Erik Telford

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Erik Telford

Senior Vice President of Public Affairs

Erik Telford is the Senior Vice President of Public Affairs at the Commonwealth Foundation.

Erik is a senior public affairs and communications executive with more than 15 years of diverse experience across public policy, advocacy, and public affairs institutions. Before joining the Commonwealth Foundation, Erik served as the senior vice president at Stand Together Communications, the Koch network’s marketing and communications capability. Erik has also served as the president of the Franklin Center for Government & Public Integrity, a state-based watchdog journalism organization. And at Americans for Prosperity, he was the executive director of RightOnline (an initiative he founded) and the director of membership and online strategy. He is currently on the board of the American Commitment Foundation.

In 2013, Campaigns & Elections Magazine honored Erik as an “Advocacy Innovator” and in 2011 as a “Rising Star in American Politics.”  Politics Online named him one of the “Top 10 Who Are Changing the World of Internet and Politics.” 

Education

Education Tax Credits work.

  • Guy Ciarrocchi
  • September 25, 2024

Originally published at Broad + Liberty Students are learning. Parents are grateful. Donors are seeing the benefits. And Pennsylvania taxpayers are saving money today — and tomorrow. (Over $1…

Media Hit

Read More: Education Tax Credits work.

Education

Lowering the Cost of Living Key To Winning Keystone State

  • Andrew Lewis
  • September 23, 2024

Originally published at Newsweek What will it take for Donald Trump or Kamala Harris to win Pennsylvania—arguably the most important state in the 2024 election? The answer is simple. They must…

Media Hit

Read More: Lowering the Cost of Living Key To Winning Keystone State

Education

A Tale of Two Philadelphia Schools

  • Rachel Langan
  • September 23, 2024

Originally published at Delaware Valley Journal A seven-minute walk separates Kensington High School and Liguori Academy, two high schools serving the East Kensington neighborhood of northeast Philadelphia. Kensington and…

Media Hit

Read More: A Tale of Two Philadelphia Schools

Health Care

Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • September 23, 2024

Originally published at RealClearHealth Health care is a mess—and our political leaders aren’t helping. Presidential candidates only offer vague ideas to address our health care problems. From former President…

Media Hit

Read More: Instead of a ‘Public Option’, We Need a ‘Personal Option’

Energy

Regulations subvert ‘environmental justice’

  • Gordon Tomb
  • September 21, 2024

Originally published at the Williamsport Sun-Gazette Thirty years ago, more than 800 waste coal piles marred the Pennsylvania landscape, poisoning streams and emitting gaseous odors, including the rotten-egg smell…

Media Hit

Read More: Regulations subvert ‘environmental justice’

Education

Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the Commonwealth

  • Rachel Langan
  • September 17, 2024

Key Findings Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) and Opportunity Scholarship Tax Credit (OSTC) are state tax credit programs that give thousands of low- to middle- income students access to…

Executive Summary

Read More: Pennsylvania’s Education Tax Credit Scholarships: How EITC Serves Children and Families in the Commonwealth

Rethinking All-of-the-Above with André Béliveau

  • André Béliveau
  • September 16, 2024

In Episode 459 of District of Conservation, Gabriella discusses her upcoming fall hunting/fishing plans, her appointment to Virginia’s Land Conservation Foundation Board of Trustees, and welcomes Commonwealth Foundation’s André Béliveau…

Media Hit

Read More: Rethinking All-of-the-Above with André Béliveau

Energy

Pennsylvania Should Prioritize Reliable and Affordable Energy Solutions

  • September 12, 2024

Harrisburg, Pa., September 12, 2024 – Pennsylvania must advance American energy abundance and maintain its place as one of America’s leading energy-producing states, according to the Commonwealth Foundation’s new energy policy…

Press Release

Read More: Pennsylvania Should Prioritize Reliable and Affordable Energy Solutions

Education

S2: E7 Featuring Education Entrepreneur Kerry McDonald

  • David P. Hardy
  • September 11, 2024

In Season 2’s seventh episode, School Choice Report host David Hardy is joined by Kerry McDonald, Senior Fellow at Foundation for Economic Education. Together they discuss the benefits and challenges…

Podcast

Read More: S2: E7 Featuring Education Entrepreneur Kerry McDonald

Regulation

How the Shapiro Administration Doubled the Cost of Broadband

  • David Osborne
  • September 10, 2024

Originally published at RealClearPennsylvania The digital divide – the gap between communities with and without access to high-speed internet – is a prominent issue in Pennsylvania. More than …

Media Hit

Read More: How the Shapiro Administration Doubled the Cost of Broadband

Taxes & Economy

The Basic Economic Mistake Both Candidates Make

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2024

Originally published in Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Poll after poll reveals what’s on voters’ minds: It’s the economy, stupid, as it was in 1992 when Bill Clin­ton’s cam­paign ad­vi­sor James Car­ville…

Media Hit

Read More: The Basic Economic Mistake Both Candidates Make

Public Union Democracy

The Battle forWorker Freedom in the States

  • September 4, 2024

Topics on this pageAFL–CIOCollective bargainingPublic-sector trade unions in the United StatesRight-to-work lawTaft–Hartley ActTrade union+1 more…

Webinar

Read More: The Battle forWorker Freedom in the States

Education

Commonwealth Foundation Welcomes Andrew Lewis as President and CEO

  • September 4, 2024

Harrisburg, Pa., September 4, 2024—The Commonwealth Foundation Board of Directors has unanimously named Andrew Lewis the organization’s sixth president and CEO effective September 19, 2024. Lewis served four years in…

Press Release

Read More: Commonwealth Foundation Welcomes Andrew Lewis as President and CEO