Madison Kwiecinski – Editor-in-Chief 

Mvk5945@psu.edu

Josh Shaprio celebrated his victory in the Pennsylvania Governor’s race with a rather fancy and unique inaugural ball. The event included about 3,000 people in attendance, and was held at Rock Lititz. 

Rock Lititz is a production campus located in Lancaster County, which is typically used to house stars like Beyonce when preparing for their stadium tours. However, on the night of the inauguration the building was full of every interested Democrat in Pennsylvania who could get their hands on a ticket. 

The event as a whole was clearly an elaborate and long-planned event, with Rapper Wiz Khalifa, the Motown ico Smokey Robinson, and rock band Mt. Joy taking the stage to perform. Additionally, Meek Mill of Philadelphia also took the stage to perform. 

Shapiro himself at one point stated on stage, “I bet you didn’t think we could get Smokey, Mt. Joy, Meek Mill.” 

Shapiro only spoke on stage for a few minutes that night, stating the event was not about him, but was instead about celebrating Pennsylvania and the state’s first Black Lieutenant Governor, Austin Davis. 

The extravagance of the night, however, did not stop with the performers. The entire event hall was filled with Pennsylvanian based gimmicks, such as Primanti Bros. sandwiches and Wawa Coffee. 

Those in attendance made comparisons between this lavish inauguration event and the actual presidential inauguration. Shapiro’s win in Pennsylvania has secured him his spot on the national stage, and a presidential run is not entirely unlikely in the next few years. 

However, despite how many people have commented on the lavishness of this event, no one has any idea who paid for it. 

Top officials within the Shaprio administration have stated that the inauguration event was not funded by taxpayer dollars in any way, and was instead entirely funded by private donors. The names of these donors have not been released. 

Shaprio’s refusal to release the names of the donors when questioned is actually entirely legal, as Governors have less strict rules in place about financial disclosure than those who run for other elected offices. Although Shaprio has done nothing wrong, the situation does shed light on an area of financial disclosure laws that may now be investigated or changed in the future. 

Presidential inaugural committees, for example, have much stricter laws. Any donor who gives over $200 to inaugural celebrations must be disclosed. Additionally, Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia all already have similar laws in place for state candidates, as well as cities like New York and Philadelphia. 

As of now, the only comment Shaprio has made on the matter is that “We’re going to follow all of the laws required with reporting and disclosure and that’s the approach we’re going to take.” 

The comment given above is essentially void, as now laws in Pennsylvania require such disclosure. Governors, in rare cases, have been talked into releasing their inaugural donors but only under the threat of public pressure and often begrudgingly. 

In states that do not regulate inaugural donors, fundraising is typically set up and run by a Governor’s aid, allies, or a party-based organization. In Shaprio’s case, he named top campaign aides to run the inaugural committee, and then organized it as a nonprofit. 

Due to the organization’s 501 c 4 nonprofit status, federal tax laws do not require the disclosure of donors, nor does it limit who is able to give and how much. 

Shapiro is separating from his predecessor in this way, as well as in several others since entering office. Former PA Governor Tom Wolf did not allow for donations to his inauguration to exceed $50,000 per donor, and he disclosed those who contributed $500 or more. Among his top donors in 2019 were labor unions, energy companies, law firms, developers, and health insurers. 

Due to the way nonprofits are structured, there is no requirement forcing all of the money to be spent, or regulating how it is spent. Due to this, it becomes an ambiguous amount of money the Governor has access to, or essentially just an unregulated bank account for a rainy day. 

If nothing else, the situation has shed some light on how financial disclosure differs from a federal to state level, and may encourage voters to pay more attention to how candidates spend their donated funds.