its application
for the money, the
company said it
intended on spending
the money on
payroll. The
application was
approved on May 1,
according to
records. |
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Meanwhile, a
Tucson-based company
Kelly co-founded and
advised until
February 2019, when
he launched his
first Senate
campaign, received
$1,880,176 in PPP
funds last year,
according to
ProPublica’s data.
The company was
approved for
$1,880,176 more in
February. In both
applications, World
View said almost all
of the money would
be spent on payroll.
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Kelly’s 2022
campaign did not
comment on the PPP
funds. A
spokesperson pointed
to the campaign’s
2020 statement that
noted Kelly wasn’t
at the company at
the time of the
first application. |
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Sarah Guggenheimer,
an Arizona
Democratic Party
spokesperson, said
“Lamon’s hypocrisy
reveals precisely
why the GOP’s
opposition” to the
relief funds "is
going to be a major
problem for the
entire primary
field." |
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Polling shows the
American public has
widely supported the
most recent COVID-19
package that
President Joe Biden
and Democrats passed
through Congress
with no GOP support.
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On his campaign
website, Lamon said
Washington “has a
spending problem.
While the American
people balance their
own budgets,
politicians are
using our national
credit card to
burden our children
and grandchildren
with trillions in
debt.” |
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Depcom Power’s use
of government aid is
a reminder of a
debate that unfolded
last year, as
recipient data
revealed
conservatives who
criticized the
program yet took the
money. |
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Citizens Against
Government Waste, an
anti-government
spending
organization, took
at least $150,000 in
loans, according to
Forbes. The
free-market Ayn Rand
Institute received a
loan for up to $1
million, according
to Reuters. |
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The national debt
exceeds $28
trillion, according
to the U.S.
Treasury. If
elected, Lamon would
support getting rid
of “non-essential
agencies” and oppose
new taxes, his
website said. |
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