Erik Telford

Media Contact
media(at)commonwealthfoundation.org

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.”

Government Accountability

CF Blog Roundup

June 9, 2010

The Commonwealth Foundation has been mentioned in some recent state blogs: Tony Phyrillas posted our video of Maurice McTigue, offering Pennsylvania some economic tips, at our Policy and Principles…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Leaky Reporting by the Post-Gazette

June 8, 2010

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette last week cast an uncritical eye — in fact, you could call it cheerleading — upon a project touted as part of Allegheny County’s…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Pennsylvania’s Natural Gas Boom

Elizabeth Stelle
June 8, 2010

The Marcellus Shale formation is believed to be the largest unconventional natural gas reservoir in America, and its exploration has been coined a modern-day gold rush. More than a mile…

Fact Sheet

Taxes & Economy

The Overton Window

Nathan Benefield
June 8, 2010

The Overton Window – the title of Glenn Beck’s new book, a work of fiction which borrows from the idea- is a concept that help drives the work of…

Media

State Budget

Rendell Ends Taxpayer Funded Legacy Project

Nathan Benefield
June 7, 2010

Reported here earlier, the Rendell administration had been paying a public relations guru to research the “successes” of Rendell’s policies, to be used to lobby for higher taxes. Today.

Media

State Budget

How Many State Workers Will Get Laid Off for the “Legacy Project”?

Nathan Benefield
June 7, 2010

“We’ve cut state government to the bone” Gov. Rendell likes to claim, while demanding higher taxes, decrying cuts to key services, and threatening to lay off state workers. But…

Media

Regulation

Video: Fiscal Lessons for Pennsylvania

Nathan Benefield
June 7, 2010

In a new video, Maurice McTigue, Vice President at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, speaks about how…

Media

What are the prospects for privatizing wine and liquor sales in Pennsylvania?

June 6, 2010

Topics on this page Pennsylvania…

Media Hit

‘Change’ hard to come by in Harrisburg

June 6, 2010

Topics on this page Harrisburg…

Media Hit

The Film Tax Credit: Cut!

June 6, 2010

Media Hit

Rendell’s economic claims require an explanation

June 4, 2010

Media Hit

Taxes & Economy

Obama: More Green for Green Energy

June 4, 2010

Recently when speaking about greening the nation’s energy supply in Pittsburgh, President Obama remarked: [A]nd it means rolling back billions of dollars in tax breaks to oil…

Media

State Budget

The State and Local Government Debt Mess

Nathan Benefield
June 4, 2010

While investment guru Warren Buffett is pulling out of municipal bonds, Gov. Rendell says Buffett doesn’t know what he is talking about, and that there is no problem with…

Media

Regulation

Big Idea: Privatizing City Services

June 4, 2010

Sandy Springs, GA, is one of the most efficient cities in the country, as reported in the Tribune Review. Incorporated in 2005, it was the first fully privatized…

Media

Regulation

Why PA Corporations Don’t Pay Taxes

Nathan Benefield
June 3, 2010

Gov. Rendell and his allies and shills that call on higher taxes for businesses like to claim that 70% of Pennsylvania corporations don’t pay…

Media

Taxes & Economy

Presentation: Lessons of Fiscal Responsibility for Pennsylvania

Nathan Benefield
June 3, 2010

Maurice McTigue, Vice President at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and a former member of the New Zealand Parliament, spoke at a Commonwealth Foundation breakfast yesterday.

Media

Regulation

More Evidence on Privatizing Liquor

Nathan Benefield
June 3, 2010

Don Boudreaux and Julia Williams have an op-ed arguing for privatization of Virginia’s state liquor stores, noting little difference between control and license state in alcohol-related deaths, binge drinking,…

Media

Taxes & Economy

How Public-Private Toll Roads are Financed

Nathan Benefield
June 2, 2010

Robert Poole clarifies a number of misconceptions about how toll roads are financed – particularly in the cases of public private partnerships for new projects. This is not a…

Media

Regulation

Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Tobacco Taxes

June 2, 2010

Gov. Rendell proposed a tax of 30% on the retail price of cigars and smokeless tobacco products, in hopes of collecting $42 million in the upcoming fiscal year.

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Pennsylvania State Budget Resources

June 2, 2010

Pennsylvania faces a projected General Fund tax revenue shortfall of at least $1 billion. Governor Rendell proposed a $29 billion General Fund budget for 2010-11 that increases businesses taxes, imposes…

Fact Sheet

State Budget

Pennsylvania Budget Facts 2010: Unemployment Compensation

June 2, 2010

Pennsylvania has borrowed over $3 billion from the federal government to keep its unemployment compensation fund solvent. Only California, with three times the population and a much higher unemployment rate,…

Fact Sheet