Sen. Bob Casey campaigns paid $500K to sister’s printing company

Sen. Bob Casey’s (D-Pa.) campaigns have funneled more than half a million dollars to a printing company owned by his sister and brother-in-law, raising ethics questions about a family business arrangement spanning more than 20 years.

Casey, 62, has spent more than $500,000 on services from Universal Printing Company over the course of his nearly three-decade political career — more than $200,000 of which was paid between 2005 and 2022 by Bob Casey for Senate, Inc., according to Federal Election Commission filings.

Universal Printing’s owner and CEO, Margi McGrath, is the oldest sister of the Democratic senator, has also donated thousands to Casey’s Senate fund and even campaigned on his behalf during his failed 2002 run for Pennsylvania governor.

A spokeswoman for Casey’s office did not respond to requests for comment. McGrath and Universal Printing Company also did not respond to requests for comment. Neither did staff members for the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.

FEC regulations prohibit paying candidates’ relatives a salary unless they are “providing bona fide services to the campaign” and the payment represents “fair market value of the services provided.”

McGrath runs Universal with her husband William, who has also donated thousands to Casey’s Senate campaigns over the years.

The donations are not the only financial benefit that may draw scrutiny ahead of Casey’s 2024 reelection bid — as McGrath’s business also raked in more than $1.7 million in Paycheck Protection Program loans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The loan program has since come under attack for widespread fraud and abuse after sending billions of dollars to well-connected and wealthy companies while many small businesses suffered.

Casey’s sister is one of at least two Senate relatives who benefited from the program. Nancy Bass Wyden, the wife of Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and the multimillionaire owner of Manhattan’s Strand bookstore took $2.7 million in PPP loans during the first year of the pandemic — even as she laid off more than 180 employees.

Casey, the son of the late Pennsylvania governor of the same name, followed in his dad’s footsteps by serving as the commonwealth’s auditor general from 1995 to 2005. He also served as state treasurer before his election to the Senate in 2006.

Casey’s campaigns for auditor and treasurer paid nearly $260,000 to Universal Printing Company between 2000 and 2005, according to Pennsylvania Department of State campaign finance records.

Both Casey and his fellow Pennsylvania Democratic Sen. John Fetterman have disclosed health crises in recent months that could affect their ability to serve, with Casey revealing in January that he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer but “expected to make a full recovery.”

Fetterman checked himself into a Washington hospital in February to be treated for clinical depression, but his spokesman maintains he is “doing well” and “remains on the path to recovery.”

Casey made a late donation of $250,000 to Fetterman’s campaign on Nov. 4, 2022, according to FEC filings, despite Fetterman having suffered a stroke months before leaving him with speaking and auditory processing difficulties during the final months of the race.