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.”
Parents question school vouchers’ relation to failing public schools
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Higher Education Spending & Performance
Gov. Tom Corbett's FY 2011-12 budget proposal includes $63.6 billion in total operating spending—$27.3 billion in General Fund spending—a reduction of $3.3 billion from FY 2010-11. This budget restores overall…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania State Budget Overview
Gov. Tom Corbett's FY 2011-12 budget proposal includes $63.6 billion in total operating spending—$27.3 billion in General Fund spending—a reduction of $3.3 billion from FY 2010-11. This budget restores overall…
Fact Sheet
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Pennsylvania State Budget Resources 2011
Gov. Tom Corbett's FY 2011-12 budget proposal includes $63.6 billion in total operating spending—$27.3 billion in General Fund spending—a reduction of $3.3 billion from FY 2010-11. This budget restores overall…
Fact Sheet
Read More: Pennsylvania State Budget Resources 2011Education
The Myth of Taxpayer Subsidies for Lower Tuition
CF’s Charles Mitchell sat down with Inside Academia‘s Andy Nash to discuss the false choice between higher tuition or higher taxpayer subsidies for universities. Watch the video:…
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Public Policy and Free Enterprise in Pennsylvania
Public Policy and Free Enterprise in Pennsylvania represents a partnership with the Commonwealth Foundation and the department of economics at Duquesne University. Key findings in these five papers include Over…
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Who’s Creating Jobs in Pennsylvania?
It’s clear the Marcellus Shale is revitalizing rural economies across the commonwealth by increasing local revenue and paying landowners…
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A higher education in greed
My letter to the editor on university subsidies in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Tribune Review: University presidents and lobbyists for state-funded universities, such as the University of Pittsburgh and…
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Scholars Aren’t Made from Dollars
All indications say academic performance remains inadequate, with thousands of children trapped in failing schools while waiting lists for charter schools and Educational Improvement Tax Credit scholarships grow. Proponents of…
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Let voters decide all tax hike proposals
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School budget threats won’t impede California trip
Topics on this page California…
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Talking School Choice with Dick Armey
This week, CF Senior Fellow Jeff Coleman sat down with Dick Armey, former congressman and U.S. House Majority Leader and now Chairman of FreedomWorks, to talk about…
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On Pennsylvania’s Job Growth
Former Gov. Ed Rendell emerged from his semi-retirement to toot his own horn, saying his spending is why Pennsylvania’s economy is so great. Rendell cites statistics that Pennsylvania ranks…
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When an Impact Fee is Really a Tax
The debate over an “impact fee” on natural gas for local communities experiencing drilling is becoming less and less about local communities and more about how lawmakers can get…
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Do school districts have to raise property taxes?
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Crystal Clear Evidence on School Choice
Released this month, a new comprehensive report looking at all the available empirical studies on school voucher programs found vouchers improve outcomes for both students and public schools.
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