JEFFERSON CITY — State Treasurer Scott Fitzpatrick launched a campaign for state auditor this week by blasting pandemic spending by liberals pushing a socialist agenda.
But Fitzpatrick, a Republican, didn’t mention more than $1.3 million in pandemic aid his company was approved for, per a tally by ProPublica.
Fitzpatrick’s southern Missouri dock construction company, , was approved for two separate loans totaling more than $1.3 million from the federal Paycheck Protection Program since last April, according to .
Fitzpatrick’s spokesman said Friday the emergency assistance was unlike other proposals Fitzpatrick criticized.
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“The government broke the economy, and MariCorp U.S., like millions of other businesses, was faced with laying off employees with families,†said Steele Shippy, campaign adviser for Fitzpatrick. “There is a clear difference between the socialist proposals coming from liberal politicians and the Trump administration’s Paycheck Protection Program, which received near unanimous support in Congress in order to keep people employed.â€
But Rep. , a St. Louis Democrat who said he supported the PPP, said that as a member of the Missouri House, Fitzpatrick pushed to reduce the time period that laid-off workers may receive jobless benefits.
A plan Fitzpatrick pushed in 2017 stated that when the unemployment rate is less than 6%, the duration of jobless benefits would fall from 20 weeks to 13 weeks.
“He’s perfectly happy to take the money himself when it’s there for him,†Merideth said.
In launching his auditor bid, Fitzpatrick gave his campaign $250,000, according to Missouri Ethics Commission records.
Shippy said “jobs created by MariCorp U.S. support nearly 70 families†and generate “millions of dollars in payroll and tax revenue each year.â€
“To protect the families relying on it for a paycheck, MariCorp accepted the support — as did millions of other businesses including companies in the same industry,†Shippy said. “The company used every dollar of the funding received under the program to pay employees and thankfully has not laid off a single employee during the pandemic, despite the skyrocketing costs of labor and materials.â€
ProPublica data shows MariCorp was approved for a $690,000 loan in April 2020 and won approval for an additional $646,000 loan on April 26.
, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
The first loan was forgiven in November, and the status of the second loan was not disclosed, according to the database.