Editorial: Pennsylvania Society ... in New York City?

Since 1899, well-known or well-heeled Pennsylvanians have gathered in December to wine and dine and glad-hand each other in New York City.

It has been a way to network and raise money. Think of it as the Keystone State’s own private little convention for schmoozing and getting things done. It is called Pennsylvania Society. The name even sounds swanky — with shades of old Penn’s Woods industrialists like Andrew Carnegie. Oh, yes, he attended back in the day.

As the annual event was held this weekend, Spotlight PA asked a question: Is Pennsylvania Society an anachronism?

An anachronism is something from one time dropped into another where it shouldn’t exist. A phone booth in an Egyptian pyramid. A dinosaur on a space ship. And, yes, one could argue a gathering of rich and/or powerful Pennsylvanians and people who want something from them socializing like 19th century robber barons.

There are several aspects of this that seem to have outlived their purpose.

First, there is the fact that a three-day-long party at the Waldorf-Astoria is kind of hard to play off as anything other than shameless excess. This year, the Waldorf is being renovated, forcing a relocation to the Midtown Hilton. The shame! The indignity! The rooms still start around $600 and climb fast from there.

Society president Edward J. Sheehan Jr. told Spotlight that the event is an opportunity “to bring people together to talk … and exchange ideas.”

Don’t the rich and powerful have email? Does it really require all the expensive trappings? While some law firm receptions and business group events have been canceled or merged, these are the kinds of things that might raise eyebrows about gifts — especially as the state Legislature has been kicking around a gift ban bill that would make it harder for lobbyists to feed, house and entertain lawmakers.

But, hey, you’re never going to completely remove such shindigs from government.

Here’s a question, though: Why does Pennsylvania Society meet in New York? If all of that money is going to flow to flatter and favor the heavy hitters, why can’t it happen in Pittsburgh or Philadelphia or Harrisburg? Why can’t the trappings actually benefit the state’s economy?

Yes, Pennsylvania Society is an anachronism. It belongs in a Gilded Age gilded cage, but if it is going to continue and lawmakers and lobbyists are going to continue to rub elbows in invitation-only splendor, they could at least do it where the name isn’t out of place.