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.”
Central Dauphin School Board’s president says he wasn’t shocked by education cuts
Topics on this page Board of educationCentral Dauphin School District…
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PA State Budget Overview
Today, CF’s Nathan Benefield is speaking at the Restoring America Summit & Rally in Coraopolis, Pa. You can find his presentation on Pennsylvania state spending, the budget and recommended…
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Obamacare: We Can’t Keep the Change
In the days before the new health care law passed Congress last year, then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said that we would "have to pass the bill to find out…
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Read More: Obamacare: We Can’t Keep the ChangeCriminal Justice Reform
Prisoners Cost Less in Michigan than in Pennsylvania
Last week, Gov. Tom Corbett announced that more than 2,000 inmates previously housed in Michigan and Virginia are returning to Pennsylvania prisons. The problem is that it’s cheaper…
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Read More: Prisoners Cost Less in Michigan than in PennsylvaniaEducation
Students’ Ire Is Misplaced
As I write this, there are Pennsylvania college students walking past our State Capitol holding signs reading, “Save Our System.” It’s understandable: Since Gov. Corbett outlined his budget, these students…
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The bubble bursts at Penn State
Topics on this page Pennsylvania State University…
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Bill would provide approval options for state charter schools
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Why are public school teachers facing such a backlash?
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Obamacare a year later: It will prove costly
Topics on this page Affordable Care Act…
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Does State Aid to Universities Keep Tuition Low?
Cato’s Neal McCluskey has a new podcast discussing state funding for universities, specifically discussing how taxpayer funding has not kept tuition low, but rather that colleges have raised prices…
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Read More: Does State Aid to Universities Keep Tuition Low?Education
Do School Districts have to Raise Property Taxes?
Following Gov. Corbett’s budget, school district officials and the tax-and-spend lobby have cried that cuts to state education spending will force schools to increase property taxes. Yet this ignores several…
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Has the umbrella of state government become too big?
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Retaining the film tax credit? Two thumbs down for taxpayers
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Pennsylvanians Support School Choice
Muhlenberg College polled more than 470 Pennsylvanians for the Morning Call. Several questions focused on expanding school choice in Pennsylvania; here’s what the poll found: Muhlenberg College Poll Question…
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The Bubble Bursts at Penn State
The story is told that when someone asked John D. Rockefeller how much money is enough, he responded, "Just one dollar more." Penn State's President, Graham Spanier, like most college…
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PSU can set a national example
Topics on this page Pennsylvania State University…
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Read More: PSU can set a national exampleRegulation
PLCB’s Real Agenda
Last month, we exposed the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board’s alternative to liquor store privatization scheme, which is making headlines today after the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on Tuesday.
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Happy Anniversary?
One year after ObamaCare was signed into law, a majority of Americans want it repealed. Here are some of the reasons why Pennsylvanians are dissatisfied with the law, even before…
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Education Spending and Results
As education spending and school choice, via Senate Bill 1, continues to be debated in Pennsylvania, state lawmakers should consider the recent testiomy of Andrew Coulson of the…
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Read More: Education Spending and ResultsEducation
Should Penn State Close Some Branch Campuses?
Among the dire predictions made by Penn State President Graham Spanier in response to Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cuts is that the university will have to close branch campuses.
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Read More: Should Penn State Close Some Branch Campuses?Health Care
Still Learning “What’s in the Bill”
My brother sent me the following text message while at his local pharmacy: Just realized that OTC [over-the-counter] drugs are no longer covered by HSA thanks to Obama. I…
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Read More: Still Learning “What’s in the Bill”