A former “confidante” and campaign manager for Sen. Bob Casey (D-Pa.) and co-chair of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s inaugural committee lobbied on behalf of US Steel in the year before its acquisition by Japan’s Nippon Steel, according to state disclosures.
Vanessa DeSalvo Getz, one of Pittsburgh’s “Power 100” who has “raised millions of dollars for political candidates and charitable organizations,” according to the outlet City & State, worked on Casey’s state-level races before serving as western Pennsylvania campaign manager for his successful Senate run in 2007.
Considered a “longtime confidante” at the time of that election, the founder and president of SALVO Strategies has also lobbied for Greenlee Partners and remained involved in Keystone State politics — serving most recently as co-chair of Shapiro’s inaugural committee last year.
This year, Getz has already donated the maximum $6,600 to Casey’s 2024 re-election campaign, according to federal campaign finance filings, and has received past payments from Casey’s campaign for fundraisers.
Casey, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) and other Pennsylvania lawmakers have decried the US Steel acquisition as a “bad deal” for their state, writing in a Monday letter to Nippon’s CEO that the process showed “disregard” for the United Steelworkers and alleging that the union “was not consulted or notified” before the deal was struck.
In a more strongly worded statement the same day, Casey declared that the “United States’ marquee steel company should remain under American ownership.”
“From initial reports, this deal appears to be a bad deal for Pennsylvania and for Pennsylvania workers,” he said. “I’m concerned about what this means for the Steelworkers and the good union jobs that have supported Pennsylvania families for generations, for the long-term investment in the Commonwealth, and for American industrial leadership.”
Casey’s likely GOP opponent in the Pennsylvania Senate race fired back in an X post the same day, accusing him and President Biden of undermining US manufacturing.
“Bob Casey & Joe Biden have weakened America’s national security and economic standing in the world,” David McCormick said. “We need to be a manufacturing country, with Americans working for American companies.”
US Steel accepted the more than $14 billion offer from Nippon after turning down a lesser offer from rival Ohio-based steelmaker Cleveland-Cliffs.
“Bob Casey has fought to protect America’s domestic steel industry, support Pennsylvania workers, and stem the influence of lobbyists while David McCormick has spent his business career shipping American jobs overseas and selling out to foreign adversaries like China,” Casey’s Senate campaign manager, Tiernan Donohue, told The Post.
“McCormick is literally profiting off his investments in competitors to American manufacturing as Bob Casey is fighting to keep US Steel made in America, by American workers.”
According to 2022 Senate financial disclosures, McCormick has between $250,001 and $500,000 invested in Luxembourg-headquartered ArcelorMittal, a multinational steel company that competes with US Steel and has laid off Pennsylvania workers in recent years.
“Dave does not object to an American holding an investment in a foreign company. He does object to a foreign country owning US Steel,” Elizabeth Gregory, a spokeswoman for McCormick, told The Post.
Casey bucked his party’s expectations when backing steel tariffs imposed by former President Donald Trump and advocated for his successor to keep them in place.
He also had stern words for “foreign competitors” such as China that “undercut our companies by evading international trade rules” and has introduced protectionist bills to that effect, though some never passed the Senate.
Most recently, Casey was successful in introducing requirements into signature legislative packages signed by Biden, including electric vehicle manufacturing provisions in the $1.2 trillion infrastructure act and tax credits for renewable energy companies that use domestic steel in the Inflation Reduction Act.
However, those provisions have carveouts that allow steel, iron and other materials to be bought elsewhere when companies faced problems such as excessive costs or low quantities available domestically.
Casey also backed lobbying reforms in Washington — some of which were more successful than others. One act passed during his first year in office curtailed lawmakers’ ability to accept gifts from lobbyists or immediately take up positions with K Street firms themselves after leaving office.
At the same time, the son of the late Pennsylvania Gov. Robert Casey Sr. and his siblings have all benefited from family ties.
His campaign paid more than $500,000 to a printing company co-owned by his sister, Margi McGrath, during his state- and federal-level political career from 2005 to 2022.
In October 2022, his brother Patrick Casey also registered to lobby as a partner at Dentons Global Advisors Government Relations, months after the passage of the Chips and Science Act, a law that Casey voted for.
Casey’s brother-in-law Patrick Brier also began lobbying in Pennsylvania for a Medicaid-managed health care company last year shortly before the US Department of Health and Human Services was going to release a report on the organization’s efforts to boost profits by denying treatment and benefits, according to Broad and Liberty.
That report was requested by Casey following an investigative series on the issues published by the Dallas Morning News.
Senate ethics rules would bar Casey’s staff from having contact with family members who lobby, and his office has confirmed it abides by those guidelines.
Reps for Shapiro, Getz and United Steelworkers did not respond to requests for comment.
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