It may be the case that Andy Sanborn applied for COVID relief money for a business that was not eligible for relief and lied on the application in order to get the money. If true, that would be scandalous.
Having received money that he didn’t need, he had more money available for personal desires, such as sports cars. That’s a separate issue, and it is not scandalous at all. It is the kind of thing that well-to-do parents of school-age children do all the time.
For example, we have a woman in Croydon who owns at least five properties. How did she pay for all those? Well, every year, the town pays more than $30,000 in tuition for her children — money she could afford to pay but doesn’t. As a result, every year, she has a pile of extra money to spend on her personal desires.
She spends the money on real estate rather than on sports cars, but the principle is exactly the same: When the government buys something for you, the money you didn’t have to spend — on your employees, on your kids — is yours to do whatever you want with.
Taking money from your fellow citizens under false pretenses? That’s wrong and illegal.
Forcing your fellow citizens to buy something for you that you could afford to buy for yourself? That’s wrong, but legal.
Spending the money freed up by government largess on luxuries? That’s just normal behavior in modern America. One wonders why it’s taking up so much space in news reports on Sanborn’s activities.
Maybe he should have spent the money on real estate instead.
