Criticism and Counter Event
Public watchdogs have criticized the event as a chance for "wealthy special interests to mingle with the movers and shakers in state government" or as a gathering for "fat cat" politicians away from their Pennsylvania constituents.
During the 2005 Pennsylvania Society weekend, Gene Stilp and Eric Epstein, governmental reform and anti-pay raise activists, hosted the "Pennsylvania People's Dinner," a reform-themed potluck dinner in the "darkened, barely heated" East Wing of the Pennsylvania State Capitol while the members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly are in New York City. The event, described as "part parody, part celebration" of the November repeal of the controversial pay raise, featured paper plates and folding chairs for the potluck style dinner. The hosts decorated the capitol with toy pigs, the mascot of the anti-pay-raise movement, and stuffed cows, mocking John Perzel's defense of the pay raise by claiming that "immigrant cow-milkers" make as much as legislators. The dinner has become an annual event, with the lack of lighting and heating becoming part of the tradition. The event has undergone several name changes: in 2006 it was called the "Pennsylvania New Society Dinner," in 2007 it was the "Real Pennsylvania Society Dinner."
Read more about this topic: The Pennsylvania Society
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