Who's Paying for the Mayor to go to PA Society?
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Who's Paying for the Mayor to go to PA Society?
Catherine Lucey
Next weekend, local and state politicians will gather in New York City for the annual Pennsylvania Society, two days of breakfasts, dinners and cocktail parties for the state’s political elite.Mayor Nutter, of course, will be in attendance. Remembering the hubbub this summer over the fact that the city paid for Nutter’s aides to attend Democratic Convention, we asked who was covering Nutter’s expenses in the Big Apple.
Now, this isn’t exactly the same situation as in August. Back then, Nutter, whose personal travel to the Denver convention was paid for by his campaign fund, took heat because city money was used to send staffers to a political event. City workers are barred from doing political work. Nutter maintained that his staff was there to aid him, not participate in politics.
Unlike the convention, the Pennsylvania Society is officially considered a non-partisan, non-political gathering.
Nutter’s campaign will pay for his train fare and hotel expenses, said spokesman Luke Butler. “When possible to relive the burden on the city, the campaign will pay for the mayor,” Butler said.
But the city will pay for an aide and security officers to travel with the mayor, because putting them on the campaign dime would imply they are doing political work, which is forbidden.
We're still waiting to find out what the price tag is for the city. We'll let you know...
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David Gambacorta spent a small eternity writing about cops, drug dealers and serial killers. Now he’s writing about power and politics – which sometimes reminds him of the old crime beat. He joined the Daily News in 2005. And yes, he knows you’re not quite sure how to pronounce his last name. E-mail tips to gambacd@phillynews.com
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Jan Ransom, a native New Yorker, joined the Daily News in 2010 after graduating from Howard University. She has since written about the difficulty of filing police complaints, tax deadbeats and life after violent home invasions. She joined the Daily News City Hall Bureau in 2011 and has plunged headfirst into reporting on administration budget battles and City Council shenanigans. E-mail tips to ransomj@phillynews.com
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Sean Collins Walsh is from Bucks County and went to Northwestern University. He joined the Daily News copy desk in 2012 and now covers the Nutter administration. Before that, he interned at papers including The New York Times, The Dallas Morning News and The Seattle Times. E-mail tips to walshSE@phillynews.com
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