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10 Rules for PA Society

Waldorf-AstoriaThe 2014 PA Society weekend is just around the corner. In preparation we present to you ten rules for getting through the event:

1) PA Society is a marathon not a sprint. Eat full meals, wear comfortable shoes, sleep when you get back to PA.

2) You are at PA Society to be seen. People you know are on the train, on the streets, in your hotel lobby and everywhere. Assume someone you know is always watching you and act accordingly.

3) Just because the alcohol is free doesn’t mean you have to drink it. Soda, juice and water are free too.

4) You can crash parties but your name-tag will be hand-written. Don’t bother saying it was a mistake you’re not on the list. People know you crashed. They don’t care. It helps them feel superior.

5) Drinks and food are not free in hotel bars. Unless you can figure out someone’s tab or room to put them on. Make sure you leave before they get their final bill.

6) If an elected official asks you if you want a drink, it means they want a drink. They expect you to buy it. They may offer to pay. They don’t mean it. If you lobby them, disclose it.

7) It’s cool to say how boring the Dinner is and how you never go. Unless you say it to someone who always goes. Don’t insult the Dinner. It is eternal.

8) Elevator doors always open after they close. People have eyes to see. Don’t kiss someone who is not your spouse on an elevator. Ditto for closets, stairwells and alleys.

9) Every year there is a story about someone who does something very foolish during the weekend (see 3,4 and 8). Everyone hears about it. See the story, tell the story, don’t be the story.

10) When in doubt and if you can’t remember anything else on the list, always remember number ten. “Don’t be the story”.

Ken Lawrence is Senior Vice President of Government, Community and Public Affairs at Temple University and a veteran PA Society participant. He does not always go to the Dinner. The Rules were originally written in 2004 on a bar napkin but are even more relevant today in the age of social media and camera phones.

15 Responses

  1. Isn’t NY the state whose governor recently said that conservatives weren’t welcome there? I presume that meant their tourist dollars as well – which is why I have avoided that state ever since. Not sure why we trot our players up there when it’s money that should be reinvested in PA. We have wonderful 4 and 5-star restaurants and hotels here too!

  2. 14) Submit bribes in plain brown envelope, but include note as to what legislation or regulations the bribe is for, otherwise they can’t keep track.

  3. Please stop all this boat-rocking. Manhattan is most appreciative of Pennsylvanians’ dinero at all levels, N.Y.C. & N.Y.State are delighted by tax revenues, but please do not think to finance trip by smuggling in cigarettes.

  4. @paul roden
    No. Its held in NYC because it has been since the Carnegies, Mellons, and every other historically old money family went up there for Xmas and people chased after to solicit them. Its a tradition, and apparently an opportunity for some ignorant rants. People and businesses pay for themselves with the exception of a very few govt individuals.

  5. Why do you think they hold this PA Society gathering in NYC? So that the public and the people don’t really see or understand, who is really calling the shots in Harrisburg and around the state. Just look at who is sponsoring the receptions and events? Look at how carefully they try to control access by invitation only, even the media and the press. The forces that be don’t want the public to really know, who is really controlling the government. And so even in the day of the Internet, Web cams,smart phones, and the 24 news cycle, the tradition continues of the PA Society having this gathering in NYC of the PA movers and shakers. It needs to be exposed and shown to the public no matter where it is held.

  6. Also, PA is in fact a secondary destination to NY. This isnt something to be ashamed, NYC is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Its OK to be second to it.

  7. To adress Snickers point,

    No, we dont have anything as nice in PA as in NYC. There is no hotel in any of the places you mentioned as nice as the Waldorf nor any bars or restaurants. PA is a wonderful place, I live here and like it very much but to say it features the same level of luxury dining and lodging as the greatest and most important city in the world, is incorrect.

  8. Should have been more clear I meant the egomaniacs one finds in a 2nd St watering hole after a session day, not the residents.

  9. Wouldn’t it be nice if this infusion of PA cash (and related tax revenue) to NY hotels, restaurants, caterers, etc., was actually spent IN Pennsylvania? Do we not have nice enough hotels or restaurants in Philly, Hershey, Pittsburgh, Nemacolin, etc? So long as the most influential people in the Commonwealth project the image that they have to go to NY to have a special time, the entire country will look at PA as a secondary destination to NY.

  10. What do you have against the good people living on Second St.?! It’s a diverse cross-section of the city, from working class to professionals.

  11. 12) If you worked for the Corbett admin, bring plenty of business cards, might as well get rid of them now

    13) bring plenty of copies of your updated resume. When I say updated, I mean erase all mention of the name “Corbett”

  12. 11) Don’t go. It’s a pretentious event for egomaniacs. You’ll see the same assholes that populate 2nd St.

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