Hershey dinner in question

Tom Corbett was mere hours away from becoming the 46th governor of Pennsylvania, but he was still state attorney general when he arrived at a celebration dinner in Hershey for donors to his inaugural gala - scheduled for the next day in the state capital.

Though Corbett's inauguration would be exhaustively covered by the media, the "Benefactors Dinner" was a subdued affair held Jan. 17 at the Hotel Hershey, which had received a lavish, $70 million refurbishment in 2009.

In attendance were political strategists, Corbett fund-raiser Bob Asher, officials from companies drilling in the Marcellus Shale - basically people who contributed between $5,000 and $50,000 to fund the inaugural festivities.

Elegant and exclusive, the Hotel Hershey is owned by the sprawling Hershey charitable enterprise that includes the chocolate company and the Milton S. Hershey School for impoverished children and is headed by LeRoy S. Zimmerman, a powerful Republican elder statesman and a two-time Pennsylvania attorney general himself.

Zimmerman and Corbett have been personal friends and political allies for many years, and the Hotel Hershey - dubbed "Zimm's Palace" for its luxury - would seem like the logical place for the dinner, except for one thing:

Zimmerman, 76, and the Hershey charity were the targets of an investigation announced months before by Corbett for possibly wasting millions of dollars meant to finance the Hershey School.

The Attorney General's Office confirmed the noncriminal investigation in October while Corbett was campaigning for governor and after a series of articles in The Inquirer about questionable expenditures, one of them the 2006 purchase of the Wren Dale golf course for $12 million with school funds.

The Benefactors Dinner would seem to be the latest example of the close ties between the Zimmerman-led charity and state Republicans, and it calls into question how effectively the Attorney General's Office can investigate financial decisions made by Hershey's leaders.

At the time of the dinner, Zimmerman sat on all three Hershey boards of directors, which included chairing the main trust board that directly funds the Hershey School and chairing the charity's for-profit subsidiary that owns and operates the Hotel Hershey.

The Hershey board hierarchy itself is heavy with other highly notable state Republicans, such as former Gov. Tom Ridge and Hall of Fame football player Lynn Swann.