John Raese, the Morgantown businessman running as a Republican for West Virginia's vacant U.S. Senate seat, has spurned criticism from Democrats and union leaders for his comments on steel tariffs at a meeting of Mountaineers for Responsible Government.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- John Raese, the Morgantown businessman running as a Republican in West Virginia's special Senate election, has sparked criticism from Democrats and union leaders for his comments on steel tariffs at a meeting of Mountaineers for Responsible Government.
At the meeting, held last week at St. John's Evangelical Church in Wheeling, Raese said he believes tariffs placed on steel imports during the Bush administration played a major role in creating the nation's current economic problems. He criticized 30 percent tariffs placed on steel imports under Section 201 of the National Trade Act.
Raese is running to fill the two years of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's unexpired term. In 2006, Raese lost a bid to unseat Democrat Byrd, by a vote of 64 percent to 34 percent.
For years, Byrd was one of the Senate's strongest supporters of imposing tariffs on steel imports from countries like China. He believed American steel producers could not compete with imports from countries with low wages, weak environmental regulations and government subsidies for steel mills.
On Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted an item on its website stating: "Republican John Raese is speaking directly to voters about the job-killing Washington policies that endanger their livelihoods and way of life."
In a telephone interview with the Sunday Gazette-Mail, Raese said, "A 30 percent tariff on imported steel is OK for domestic steel producers.
"The bigger end of the dog is other companies that manufacture steel products," he said. "When you have a tariff on all imported steel, that allows domestic steel companies to raise their costs to just below that tariff figure. Then we all have to raise our prices."
Mark Glyptis, president of the local United Steelworkers union in Weirton, called the comments Raese made at the church "outrageous."
He said more than 40 American steel companies went bankrupt because they could not compete with steel companies "in countries that allowed child labor, didn't believe in environmental controls, paid inferior wages, paid inferior benefits, had horrible safety records and huge amounts of pollution."
Glyptis and his members once worked for Weirton Steel, whose downsized production facilities are now owned by ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based company with steel mills in 20 countries.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- John Raese, the Morgantown businessman running as a Republican in West Virginia's special Senate election, has sparked criticism from Democrats and union leaders for his comments on steel tariffs at a meeting of Mountaineers for Responsible Government.
At the meeting, held last week at St. John's Evangelical Church in Wheeling, Raese said he believes tariffs placed on steel imports during the Bush administration played a major role in creating the nation's current economic problems. He criticized 30 percent tariffs placed on steel imports under Section 201 of the National Trade Act.
Raese is running to fill the two years of the late Sen. Robert C. Byrd's unexpired term. In 2006, Raese lost a bid to unseat Democrat Byrd, by a vote of 64 percent to 34 percent.
For years, Byrd was one of the Senate's strongest supporters of imposing tariffs on steel imports from countries like China. He believed American steel producers could not compete with imports from countries with low wages, weak environmental regulations and government subsidies for steel mills.
On Friday, the National Republican Senatorial Committee posted an item on its website stating: "Republican John Raese is speaking directly to voters about the job-killing Washington policies that endanger their livelihoods and way of life."
In a telephone interview with the Sunday Gazette-Mail, Raese said, "A 30 percent tariff on imported steel is OK for domestic steel producers.
"The bigger end of the dog is other companies that manufacture steel products," he said. "When you have a tariff on all imported steel, that allows domestic steel companies to raise their costs to just below that tariff figure. Then we all have to raise our prices."
Mark Glyptis, president of the local United Steelworkers union in Weirton, called the comments Raese made at the church "outrageous."
He said more than 40 American steel companies went bankrupt because they could not compete with steel companies "in countries that allowed child labor, didn't believe in environmental controls, paid inferior wages, paid inferior benefits, had horrible safety records and huge amounts of pollution."
Glyptis and his members once worked for Weirton Steel, whose downsized production facilities are now owned by ArcelorMittal, a Luxembourg-based company with steel mills in 20 countries.
"When over 40 steel companies went bankrupt, hundreds of thousands of retirees lost their pension benefits and health care," he said.
Those pension plans were picked up by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corp., a federal agency created in 1974.
The comments also drew criticism from the state Democratic Party.
"Illegal dumping of cheap foreign steel has hurt American steel producers - everyone knows that," party Executive Director Derek Scarbro said in news release. "John Raese just proved how out of touch he is with needs of working families."
Raese said American businesses face many regulations that make it hard to compete with foreign manufacturers, and believes "regulatory reform should be a major consideration to try to get this country back on its feet."
"I am in manufacturing. I send products out of this country," Raese said. "When we compete with China, or any other country, we don't have the same laws. In 2008, Congress levied over 3,800 new regulations directed toward business. Does that do us any good?
"Some safety regulations do us some good," he said, "but some of the regulatory nightmares our businesses face need more of a business touch than a career politician's touch."
In 1917, Raese's grandfather founded Greer Steel, which today produces cold-rolled strip steel. Greer's main plant is in Dover, Ohio, and has a major facility in Ferndale, Mich., to serve the automobile industry. Greer steel is used in making Harley Davidson motorcycles, golf clubs, seat belts and car chrome.
The Raeses also own limestone, newspaper and radio businesses in West Virginia.
Reach Paul J. Nyden at pjny...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5164.
