David Weigel writes in the Washington Post:
Last week, Amy Gardner reported on the Tea Party flak faced by Tennessee congressional candidate Stephen Fincher over the roughly $200,000 per year he receives in federal farm subsidies.
The size of Fincher's subsidies put him in a class of his own, but he's not alone in receiving such subsidies. According to USDA records downloaded by the Environmental Working Group, Indiana State Sen. Marlin Stutzman, who is running for the state's open U.S. Senate seat, received a total of $156,907.54 in subsidies from 1997 to 2006. During the last year for which we have records, he got $13,630 in subsidies.
Stutzman, who co-owns a farm and fully owns a farm trucking company, was elected to Indiana's legislature in 2002 and has built some national support among conservatives looking for another rising star. On his campaign site, Stutzman trumpets the support of RedState's Erick Erickson and some kind words from Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.).
But the subsidies issue has dogged Stutzman as he courts the support of Tea Party activists... >more
