Skin-flick lobbyist pimps for Hodes (Warning: Graphic Content)

Tonight in Washington, Paul Hodes will attend a private fundraiser hosted in part by a lobbyist who for years represented the adult entertainment industry.

Scene from a recent Freedom of Speech Coalition fundraiser

According to a published report by John Distaso of the New Hampshire Union Leader, among several lobbyists headlining a Hodes cash call this evening in DC is Robert Raben. In addition to his portfolio of corporate customers, the article reveals, “Raben’s firm also had as a client the adult entertainment industry’s trade association, the Free Speech Coalition, and, according to the firm’s Web site, ‘created engagement strategies and best practices’ for that organization.”

The Free Speech coalition is a California-based group whose mission is to, “Lead, protect and support the growth and well-being of the adult entertainment community.”

Last fall, at its “Bada-Bing Bailout Bash” in California, the Free Speech Coalition honored longtime porno king Larry Flynt with a “Legacy Award.” The Free Speech Coalition described the event as a celebration of “mobsters & molls, cops & robbers, big cheeses & beautiful babes.”

Flynt, along with Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis, sought a $5 billion federal bailout from Congress to help traditional pornographers compete with emerging online skin-flicks.

According to Fox Business, Flynt said at the time, “People are too depressed to be sexually active. This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex.”

Citing the government’s partial ownership in private industry, Francis raised the possibility of allowing the feds to buy “equity stakes in their companies.” That would be similar to the automotive industry bailout, which Hodes supported.