While there’s a lot to be concerned with when it comes to the annual Pennsylvania Society gathering, the biggest thing, at least to me, is that it’s held in New York.
A couple of weeks ago, the Pennsylvania Society had its annual hootenanny at the newly remodeled Waldorf Astoria in New York City.
As usual, Philadelphia was well represented at this event. Mayor Cherelle Parker was there. Most of Philadelphia City Council was there. Almost everyone who is running for the Third Congressional District seat that Dwight Evans — who may or may not have been there himself — was there.
Every muckety-muck that gets their calls returned — or in some cases, answered on the first ring — by the professional occupants of City Hall was there for a weekend of dining, dancing, drinking and…lobbying.
Lots and lots of lobbying…
Now I have my issues with this. As Hall Monitor Consumer Reporter Lance Haver points out, people from marginalized communities have traditionally been on the outside looking in with the Pennsylvania Society. Going to this series of shindigs costs the kind of money that could really do some good if applied to any number of the city’s needs.
But while those things about Pennsylvania Society bug me, the main thing that bugs me is that, well, this event isn’t held in Pennsylvania. And I figure that if you’re going to have a hootenanny whose sole purpose is to connect lobbyists with Pennsylvania’s political muckety-mucks, Pennsylvania’s taxpayers should benefit.
The Pennsylvania Society was created in the 1800s when a Pennsylvania resident who lived in New York, James Barr Ferree, invited 55 of his fellow Pennsylvania expats — most of them Republicans — to the Waldorf Astoria for dinner. The dinner now serves as the centerpiece of the weekend.
But it’s not the whole weekend. Candidates for office hold fundraisers there, which is why most of the people running for the Third Congressional District were in attendance. There are lots of private, invite only parties that probably have open bars filled with lots and lots of high-end brown liquor and smoke from the Cuban cigars you’re not supposed to be able to get in America.
Because muckety-mucks get tired of hotel banquet food and house bands imitating Kool and the Gang, they go to Broadway and catch a matinee of “Hell’s Kitchen”, hit a taping of “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” or grab some dinner at Le Café Louis Vuitton or The Clock Tower.
But seeing a musical supervised by High School for the Creative and Performing Arts graduate Adam Blackstone, going to an interview show with music from The Roots, and grabbing some chow at a Stephen Starr restaurant is as close as Pennsylvania is going to get to any of the $40 million in tourism dollars that the Pennsylvania Society generates.
The reasons why holding the Pennsylvania Society’s hootenanny in New York probably made sense back in the day. But now, Philly is chock full of nice hotels, high-end restaurants, and even some Broadway musicals.
There’s more than enough right here to satisfy the tastes of the rich and infamous while allowing Pennsylvania itself to benefit from the tourism. Heck, you can even get playoff football in Philly, unlike New York.
So if it’s about getting everyone in the same room, and not just getting everyone in the same room without the oversight of the public, it might be time for the Pennsylvania Society to come home.
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