By Mike Kaszuba

So how did 5,000 Cash for Clunker vehicles – part of President Obama's federal stimulus program – end up at a salvage yard owned by the father of State Rep. Melissa Hortman, the DFL assistant majority leader from Brooklyn Park? It wasn't because of politics, insists Hortman, who serves as the company's vice president and general counsel. "I haven't had anything to do with it," she said. "It's something that happened, and so we're dealing with it. It's not something we looked for, or advocated for, at all." Still Hortman said she is worried that those who do not know the story will think the worst. Many, she added, might not understand that as a state legislator she had nothing to do with the passage of federal legislation. Poltical opponents have already tried to link Hortman to the clunker windfall at her father's salvage yard. John's Auto Parts, one of the state's largest auto salvage yards, sits on nearly 20 acres in Blaine and since the early 1970s has been owned by Hortman's father, Harry Haluptzok. Hortman's husband, Mark, serves as the company's chief operating officer. Though Hortman said her father and the auto salvage industry were not early supporters of Cash for Clunkers, she and her husband said the company began aggressively marketing itself to auto dealers as a logical place to send the old cars once the program started. "I think both my parents wrote to their Congress people and said this is really a bad law – don't pass it," said Melissa Hortman. "The idea that there's some benefit is really stupid." But will the company make money? "The real clunkers, we're probably going to lose money on. The better ones [cars in better shape], we'll make money on," said Mark Hortman. "It's really hard to say." He said there was no mystery why the company got so many cars -- it is one of the largest auto salvage yards in Minnesota. He added, though, that John's Auto Parts also made sure auto dealers in the state knew that the company wanted the cars. "We did a real good job of marketing," said Mark Hortman, who added that the company got about 30 percent of all the Cash for Clunkers vehicles in Minnesota. Tony Faust, the co-owner of Viking Auto Salvage of Farmington, also dismissed any impropriety. "I don't believe that for a minute," said Faust, who said his 55-employee company received 403 cash for clunkers. "I don't see how a DFL state legislator can put any pressure on a car dealership. . .to give any business to anybody. That's ludicrous. "They must have [just] marketed it," Faust said of John's Auto Parts. "They got a lot of cars." Melissa Hortman, a three-term legislator, said there were no political strings pulled on her part. The state's auto dealers, she said, are in fact no fans of her – particularly since her attempts to pass state legislation requiring cars to emit less greenhouse gas emissions. The auto dealership lobby, said Melissa Hortman, spend thousands of dollars in political campaign contributions in an attempt "to take me out". The $3 billion Cash for Clunkers program, which was one of the most widely debated aspects of the federal stimulus program, was an attempt to invigorate the U.S. economy by getting consumers to buy new, more fuel efficient vehicles and trade in older, gas guzzlers. While federal officials said the program put higher mileage cars on the road, other studies said the program's costs outweighed any benefits. On its website, John's Auto Parts tells customers that "the success of the Cash for Clunkers program means that we have thousands of beautiful fresh vehicles available for customers to pick over." The website added: "Come take advantage of it." Mark Hortman said the company, under the program's rules, must dismantle a car and dispose of it within six months or face a hefty fine. Because the company wants to avoid paying the fines, he said, many cars have simply been scrapped without taking out any of their parts in order to save time. He said the first vehicle arrived at the salvage yard on July 26 and, at its peak, an estimated 200 vehicles a day were coming to John's Auto Parts. He said the company added 10 workers to its staff of 125 employees to keep up with the demand, and had to rent additional space to store the cars. "My parents didn't ask me to run for office. They had nothing to do with it," said Melissa Hortman. "They run a very legitimate business."