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.”
Public Union Democracy
Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics (Again)
Last week we highlighted a number of election-related ads the Pennsylvania State Education Association paid for using its members’ dues money—without their permission or knowledge. The state’s largest teachers…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics (Again)Public Union Democracy
Get rich quick! Start your own union
Do I have a deal for you! For a small annual fee of $669, you can join a political organization I’m starting called the MEA—Matt’s Education Association.
Commentary
Read More: Get rich quick! Start your own unionTaxes & Economy
Mailbag: Is Pennsylvania Taxed Too Little?
In response to a blog post on Pennsylvania’s bleak budget future, a reader took issue with the claim that Pennsylvania has the 10th highest state and local tax…
Media
Read More: Mailbag: Is Pennsylvania Taxed Too Little?Public Union Democracy
Union Dues Pay for PSEA Politics
“If you DON’T care about funds for your school…then by all means throw this away,” reads a June 2011 insert in PSEA Voice, the magazine of the 185,000-strong Pennsylvania…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Pay for PSEA PoliticsWelfare
Protect the Poor, Not Lotto Winners
Jamie Frankford won $330,000 in the Pennsylvania lottery in 2012, yet continued to collect child care subsidies and Medicaid benefits. Her story, reported by Chris Papst at CBS21, caught…
Media
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How public unions divert taxpayer resources for political gain
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Get rich quick! Start your own union: Matthew J. Brouillette
Media Hit
Read More: Get rich quick! Start your own union: Matthew J. BrouilletteEducation
Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My Resignation
This perspective on union spending by Pennsylvania public school teacher John Cress originally appeared at Free to Teach, a project of the Commonwealth Foundation. I have been a middle school…
Media
Read More: Union Dues Backing Political Groups Prompted My ResignationHealth Care
Pennsylvania’s Bleak Budget Future
Pennsylvania’s fiscal outlook looks bleak according to a detailed report examining state revenue and spending released by the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) last week. The agency projects a general…
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania’s Bleak Budget FutureGovernment Accountability
Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare Ordeal
Lynn Larrick doesn't fit the usual profile of someone angry with President Obama. She's a staunch Democrat, a retired Philadelphia teacher, and a union member. But when she—like more than…
Commentary
Read More: Obama Supporter Soured by Obamacare OrdealEducation
Reform Cybers Without Arbitrary Cuts
How will more than 35,000 cyber school students be affected by legislation pending in the state Senate this week? There’s both good and bad news on the horizon and your…
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Obama supporter soured by Obamacare ordeal
Topics on this page Affordable Care ActBarack Obama…
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Local state lawmaker pushes to raise Pa. minimum pay
Media Hit
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PA Teacher Speaks on Union Representation
Media
Read More: PA Teacher Speaks on Union RepresentationPublic Union Democracy
How Taxpayers Subsidize Union Politics
Last year, Pennsylvania’s main government unions spent nearly $5 million of their members’ union dues on political activities that workers don’t get to approve. In 2011-12, these unions also…
Media
Read More: How Taxpayers Subsidize Union PoliticsHealth Care
Obamacare: Exchange Sign-ups Dwarfed by Cancellations
Yesterday, the federal government revealed that shockingly low numbers of Americans are purchasing health insurance on the dysfunctional Obamacare exchange. In Pennsylvania, it’s clear the law is doing more…
Media
Read More: Obamacare: Exchange Sign-ups Dwarfed by CancellationsHealth Care
A Sign of Things to Come?
Cancelled health care plans, an unusable exchange website—do we still trust the federal government to deliver on its health care promises? In what could be a sign of what’s to…
Media
Read More: A Sign of Things to Come?
Food stamp cuts worry grocers in poor Philly neighborhoods
Topics on this page Philadelphia…
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Read More: Food stamp cuts worry grocers in poor Philly neighborhoodsRegulation
A Band-Aid for Broken PLCB
A change has come to Pennsylvania’s state-controlled liquor monopoly that will improve the customer experience, according to the PLCB. Are we finally going to get liquor privatization after eight decades?…
Media
Read More: A Band-Aid for Broken PLCB