Erik Telford

Media Contact
media(at)commonwealthfoundation.org

Request an Interview Headshot

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.” 

Coalition Says “Not” to NAT GAS Act

  • Nathan Benefield
  • May 25, 2011

A coalition of groups, including the Commonwealth Foundation, sent a letter to members of Congress opposing the NAT GAS Act.  The NAT GAS Act (similar to the state-level “Marcellus…

Media

Read More: Coalition Says “Not” to NAT GAS Act

State Budget

PA House Passes Fiscally Responsible Budget

  • May 25, 2011

Last night, the Pennsylvania House passed a $27.3 billion General Fund budget bill (HB 1485). The fiscally responsible proposal includes no new taxes, prioritizes resources and maintains the…

Media

Read More: PA House Passes Fiscally Responsible Budget

Glasnost Gov’t Gives Tipsy Tip Line

  • May 23, 2011

The PLCB, purveyors of Pennsylvania perestroika and Big Brother boosters, are at it again today, this time revealing a tipsy tip line for tattletales exposing ethics encroachments. “PLCB…

Media

Read More: Glasnost Gov’t Gives Tipsy Tip Line

Public Union Democracy

PA Legislators Consider Unemployment Compensation Reforms

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 23, 2011

By June 11th, the state must change its unemployment compensation rules to meet federal guidelines, or 45,000 Pennsylvanians will lose their unemployment benefits. Gov. Corbett has been supportive of more…

Media

Read More: PA Legislators Consider Unemployment Compensation Reforms

Education

Is Full-Day Kindergarten All Supporters Claim it to Be?

  • May 20, 2011

Gov. Corbett’s proposed budget includes cutting Pennsylvania’s Accountability Block Grant (ABG). Among the areas Accountability Block Grants can be use for is full-day Kindergarten programs at school districts. While…

Media

Read More: Is Full-Day Kindergarten All Supporters Claim it to Be?

Health Care

Pennsylvania Welfare Spending & Medicaid

  • May 20, 2011

Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed FY 2011-12 budget would represent the first time General Fund spending on the Department of Public Welfare would exceed that for the Department of Education.

Fact Sheet

Read More: Pennsylvania Welfare Spending & Medicaid

Health Care

Rescuing the States from Medicaid

  • Elizabeth Stelle
  • May 19, 2011

State Medicaid spending has increased four times faster than elementary and secondary education spending and nine times faster than transportation spending over the past two decades. In Pennsylvania,…

Media

Read More: Rescuing the States from Medicaid