http://www.keloland.com/NewsDetail6162.cfm?Id=40886Thune's Connection To Dan Nelson Automotive
By Don Jorgensen
Published: July 7, 2005
Sioux Falls Car Dealer Dan Nelson is turning his dealership over to his partner, Chris Tapken, after filing bankruptcy. But this may be more than a car dealership in financial trouble, because Dan Nelson has financial and political ties to US Senator John Thune. Nelson has been involved with the Thune campaign, beginning with Thune's first US House Race in 1996.
According to campaign finance records, Nelson has contributed at least $9,000 to Thune's campaign. Thune even leased cars and office space from Dan Nelson during his 2004 senate campaign. But it's Thune's service on the board of directors of the bank that loaned Nelson millions of dollars that's raising the most questions.
Following his defeat in the 2002 US Senate race, John Thune served on the board of directors of what is now known as Metabank, a publicly traded bank that serves 25,000 customers in the upper midwest. It's the same bank that loaned millions of dollars to the Dan Nelson Automotive Group through October, 2004. According to his personal financial disclosure statement, Thune received over $45,000 from Metabank for board services in 2003 and 2004. According to bankruptcy filings, Dan Nelson Automotive Group owes $28 million dollars on outstanding loans, a large portion to that to MetaBank. The money was used to buy cars for its dealerships in Sioux Falls, Des Moines, Council Bluffs, Rapid City and Sioux City.
The Iowa Attorney General's office says it began investigating Nelson in mid-2004, during the time he was approved for the loan. Nelson filed for bankruptcy five months after being sued by Iowa's attorney general for fraud. That lawsuit claims Nelson's dealerships charged more than the cars were worth and financed many at interest rates of 25 percent. That case is still pending.