Left: Tom Corbett, Pennsylvania Governor 2011–2015. Right: Rep. Dan Meuser (PA-9), U.S. House of Representatives.
This is the third article in Pocono Review’s ongoing investigation into Rep. Dan Meuser.
Read Part 1: Meuser Wins Primary Unopposed. His Campaign Spent $1.5 Million Anyway.
Read Part 2: Dan Meuser Took the Money, Kept the Board Seat, Went to Congress.
LUZERNE COUNTY — Pennsylvania Department of State campaign finance records — reviewed by Pocono Review — show that Dan Meuser personally made 30 contributions totaling $81,894 to Tom Corbett’s campaigns between 2007 and 2010 — Corbett was then Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, running for governor. When his brother Scott and his wife Shelley are included, the Meuser family gave $139,894 to Corbett in total.
The Times Leader reported in January 2011 that Meuser was among Corbett’s largest individual donors. Pennsylvania Department of State records reviewed by Pocono Review show the full family total was nearly double what was previously reported.
Corbett won the governorship in November 2010. Weeks after taking office in January 2011, he nominated Dan Meuser as Pennsylvania Secretary of Revenue. The state Senate confirmed him 50-0.
The Money
The contributions span three years and two separate Corbett committees — Corbett’s gubernatorial campaign and his earlier Friends of Tom Corbett committee from his time as Attorney General.
Dan Meuser’s personal giving breaks down as follows:
- 2007: $1,000 to Friends of Tom Corbett
- 2008: $4,500 to Friends of Tom Corbett
- 2009: $25,000 across six payments — including a $10,000 payment in September and a $5,000 payment in July
- 2010: $51,394 across 20 payments — including a $20,000 single contribution on June 4, 2010
The $20,000 single-day contribution in June 2010 — five months before the election — is the largest individual payment in the record. It came at a point when Corbett was the clear frontrunner in the gubernatorial race.
His brother Scott contributed $40,000 — including $25,000 in a single payment on December 30, 2009. His wife Shelley contributed $12,000.
Total family giving: $139,894 across four years.
The Appointment
Corbett, a Republican, took office as Pennsylvania’s 46th governor on January 18, 2011. Meuser’s nomination as Secretary of Revenue followed within days.
The Revenue Secretary oversees the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue, which administers the state’s tax laws and collects approximately $40 billion annually. It is one of the largest agencies in state government.
When Corbett lost his reelection bid to Tom Wolf in 2014, Meuser left government and returned to private life until his 2018 congressional run.
The Times Leader headline at the time of his appointment read: “Meuser And Family Big Corbett Donors.” The scrutiny was noted. No further investigation followed.
What Nobody Looked At
Meuser served as Revenue Secretary from January 18, 2011 to January 20, 2015 — the full length of Corbett’s single term. By his own account, he transformed the Department of Revenue from a tax collection agency into a “taxpayer advocacy agency.” The Council on State Taxation recognized his tenure as the most improved revenue department in the country, moving from a D rating to an A-.
What that tenure meant for Pride Mobility has never been examined.
Pennsylvania exempts medical devices from sales tax — power wheelchairs and scooters fall under that exemption. The Revenue Secretary administers and interprets those exemptions. Meuser ran the agency responsible for that interpretation while simultaneously serving as a board member and consultant at the state’s largest medical device manufacturer.
The conflict is structural, not speculative. Whether any specific ruling, interpretation, or administrative decision during Meuser’s four-year tenure benefited Pride Mobility is a question the public record does not answer — because nobody has asked it.
During his tenure, Congress was also actively debating the ACA’s 2.3% federal medical device excise tax, which would have directly affected Pride’s products. There is no public record of Meuser taking a formal position on that debate as Revenue Secretary. He left office in January 2015. Two months later, the medical device tax was suspended — a suspension the HME industry had lobbied heavily to achieve.
The Pattern
What the state records establish is a timeline that has repeated itself across Meuser’s career: money flows toward a political figure with the power to benefit him, and a benefit follows.
He gave $139,894 to Corbett. Corbett gave him a cabinet seat.
He gave $72,500 to Pride Mobility’s PAC while running the company. Pride’s PAC has given his campaign $37,999 since he took office — including payments in every cycle through 2024.
The HME industry’s trade association PAC has given his campaign $15,000 since 2018. In the same period, he has signed congressional letters, attended industry briefings, and cosponsored legislation advancing the exact Medicare coverage expansions the HME industry lobbies for.
There is no public record of Meuser disclosing these financial relationships in the context of any vote or legislative action affecting the industries behind them.
Pennsylvania campaign finance data sourced directly from the Pennsylvania Department of State campaign finance database, reviewed by Pocono Review. Contributing family members confirmed as Daniel P. Meuser, Scott S. Meuser, and Shelley Van Acker Meuser. Times Leader headline “Meuser And Family Big Corbett Donors” confirmed January 2011. Senate confirmation vote sourced to Times Leader, May 4, 2011.
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