Kemp Supports Loan Forgiveness For Himself, Not For Students

Gov. Kemp’s $38,000 PPP Loan Was Forgiven, But He Opposes Student Loan Forgiveness

Gov. Brian Kemp’s hypocrisy is on full display as he came out this week opposing President Biden’s plan to forgive student loans by up to $20,000 for working and middle class families. Kemp said loan forgiveness is something he fundamentally opposes, but Kemp’s company Specialty Stone LLC received a PPP loan for $38,137, which was forgiven.

“For Brian Kemp, having his own loans forgiven is fine and dandy, but he ‘fundamentally opposes’ student loan forgiveness for working Georgians and middle class families. It’s full-blown, blatant hypocrisy from a governor who also once took out millions in loans from his own bank and paid them back late — and faced no penalties due to his insider deals. If Brian Kemp wants to address the student loan crisis, he should follow Stacey Abrams’ lead in expanding access to the HOPE scholarship and making technical college free so that we can build an educated workforce without millions in debt,” stated Max Flugrath, spokesman for the Democratic Party of Georgia.

Kemp took millions of dollars in loans from First Madison Bank and Trust, where he was a founding board member and stockholder. Kemp’s loans from First Madison Bank and Trust were paid back late, with no consequences.

More from FOX 5 Atlanta: Brian Kemp owes more than $800,000 in insider loans to bank he helped start

• As the financial pain galvanized the country, companies linked to Georgia businessman Brian Kemp’s companies, according to land records and candidate filings, began taking car, property, and real estate development loans totaling more than 2 million dollars, from a community bank in Athens Georgia: First Madison Bank and Trust.

• It was a bank he knew well. Kemp was a founding board member and a stockholder.

• The first loan was for lake land near the South Carolina border.  Kemp is part owner of Shelter Rock which borrowed more than 1.3 million dollars from First Madison Bank in September 2007. The Deed showed the money was to be repaid one year later –  in 2008. 

• But, six years later the bank modified that loan giving Shelter Rock more time. But, when Kemp filed his 2017 financial disclosure, a decade after the original loan, Shelter Rock still owed the bank $675,938.

• The second loan was made in 2008 to Specialty Stone, a company co-owned by Kemp.  Kemp signed the First Madison Bank deed securing the debt. That deed showed the maximum amount the company could borrow on that loan was “Unlimited.”

• Kemp’s financial disclosures reflect Specialty Stone borrowed a total $202,662 in August of 2009. The plan was to pay it all back by 2012. But, Kemp’s latest disclosure shows Specialty Stone still owes First Madison Bank a total of $97,724.

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