The Texas Political Orgs That Took PPP Money
The Texas Political Orgs That Took PPP Money
A lot of these loans were forgiven. That means you paid for it.
The COVID scam of 2020 - (?) left a lot of businesses in the red when our state decided to shut down.
Some business owners fought against the Texas shutdown mandates. One of the most notorious cases was of Shelley Luther who literally went to jail for keeping her business open.
Many businesses, especially small ones, were hurt drastically by the Texas shutdown.
To ease this self-inflicted economic disaster, the government launched something called the Paycheck Protection Program. This allowed businesses to apply for a loan that would cover payroll, hire back laid-off employees, or cover applicable overhead. These loans were often “forgiven” if they met the following criteria:
Employee and compensation levels are maintained,
The loan proceeds are spent on payroll costs and other eligible expenses, and
At least 60% of the proceeds are spent on payroll costs.
Many organizations took advantage of this program. While we’re not saying the following list of organizations, businesses, and consultants are involved in PPP fraud, we do think it’s interesting to look at who all took advantage of this program and got their loans forgiven.
LEFTIST MEDIA ORGS
TROUBLEMAKER STUDIOS - ROBERT RODRIGUEZ
Troublemaker Studios is an Austin-based film production company owned by Democrat mega-donor Robert Rodriguez. They’ve made real box-office hits such as Ugly Dolls which got a whopping 28% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Troublemaker Studios took in 3 different PPP loans that were all forgiven for a total of $251,578.
$108,792- issued 5-1-2020 as a “Book Publisher”
FORGIVEN
$33,994 - issued 5-1-2020 as an “Unknown Industry”
FORGIVEN
$108,792 - issued 1/27/2021 as a “Motion Picture and Television Production”
FORGIVEN
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $251,578.
Maybe Rodriguez could save some money by not giving so much cash to Democrats.
AUSTIN FILM SOCIETY
The Austin Film Society is a taxpayer-subsidized leftist whatever org that does gay movies or something.
Anyway, not only do you subsidize them with your tax dollars but they rent their “studio” to the city of Austin which then turns around and subleases it to others at market rate. Total scam. Many people are aware of this.
Austin Film Society took 2 PPP loans totaling $927,008.
$463,500- Issued 4-13-2020 as an "Other similar organizations (except Business, Professional, Labor, and Political Organization)"
FORGIVEN 7-27-2021
$463,508 - Issued 3-28-2021
Still outstanding.
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $463,500. An additional $463,508 may be forgiven.
THE TEXAS TRIBUNE
The left-leaning Texas Tribune requires no explanation but Matt Schafer conveniently reminded us that The Texas Tribune took 2.5 MILLION dollars from leftist robot Mark Zuckerberg.
So how much taxpayer money did the Tribune get?
The Texas Tribune took 1 PPP loan for a total of $1,116,626.
$1,116,626- Issued 4-12-2020 as a “news syndicate”
FORGIVEN
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $1,116,626.
Maybe they should give that Zuckerberg money back to taxpayers.
THE AUSTIN CHRONICLE
The fart-left propaganda shit-rag for Austin took in over 1 MILLION dollars in PPP loans.
$505,268 - Issued 5-1-2020 as a “Newspaper Publisher”
Loan still outstanding
$505,267 - Issued 5-21-2021 as a “Telecommunications Company”
Loan still outstanding
Total taxpayer dollars outstanding: $1,010,535
REPUBLICAN CONSULTANT GROUPS AND ORGS
According to an article by Politico:
Firms that derive more than 50 percent of their revenue from lobbying or political work are barred from receiving the loans — which can be forgiven if companies meet certain benchmarks — under the agency’s rules. The American Association of Political Consultants unsuccessfully sued to overturn the prohibition earlier this year.”
The Legal Information Institute also cites that businesses primarily engaged in political activities are supposed to be ineligible for these loans.
JORDAN BERRY COMMUNICATIONS
If you want to win in Texas politics, you likely hire Jordan Berry to run your campaign. Berry is very good at what he does. Because of that, he’s very successful and very wealthy. He’s made well over a million dollars in his recent consulting work. So why did he take out a PPP loan for $20,833?
$20,833 - Issued 4-29-2020 as a “Public Relations Agency”
Loan still outstanding
Total taxpayer dollars outstanding: $20,833.
Maybe he can sell that boat he’s got and give taxpayers their money back. We heard he bought it right after COVID started. Oh and a new grill.
MURPHY NASICA & ASSOCIATES
The political establishment’s consultant of choice. Anyone with a triple-digit IQ knows that political work didn’t slow down during COVID. If anything, politics got more heated. So business was booming if you were a consultant. So why did Murphy Nasica take out a PPP loan for $195,700?
$195,700 - Issued 4/13/2020 as “Other Management Consulting Services.
FORGIVEN - 2/10/2021
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $195,700
RACONTEUR MEDIA COMPANY
A political marketing group with no more than 10 employees on staff. With the political business booming during COVID, they took out a fat PPP loan of $109,749.
$109,749 - Issued 3/16/2021 as “Business to Business Electronic Markets”
Loan still outstanding
Total taxpayer dollars outstanding: $109,749
BLAKEMORE & ASSOCIATES - Allen Blakemore
Another under-10-employee firm with a strong political portfolio. They took out a huge PPP loan for a total of $161,256.
$73,800 - Issued 4/13/2020 as “Public Relations Agencies”
FORGIVEN
$87,456 - Issued 1/29/2021 as “Public Relations Agencies”
FORGIVEN
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $161,256
POTOMAC STRATEGY GROUP
A successful political consulting firm. They took out a solid $29,000 PPP loan.
$29,000 - Issued 4/13/2020 as “Other Management Consulting Services”
FORGIVEN
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $29,000
NORWAY HILL ASSOCIATES
Greg Abbott’s consultant of choice. A very profitable and successful company. But that free taxpayer money is too tempting. They took a cool $53,000 of your taxpayer dollars.
$53,000 - Issued 4/14/2020 as “Public Relations Agency”
FORGIVEN
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $53,000
TEXAS VALUES
The only ones on this list to fully repay their PPP loan so big props to them. Texas Values took out a whopping $87,600 but paid it back.
$87,600 - Issued 4/14/2020 as “Civic and Social Organization”
FULLY REPAID
Total taxpayer dollars taken: $0. They paid their loan back.
We’re sure there are many more to cover but these are some of the bigger, more hypocritical orgs. Especially when we see messaging from their clients about not forgiving student loans. A real laugh when these guys essentially took taxpayer dollars for free.
Do you know who doesn’t gank taxpayer dollars?
Current Revolt.
It's even worse than you think....
Go to this link: https://www.federalpay.org/paycheck-protection-program
Select "TX" in the State field
Type "Religious Organizations" in the Industry field and click search
You will be shocked and dismayed at how many "bible-believing" churches took 7 figures from the Feds. Is it any wonder that it was churches who pushed Covid Safety theater, preached social justice theology and stayed closed for months on end in 2020? So many were indebted to the Feds. Maybe we can extend some grace for April 2020, when so much was unknown. But, so many took so much money and went so long without paying it off. "By their fruits you will know them" indeed!