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Guess who tied for the single largest individual campaign contribution to the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) in 2006? The Nelnet student loan corporation’s top three executives. Guess which company provided the single, largest corporate donation to the NRCC? Yup, Nelnet. Not a pharmaceutical company or tobacco company or oil company. Nope, a student loan company.

Nelnet and its people gave . Of course, that’s to say nothing of all Nelnet’s giving to other Congressional PACs, Members, and parties. (78% to Republicans, 22% to Democrats).

Don Bouc (pronounced Boats), Nelnet’s President, Mike Dunlap and Stephen Butterfield, Nelnet’s Co-CEOs . They made other contributions in 2006 as well, but February 22nd was a good day for the Republican Congressional Campaign Committee.

What’s really interesting though is how anomalous the 2006 giving is for Nelnet. . Why the change?

Nelnet knew in early 2006 it had major problems, because of the company’s student loan billing and they knew that they faced over $1 billion in exposure. In fact, .

Whether to force the company to give the money back is . It’s hard to bribe Administration officials on a billion dollar decision, although Nelnet who headed a charitable foundation that . But it’s much easier to, err, influence Congress through campaign contributions. And so the company placed a near $500,000 bet on friends who have defended their billing in the past.

That wouldn’t be so bad if Nelnet’s Congressional bet weren’t in effect taxpayer money. Follow the sequence of events:

1) Nelnet rips off the U.S. Treasury by exploiting that everyone thinks is indefensible. They bilk taxpayers for hundreds of millions and have them on the hook for almost $1 billion more.

2) and the Congressional Republican leadership objects. Ultimately, they lose, but only prospectively. .

3) In order to keep the money machine going, Nelnet kicks back a piece of the hundreds of millions in taxpayer subsidy money to Congressional Republicans who have worked to help them in the past.

Now the decision by the Department of Education’s political leadership as to whether Nelnet actually has to give up its $1.2 billion in improperly claimed taxpayer subsidies will be made after next Tuesday’s election. We speculate that Nelnet’s “friends” in Congress have tried or will try to influence the Department’s decision or they simply will not conduct much oversight of the Department if it lets Nelnet slide.

But what if folks critical of Nelnet’s bilking take power? Well, we suspect Nelnet will try to cut a deal with the Department of Education. It’s why

That’s code for settlement. The terms better be very good for taxpayers or one of these may flex some Congressional oversight muscle.