Senator Thune, SD

Senator Thune's office stated that his position is that Certain Religions aren't "Real" religions. What is a real religion, Mr. Thune? What you have been practicing? He says on the one hand that only certain Christian denominations are valid. Read the following and remember: "By their Works may they be known." This is a summary of information collected from several sources about Senator Thune.

(Remember it is best to investigate on your own when looking at allegations about anyone. Don't believe us, think for yourself and investigate for yourself! And remember, the First Amendment Coalition and Religious Freedom Coalition of the South East do not represent any political party nor do we recommend any political candidate, nor are we involving ourselves in the political process.)

The Following contains excerpts from huffingtonpost.com, NY Times, Wikipedia.org, and other sources.

Born and raised in South Dakota, Thune attended college at Biola University in California before returning to his home state to obtain a graduate degree at the University of South Dakota. He worked as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator James Abdnor and served in the Reagan Administration in the Small Business Administration, before winning election to the House of Representatives in 1996. After three terms in the House, he unsuccessfully challenged Democrat Tim Johnson in the U.S. Senate race in 2002, losing by a mere 524 votes (0.15%). Thune was elected to the Senate two years later, defeating the incumbent Democrat, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

Early life and Family

John Randolph Thune was born and raised in the small town of Murdo, South Dakota, the son of Yvonne Patricia (née Bodine) and Harold Richard Thune. Thune's paternal grandfather was an immigrant from Norway who partnered with his brother to start Thune Hardware stores in Mitchell and Murdo, South Dakota. An evangelical Christian, Thune graduated with a B.A. degree in Business from Biola University, an Evangelical Christian college near Los Angeles in 1983. Thune received an MBA from the University of South Dakota in 1984. He married the former Kimberley Weems of Doland, South Dakota, in 1984; both are committed Evangelical Christians. They have two daughters, Brittany and Larissa.

Political Career

Thune was appointed Railroad Director of South Dakota by Governor George S. Mickelson and served from 1991–1993. Between 1993 and 1996, he worked as a member of the South Dakota Municipal League.

House of Representatives

In 1996, Thune was elected to South Dakota's at-large seat in the United States House of Representatives; he won reelection in 1998 and in 2000 was reelected with over 70% of the vote. Thune supported term limits and promised to serve no more than three terms in the House.

Keeping his pledge, Thune instead ran for the United States Senate, challenging Senator Tim Johnson in 2002, and losing by 524 votes (0.15%).

Between 2002–2004 Thune worked as a lobbyist for the Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern Railroad.

2004 Senate Race

The race was the most expensive Senate race in 2004, with $30 million spent, and the most expensive in South Dakota history. It was widely followed in the national media. Thune – along with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, President of the United States George W. Bush, and Vice President Dick Cheney – painted Daschle as the "chief obstructionist" of Bush's agenda: "Thune was able to criticize “Daschle for serving incompatible masters,” and portray him, as Frist did when he came to South Dakota to campaign for Thune, as a partisan obstructionist and political heir to liberal icon and former Sen. George McGovern of South Dakota.

Daschle's critics charged the Democrat with using filibusters to block confirmation of several of Bush's nominees to the federal judiciary, and being out of step with the views of South Dakota voters on other political and social issues: "The GOP had targeted Daschle, the Senate minority leader, claiming he had been the chief obstruction to President Bush on such issues as tax cuts, judicial nominees and the war in Iraq."^[6] Thune emphasized social issues such as abortion and same sex marriage, and flag burning to highlight the differences between his views and Daschle's, stating, "Two-thirds of the people in South Dakota are in favor of protecting marriage through a Federal Marriage Amendment. You know, two-thirds of the people in South Dakota, probably higher than that, are in favor of an amendment to protect the American flag. You know, the Second Amendment, gun owners' rights, abortion – those are not wedge issues in South Dakota."

In addition, Thune drove home his strong support for the war: in a nationally televised debate on NBC's Meet the Press, Thune accused Daschle of "emboldening the enemy" by stating President Bush had "failed miserably" to avoid the Iraq war.

When the race began in early 2004, Daschle led by 7 points in January and February. By May, his lead fell to just 2 points and into the summer polls showed an effective tie. Throughout September, Daschle led Thune by margins of 2–5%; from October until the November 2 election, most polls showed Thune and Daschle tied 49–49 among likely voters.

On November 2, 2004, Thune defeated Daschle by 4,508 votes, winning 51% of the vote and became a well-known Republican figure in the U.S. Senate. Daschle's loss was the first ousting of a serving Senate Majority or Minority Leader since 1952, when Arizona Senator Ernest McFarland lost his seat to Barry Goldwater.

Senate Career

Soon after arriving in the Senate, Thune wrote language into a transportation bill expanding the pot of federal loan money for small railroads, enabling his former client to apply for $2.5 billion in government financing for its project.

As a U.S. Senator, Thune also took a leading role in formulating energy policy. He pushed for the final passage of a comprehensive energy bill, which finally overcame a series of Democratic filibusters and passed the Senate in 2005. Thune helped pass another energy bill in late 2007. Thune is a particular advocate of ethanol and wind energy, which are linked to South Dakota's high levels of corn production and its windy prairies. Thune's hometown of Murdo is considered one of the windiest towns in the nation.

Thune, along with South Dakota's senior Senator Tim Johnson, was also faced with the challenge of keeping Ellsworth Air Force Base in Box Elder, South Dakota (near Rapid City) open after the Department of Defense announced plans to close the base as part of its 2005 round of base closures. The Pentagon announced that it planned to move all of Ellsworth's B-1 bombers to Dyess Air Force Base in Texas. Ellsworth Air Force Base is one of South Dakota's largest employers, and a critical component of the state's economic well-being, making it necessary for the state's political leaders to fight for its continued existence. Senator Thune, along with Senator Tim Johnson (D), lobbied Washington, specifically the Defense Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, to keep Ellsworth open. In their lobbying efforts, they argued that it made little sense to consolidate all of the nation's B-1s in a single location due to the risk of a single attack or tornado taking out the fleet. Also, it was discovered that the Pentagon may have overlooked a lawsuit that possibly prevented B-1 pilots at Dyess from engaging in adequate training. While the fate of Dyess was still in the air, Thune declared that he had strong doubts about issues such as John Bolton's nomination as United Nations ambassador, "I've said all along that I'm going to play whatever cards I have to get the best possible outcome I can for my base," he is reported as saying. Ultimately, the BRAC Commission voted 8–1 to reverse the Pentagon's recommendation to close Ellsworth.

Thune also sponsored an amendment (No. 1618) to a troop support bill (S. 1390) in the Senate in July, 2009 that would have created a federal law allowing concealed carry weapons owners to enjoy interstate reciprocity of this right. Despite the support of prominent blue dog Democrats in the senate, the bill was defeated narrowly (58-39; 60 votes are needed to pass an amendment).

Political Views

Thune has described his religious faith as the most important aspect of his political career: "Having a Christian worldview shapes my decision-making with respect to all aspects of my life. I always respect people in public life who are principled, and those principles have to be connected to something. And my faith is what serves as the anchor and directs my actions." In June 2006, Thune reaffirmed his strong support to amend the United States Constitution to ban same-sex marriage: "The Federal Marriage Amendment debate simply is an opportunity for us to affirm our support for marriage...It is an important debate to have in this country."

In a 2005 interview with Christianity Today, Thune supported invading Iraq, expressing a hope that this would result in greater religious freedom: "Liberating Iraq from decades of tyranny and dictatorship, bringing about political freedom, will create an atmosphere of where religious freedom will come to Iraq. And that opens the door, obviously, for the Christian faith there as well."

Before the selection of Sarah Palin, Thune was mentioned as a possible Vice Presidential pick for Republican Presumptive Nominee John McCain in some circles due to his strong Conservative policies. Thune publicly played down the speculation.

Scandal brewing around Jeff Gannon's favorite Senator, John Thune

Senator John Thune, who was elected last year with great help from GOP male hooker Jeff Gannon, is in the center of a growing scandal back home. I read about it on Capitol Buzz which is, btw, one of my new favorite blogs. The Buzz links to a couple of blogs, Clean Cut Kid and ThuneWatch.com, who go into great detail, and who in turn, provide some other links. It's financial and it doesn't look good -- this one has legs, I think.

Senator John Thune and the ''Used Car Mafia''

by "Erin" July 3, 2005

I am surprised the rest of the country can't hear the "buzz" coming from South Dakota. Have you heard about this used car dealer who declared bankruptcy and has been sued by the Iowa Attorney General on behalf of 400 consumers due to the alleged Consumer Fraud and Violations of the Consumer Credit Code with Ongoing Criminal Conduct? The U.S. Postal Inspector is conducting his own investigation into alleged mail fraud related to alleged fraudulent retail installment agreements. After the Iowa AG filed their suit 13,000 more complaints/inquiries came into their offices in Des Moines. What makes this interesting is that United States Senator John Thune, the freshman senator from South Dakota is allegedly connected to what is being characterized as a growing scandal.

This car dealer Dan Nelson has had a personal relationship with John Thune for several years and managed Senator Thune's congressional campaigns. Dan Nelson also worked for Larry Pressler. Dan Nelson has had car dealerships in Iowa and South Dakota where it is based in Sioux Falls. The Attorney General's lawsuit lists an income of 100 million dollars by Dan Nelson and Chris Tapken who owns 25% of the company. In this suit there are some pretty serious allegations of fraud, deception, asking customers to lie to lenders about the nature of their down payments etc.

The law in Iowa does not allow private citizens to file a lawsuit if they have been defrauded as defined by the Consumer Credit Code which is why the Attorney General has filed. The laws being what they are in South Dakota, Dan kept his operation there pretty clean and above board. There have been less than 100 complaints made to the South Dakota AG as opposed to the 13,000 made in Iowa with the 400 represented in the suit.

After John Thune lost the 2002 election to Tim Johnson he was appointed to the board of directors of Metabank which is a federally regulated savings and loan chartered in Storm Lake Iowa with several locations in South Dakota and Iowa. The Meta Financial Group Inc is the holding company based in Delaware. Recently Dan Nelson filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy listing outstanding debt of about 30 million dollars with 28 million owed to Metabank...

Recent 8K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission cite a material change which they have to do by law if there is any significant change or the assets of the company have been adversely affected. The Metabank is a publicly traded company and uses the symbol cash. The stock price at close on Friday July 1 was listed at $19 down $1 or 5%. The assets of the company are somewhere between 750 and 800 million dollars with a shareholder's equity of less than 50 million. This particular savings and loan has allegedly made loans and or lines of credit to Dan Nelson while John Thune was on the board and operating in the auditing department. There have been some questions asked regarding whether this car dealer had adequate collateral at the time the loans were made and furthermore given the fact that the business was being investigated for predatory and fraud were there any banking laws violated?

The Des Moines dealership location with a couple of lots and a building allegedly mortaged 3 times for nearly 6 million dollars was closed last week along with the other two Iowa locations, one of which had shut down earlier. His South Dakota locations where mostly new cars are sold remain open right now. He has publicly criticized the Iowa Attorney General for his previously profitable car dealerships floundering after the lawsuit was filed. There are indications that Metabank ok'd loans as late as October of 2004 while Mr. Thune was still on the board and when all indications were that the business was allegedly having some financial difficulties. During Mr. Thune's run for the Senate, a building owned by Dan Nelson, but also mortgaged through Metabank was used as a campaign headquarters and there are documents showing that Dan Nelson was paid about 84,000.00 dollars for rental and such by John Thune.

John Thune resigned from the bank board in November of 2004 after winning the election and in January 2005 the Iowa AG filed their suit after exhaustive investigation. Chris Tapken, age 34 owns 25% of Dan Nelson Automotive Group and Dan Nelson owns the other 75%. Michelle Tapken, Chris' mother was recently appointed U.S Attorney in South Dakota by John Thune shortly after being elected. This group is known around Sioux Falls as the "USED CAR MAFIA".

The media coverage has been minimal in South Dakota. The weblogs are absolutely compelling with new information being uncovered every day. Dan Nelson has told the press that he will be vindicated when the case comes to trial, but with the bankruptcy filing, there is a temporary stay. The charges against the two individuals of Dan Nelson and Chris Tapken are proceeding.

Thune is such a smug, sanctimonious prick. I hope this one sticks.

Ah, sweet hypocrisy...

Political grandstanding is so fun that Republican Senators tend not to realize what they are saying. South Dakota's Republican Senator John Thune is "blasting" and "slamming" President Barack Obama for not doing more to cap BP's Deepwater Horizon oil gusher in the Gulf of Mexico.

"The president ought to be pulling together the very best minds out there," the South Dakota Republican said. "He could be bringing people together and figuring out which are the best technologies, bringing in all the oil companies in to discuss this, all the scientists, all the people who have expertise in this area" [Ledyard King, "Thune Blasts Obama Response to Gulf Oil Leak," that Sioux Falls paper, 2010.05.27].

Compare the above comments to the pablum Senator Thune threw to the National Rifle Association a fortnight ago:

Sen. John Thune, R-South Dakota, told the crowd there are two competing visions about the future of the country.

"One consists of more government and less freedom, and one consists of less government and more freedom," he said. "And right now, unfortunately, the prevailing vision in Washington D.C. is that of government. More and more government" ["Speakers at NRA convention target Washington, midterms," CNN.com, 2010.05.14]

Does Senator Thune really want President Obama to nationalize the BP cleanup effort? Should Uncle Sam simply dissolve BP and take possession of all of its equipment? We'd have to: we can't exactly load a bunch of Army Corps of Engineers bulldozers and Madison's 211th National Guard company on a barge, ship them out of New Orleans, and toss them in the ocean to fix the problem. The President and his advisors have already assessed the expertise and equipment needed to fix this problem... and they've recognized that BP has it.

Even if we took the Russians' advice and nuked the broken wellhead, we'd probably still have to use equipment from BP or other industry players to drill into the sea floor and properly place the warhead.

My conservative friends tend to criticize the Obama Administration for Rahm Emanuel's oft-cited First Rule of Politics, "Never let a crisis go to waste." Those critics forget to read the rest of the quote: "They are opportunities to do big things."

Senator Thune is operating by the first half of Rahm's Rule, but I don't think trying to use this crisis as an opportunity to score political points against the man he might try to beat in 2012 counts as a "big thing." President Obama is willing to use this crisis as part of the argument to make big things like energy security legislation happen. The President is also moving ahead with preventive measures like extending a moratorium on deepwater exploration, a sensible, cautious step Thune explicitly rejects in the King article.

Government has its proper roles. What I find amusing is that Senator Thune is unwilling or unable to coherently explain those roles. He can apparently only lurch from shouting base-pleasing anti-government platitudes to crying for government actions when it suits his political agenda. Ugh.