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.”
Governor Tom Corbett at bat: Some hits and some misses
Topics on this page Tom Corbett…
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Turnpike Tolls Totally to Transit?
Amid all the budget turmoil, PA Independent notes the Governor’s Transportation Funding Advisory Commission is looking to use tolls on Turnpike drivers—those going to the state as part of…
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Another bill to privatize state liquor stores to be introduced Wednesday
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Read More: Another bill to privatize state liquor stores to be introduced WednesdayTaxes & Economy
Saving the Amazon (in Pennsylvania)
When it comes to stopping the spree of tax hikes, the Pennsylvania legislature and Gov. Tom Corbett got it right this past session. In response, the world’s largest online retailer,…
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Website to give access to state financial information
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John Baer: Guv scores a ‘C’ on first budget test
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Push to get Pa. out of booze biz heats up again
Topics on this page Pennsylvania…
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Turzai ramps up effort to sell state stores
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Read More: Turzai ramps up effort to sell state storesEducation
How Does Seniority Mandate Help Kids, Exactly?
Here’s a letter to the editor I sent to the Erie Times on furloughing teachers: National Education Association board member Sam Talarico unsurprisingly takes strong exception to the…
Media
Read More: How Does Seniority Mandate Help Kids, Exactly?Regulation
CF Applauds Initial Liquor Liberty Law Proposal
HARRISBURG, Pa.,-Commonwealth Foundation wholeheartedly praised House Majority Leader Mike Turzai for filing a proposal today seeking co-sponsors for his bill that would end the state’s liquor monopoly. Turzai’s bill will…
Press Release
Read More: CF Applauds Initial Liquor Liberty Law ProposalTaxes & Economy
Pennsylvania’s Economic Outlook Among Nation’s Worst
The annual Rich States, Poor States: ALEC-Laffer State Economic Competitiveness Index ranked Pennsylvania among the least economically promising states. Since 2008, Pennsylvania’s economic outlook has dropped from 36th…
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Pa’s liquor ads send wrong message, critics say
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President Obama Is Right
Savor that headline, because you won’t see it on this blog too often. But it’s true. As our friend Lindsey Burke at the Heritage Foundation points out, today at…
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Corbett’s First Inning Scorecard
July signals the coming of two breaks in Pennsylvania—Major League Baseball's All-Star break and the end of the state budget season. Having endured his first budget as the commonwealth's chief…
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Pa. liquor board reports record sales in 2010-11
Topics on this page Pennsylvania…
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Will the “Year of School Choice” Come to PA?
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an editorial that begins as follows: School may be out for the summer, but school choice is in, as states across the nation…
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Read More: Will the “Year of School Choice” Come to PA?Public Union Democracy
Disappointing Results from State Union Contract Deals
So far, the Corbett administration has concluded new four-year contracts with Pennsylvania’s two largest state worker unions, which represent 55,000 government workers—and the taxpayers are the losers. The deals with…
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PLCB: Oops, We’re Not MOST Un-American!
MOSCOW HARRISBURG (July 5) — In a troublesome twist by the problematic potables policemen, a PLCB spokesperson contacted CF directly this afternoon to notify us that the mysterious disappearance of an agency…
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Read More: PLCB: Oops, We’re Not MOST Un-American!Regulation
PLCB Pulls Puzzling Perestroika Presser
In a mystifying maneuver made by the mother of all monopolies, the puzzling purveyors of Pennsylvania Perestroika, the PLCB, pulled a press release from the wire and its Web site today that…
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Read More: PLCB Pulls Puzzling Perestroika PresserRegulation
CF Blasts Big Brother Booze Brag
Commonwealth Foundation denounced a Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board press release today for its failure to disclose all the fiscal facts and for boasting about a government-run monopoly on liquor…
Press Release
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