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.”
Taxes & Economy
PA Leadership Conference Round-up
The PA Leadership Conference this past weekend was a great success. Of the keynote speakers, I thought Michael’s Steele gave the best (and funniest) spech (the videos will be…
Media
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Pittsburgh-area man arrested for complaining about government
A Bridgeville man was arrested for harassment for doing too much complaining to, and about, his government officials. “In section 2709 of the Pennsylvania crimes code, dealing with…
Media
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The Truth About Oil and Gasoline
API has produced a nifty primer on oil, gasoline, and other energy sources. Among the interesting graphs: where does each dollar spent on gasoline go (pg 9 in the…
Media
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State and Local Business Tax Report
The Council On State Taxation has released their 2008 summary of state and local business taxes, with the national picture, state-specific and industry-specific data. Click here for the summary…
Media
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President Bush Praises EITC
From the REACH Foundation: President Bush spoke about the need to make a good education for every child a national priority. The President then highlighted Pennsylvania’s Educational Improvement Tax Credit…
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The Economics of College
Thomas Sowell has a three part (so far) series on Townhall.com on the economics of college: Part 1 covers the perverse incentives of taxpayer subsidies for college,Part…
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School Choice Saves
What percentage of the $22 Billion taxpayers spent on public schools went to Pennsylvania cyber schools? A.
Press Release
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Show Me the Spending, PA
Sen. Browne has introduced legislation that would create a free, online database of state spending (contracts and grants over $25,000) along with details about individual line items in the…
Media
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Election Reflection from Democracy Rising
Tim Potts over at Democracry Rising has an analysis of the election that features a roundup of results, (Grassroots PA has the full rundown), but also raises the…
Media
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A Tale of Two Agencies
It is neither the “best of times” nor the “worst of times” in Pennsylvania, yet there is “A Tale of Two Agencies” when it comes to the…
Commentary
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Tax Freedom Day: The Music Video
Here is a something a bit lighter for anyone with an election day hangover: Tax Freedom Day: The Music Video The national Tax Freedom Day is today, as calculated…
Media
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One of these people is going to be president
Jonathan Garthwaite points out that the three leading presidential candidates all made their last attempt to reach out to the “common man” in advance of today’s PA primary by…
Media
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The teachers’ union still hates school choice
The head of the PSEA, the largest teacher union in the state, takes me to task for in a letter to the editor for proposing “private school vouchers” as…
Media
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Q& A on State Health Care Reform
The NCPA has a new report on State Health Care Reform: Key Questions and Answers, highlighting many of the key policy questions, including “Does universal health coverage lower health…
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The Truth about Milton Friedman
David Henderson has a detailed reponse on the Cato-at-liberty blog to a New York Times article on the economic legacy of Milton Friedman. The Times piece presented the…
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The Keystone Primary Stakes
Michael Barone has a interesting column in the Wall Street Journal about the Pennsylvania primary, with a good, quick synopisis of Pennsylvania’s political history. Topics on this page…
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Flat Tax vs. Fair Tax
Below is a video from the Center from Freedom and Prosperity on proposals for an overall of the tax system. We covered both the flat tax and fair…
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South Carolina’s Contender
The Wall Street Journal had a piece on Saturday on the the Vice-Presidential prospects of Mark Sanford. I point it out not because my phone is ringing off the…
Media
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Wisconsin votes to protect cyber schools
As we had noted previously that cyber schools in Wisconsin are also facing attack (primarily from the teachers unions), I thought I would pass along this story Pennsylvania…
Media
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Which special interest is closest to state capitols?
Education school Jay Greene launched a new blog on education policy with post on the proximity of teacher unions to state capitols. If you stand on…
Media
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Health Savings Sabotage
The Wall Street Journal has a column on a bill that passed the US House that would undermine Health Savings Accounts (also see the SPN blog on this…
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