In recent weeks, Carolina Journal has followed up several times on a story first reported at the Washington, D.C., news service Politico, noting that JDC Manufacturing, a company co-owned by Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan’s husband Chip received some $390,000 in benefits from the 2009 federal stimulus law: a $250,644 grant to install more efficient lighting and furnaces and place solar panels at its building in Reidsville, and roughly $137,000 in federal tax credits resulting from the solar installation.

The Hagan team has responded — primarily through its attorneys and other paid operatives — by claiming initially that the family and later that JDC never profited from the federal handouts.

This is ludicrous. For starters, all you have to do is consult Mr. Webster. My dog-eared 1997 edition of the Random House Webster’s College Dictionary defines the transitive verb “profit” as “to gain an advantage or benefit.”

And JDC’s owners certainly did that.

The Hagan family could have financed the energy project by investing its own money, seeking outside investors, going into debt, or draining its own bank accounts. While some of those other sources might have played a role in this project, the Hagans also went, hat in hand, to the government, and we paid. It was a benefit.

Would JDC have pursued the project without the handouts? The Hagans haven’t said so, at least not to us. But it matters little now. Our money has been spent.

Moreover, JDC wound up with a more valuable asset: a modern, energy-efficient manufacturing facility that would bring a higher price if sold, and a more inviting location for potential new tenants. And, of course, JDC received $137,000 in tax credits — again resulting from the stimulus grant.

In addition, the purpose of pursuing the grant was to benefit the building’s current tenant: Plastic Revolutions, a recycling company also owned by … Hagan family members. Once the project was completed, Plastic Revolutions said it expected to save $100,000 in energy costs annually. That’s a benefit (profit) it would not have received without the upgrades, which were made possible by federal taxpayers.

Another point of contention revolves around the role of Kay and Chip’s son, Tilden, in yet a third (or is it a fourth?) Hagan family company — Solardyne/Green State Power. Solardyne, a solar installation company, filed its incorporation papers with state government the same week JDC applied for the stimulus grant. (Chip changed the name of the company to Green State Power in 2012. Maybe the Hagans thought the name Solardyne would remind potential clients of Solyndra. Who knows?)

Team Hagan claims that Tilden had minimal involvement in the project. Maybe Chip forgot to tell his business partner: Tilden. The Green State Power website features the Plastic Revolutions project, saying “the smooth installation and quick production of power prompted them to install an additional 58kW [solar] array in a similar location.” The additional array may have been paid for by a separate energy grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that went to JDC. We’re still checking on that.

In November and December 2010, Tilden was behaving very much like a project manager. He ordered nearly $160,000 of equipment for the project from a vendor in Vermont, using his Chapel Hill home as the billing address for Solardyne. On Nov. 18, 2010, he was invoiced for more than $135,000. On Dec. 7, 2010, he was invoiced for nearly $23,000. Both invoices indicated the equipment was for the JDC project, and listed the recipient as Solardyne at the JDC facility in Reidsville.

So here’s where we stand: Companies owned by family members of Kay Hagan got more than $400,000 in taxpayer funding to finance upgrades at facilities and for businesses they own — not just the $300,000 in stimulus and USDA grants we initially found. The grants used tax dollars to offset the costs of improvements in the physical plant, and provide tax breaks for one of the companies, and reduce the energy bills of another. Kay Hagan’s husband and son created a solar company and allowed it to handle some of the work. And we’re still digging for additional documentation.

The senator isn’t discussing the matter. In fact, when the moderator addressed the issue during the Oct. 9 U.S. Senate debate, Hagan ducked the question and then left the building immediately afterward, refusing to talk with reporters.

But ask yourself: If you get free money, how is it not a benefit?

Rick Henderson (@deregulator) is managing editor of Carolina Journal.