Lamakers having a ball this weekend
By Alison Hawkes It’s been a raucous year.
Two dozen incumbent legislators axed at the polls. Another couple dozen retiring, some because they saw the writing on the wall about their own political chances. Rick Santorum ousted from the U.S. Senate. Republicans losing control of the state House, and Congress.
All of this and more is being debated extensively under the influence of booze and caviar and low necklines at the Pennsylvania Society Ball this weekend.
In case you don’t know, the annual event is not in Pennsylvania. It’s at the Waldorf Astoria in midtown Manhattan, where rooms run you well into the $500 a night range. One night there for one of our public servants would eat up about 60 percent of an average Pennsylvania’s weekly household income.
Nice that our Pennsylvania politcos tout the party line about building the state’s economy, while dropping thousands elsewhere and out of public view.
But this is tradition. Lore says the old industrialists and robber-barons who ran Pennsylvania in the yesteryear spent so much time in New York City that they held their annual schmooze-fest closer to home.
The ball began Thursday and ends today and amounts to a series of receptions and luncheons hosted by lobbying firms and pols angling for higher office. In fact, it’s a good guess when you see Allegheny County’s Republican Chief Executive Dan Onorato hosting a reception that the rumors are true about his interest in running for governor.
For those not as well connected and politically glamorous, never fear, there’s a place for you.
Reform activists are hosting the second annual “New Society Dinner” this year in the Capitol on Saturday at 6 p.m. as a counter-statement.
It’s a pot luck with non-alcoholic beverages.
“It was a hearty bunch of reformers who came last year, and we had a diverse cuisine,” said Eric Epstein, coordinator of Rock the Capital. “We had everything from tofu to tuna to hamburgers to Little Debbie’s.”
Epstein said, if they’re lucky, the lights and the heat will stay on. Last year, they schmoozed (as much as activists schmooze) in the dark and cold.
Landmark
What do Independence Hall, Pearl Harbor, the Apollo Mission Center, the Martin Luther King birthplace, and the Pennsylvania Capitol building all have in common?
This should be an easy one, if you’re thinking along the lines of history.
All are National Historic Landmarks, the highest designation of historical significance in then nation. Fewer than 2,500 places have the bronze plague.
The state’s 100-year-old Capitol, among the most beautifully ornate in the nation, got its designation this week after three years in the works.
In particular, it represents one of the finest examples of American Renaissance architectural style, built to suit a Turn-of-the-Century appetite for nothing but the best in art, quality, and d?cor.
Cheers to our state Capitol.
Reversal of Fortune
Harrisburg Rep. Mark McNaughton, a Republican who voted for the pay raise, faced a tough battle at the polls.
So he did what any honorable politician does when facing potential failure: he retired.
“I have other opportunities to pursue,” he said at the time.
His “opportunity” turned out to be an appointment to the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board at the hand of House Speaker John Perzel. McNaughton, 43, is in line to replace Joseph “Chip” Marshall III, who plans to stay until after the much-anticipated Dec. 20 vote on who gets the five standalone casino licenses.
McNaughton’s salary just went up 70 percent, from his $85,000 legislative pay to the gaming board’s $145,000 salary. Oh, and he gets to keep a leased car, too.
McNaughton made his biggest splash in his decade as a lawmaker when he used his political capital to block his ex-wife, who was seeking more in child support, from getting his normally public legislative expenditure and salary records
Before he left office, McNaughton grabbed an extra $8,000 in per diems, filing for extra days as far back as 2003, according to a WGAL-TV.
As if his gaming board salary wasn’t enough. All courtesy from you, the taxpayers.
Alison Hawkes can be reached at 717-705-6330 or ahawkes@calkins-media.com