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
Can’t Cut, Can We?
While Pennsylvania’s public universities continue to cry poverty, pesky facts keep proving otherwise. Here’s a snippet from a piece by Debra Erdley in yesterday’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: Professors at…
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Washington Is Watching Harrisburg
Two writers for Politico recently opined that when it comes to getting spending under control, “the most sweeping work is getting done in states”—and they said the folks in…
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Economic Freedom Means no Subsidies for any Energy Source
The Marcellus Works proposal is a package of seven bills designed to incentivize natural gas vehicles through a combinations of tax credits and government loans. The bills include: HB…
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School Choice and Polling
Yesterday, a slew of acronym organizations who want more taxpayer funding for public schools released yet another survey they commissioned trying to undermine school choice. (This survey contradicts previous polls…
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Millions Funneled to Lobbyists by Public Schools
Harrisburg, PA – The Commonwealth Foundation announced today preliminary results from extensive Open Records Requests that found more than $59 million dollars of taxpayer money is being funneled through…
Press Release
Read More: Millions Funneled to Lobbyists by Public SchoolsEducation
SB 1 Expands to Include More Middle Class Families
Today, Senate Bill 1—legislation to expand school choice for Pennsylvania families—was amended and passed by the Senate Appropriations Committee. The amendment increase voucher eligibility in the fourth…
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“Progressive” Group Posing as Tea Party Lobbying Against School Choice
Tom Murse recently investigated the group behind the “NoVoucherTax” web, radio and TV ads. While the ads convey an anti-tax message, mimicking a Tea Party group, the group responsible is…
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White-out not Needed for Higher Ed Cuts
Today, the percentage of students enrolling at Pennsylvania's public universities who don't graduate four year ranges from 42-89 percent, with Penn State boasting a mere 58 percent. As for their…
Commentary
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Once again a Republican governor seeks to privatize LCB
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Harrisburg-area think tanks influence policies
Topics on this page Harrisburg…
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State lawmakers’ parties mixed on salary increases
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Not So Fast, University Presidents
CF’s own Nate Benefield is quoted at length in a Capitolwire piece today by Pete DeCoursey that calls us “a leading advocate of the unpopular higher education cuts proposed by…
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Read More: Not So Fast, University PresidentsRegulation
Exposing the State Store Myth on Facebook?
One of my friends sends me this [names redacted]: So one of my facebook friends just turned 21, and this is her Facebook status right now: just bought my…
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Group behind NoVoucherTax.org’s ad campaign remains a mystery
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More Evidence Vouchers are a Win-Win
The latest series of studies from the University of Arkansas’s Department of Education Reform on the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) provide more evidence that vouchers improve academic performance…
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Read More: More Evidence Vouchers are a Win-WinPublic Union Democracy
Taxpayers First: The New, New Deal
Today, the average government employee enjoys better health care benefits, better pensions, better job security, and an earlier retirement than the average private-sector worker. To pay for this, however, taxpayers…
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Lies, Heinz and Volz
Last week Steve Milloy of Junkscience.com published an expose’ of a water quality report by University of Pittsburgh gas frack panicker Conrad…
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House Republicans Introduce Welfare Reforms
Public Welfare is both the largest—at over $27 billion in total spending— and among the fastest growing programs in the Pennsylvania state budget. In…
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Read More: House Republicans Introduce Welfare ReformsGovernment Accountability
Is Lawsuit Abuse Reform Coming to PA?
Pennsylvania is on its way to joining the 41 states that have either repealed or updated their joint and several liability law. HB 1, known as the Fair…
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Commission proposed to investigate government corruption
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