A few months back I discovered that Paul Hodes had received a one time $10,000.00 donation from American Crystal Sugar (A major US Sugar conglomerate), at about the same time as the 288 billion dollar 2007/2008 Farm bill was being pushed through congress, and vetoes overrode. US Sugar is a protected industry with a good amount of political influence. American Crystal Sugar wanted to get into the ethanol industry but could not justify the up front costs. Hodes and the farm billed solved that problem with your money.
Here’s the original piece I wrote on the relationship.
THURSDAY, JUNE 24, 2010
Paul Hodes has a dirty little secret. His ‘commitment’ to green energy has strings attached that lead directly to the sugar industry and a significant campaign cash “Thank You.”
Back in 2007 and 2008 Congress waged an epic battle over the Farm Bill. They didn’t call it the farm bill they called it the Food Nutrition and Bio-Energy Act. What it was (or became) was a 288 billion dollar sop to the agriculture industry with a focus on approving billions into ethanol subsidies for the farm belt before the 2008 elections.
To muddy up the real purpose the democrat majority in congress tossed in money for food stamps and school lunches so that any effort to kill it could be spun as evil Republicans starving the poor and denying underprivileged students a hot nutritious lunch. When some republicans balked, the left jumped. And when George Bush, who was still friendly to the idea of ethanol mandates, vetoed both the bill (HR 2419) and the supplement that added in some items left out of the original (HR 6124) the democrat majority House overturned both vetoes. (Both henceforth to be referred to simply as the “farm bill”)
So Paul Hodes not only voted for the hand outs, he voted for them four times: twice to pass the original bills and twice to overturn the vetoes. Does that show commitment? I think it does.
I was watching the online web cast of Hillsdale College’s commemoration of the Kirby Center (on Constitution Day) in Washington DC, and Dr. Charles Kessler of Claremont McKenna College. Dr. Kessler is a constitutional scholar and early on in his speech he makes the following observation about the current clash between the government and the people, and the rise of the Tea Party
The economic relationship between government, the private sector, and the people, has been the object of much debate as democrats try to convince people that spending trillions we don’t have has some kind of payoff at the other end. The fact that we can’t see that "end" and none of their predictions have come true fuels the fires of the opposition while encouraging proponents to claim we just need to wait a bit longer–or spend a few trillion more.
Paul Hodes is trying to restyle himself as a fiscal conservative. As a Washington outsider. But Washington outsiders don’t get huge campaign donations from the left wings senatorial elite Like Dan Inoyue, Harry Reid, Chuck Schumer and Bob Menendez. Paul Hodes does.
Under the direction of the disclosure-challenged Pat Hynes Sean Mahoney has surrounded himself with a group of advertising and political consultants who all share a common thread. They were all at some point (or still are) part of American’s for Job Security (AJS) and are connected to Mahoney and his Potemkin campaign.
Democrats like to make up rules for Republicans which I then do my best to apply to democrats. In this example we have a donor to Carol Shea Porter who has been up to some questionable behavior. If Carol doe snot denounce it she is complicit in it. So pay attention. 
Being as concerned as they are about ethics and corruption (over at the offices of the New Hampshire Democrat Party) you’d think Paul ‘Jersey’ Hodes would have refused that $10,000.00 campaign contribution from Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ).