Erik Telford

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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.” 

How you match up with Presidential candidates

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 9, 2008

Lancaster Online has posted on new tool to track how you match up, on issues, with presidential candidates. It seems to work out pretty accurately for me (a couple…

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School choices promote accountability

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 9, 2008

Good Editorial on how if you want “accountability” in education, then you should support school choice. Of course the critics of school choice in its various forms always cite…

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19th Century View of Government?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 9, 2008

Patriot News has a blurb about our re-selling calendars for property tax relief (third item). Rendell spokeman Chuck Ardo defends the calendars (more or less) by taking a…

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Free Market Health Care FAQ

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 8, 2008

A new publication from the Galen Institute: Frequently asked questions on health policy and responses from our pro-market perspective Topics on this page Free-market healthcare…

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Who else has Rendell promised money to?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 7, 2008

Pete DeCoursey of Capitolwire.com (subscription) has broken a story about Lionsgate Films lobbying the state. The story began by looking into violations of the state lobbying law when Lionsgate…

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Common Sense of Bonusgate

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 7, 2008

Paul Jacob of The Sam Adams Alliance weighs in on Pennsylvania’s “Bonusgate”. Listen to the audio version here. Topics on this page Common sense…

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Of Calendars and Porn Taxes

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 7, 2008

Policy Blog may only be #6 in this weeks PA Blog Influence Ranking, but we made some noise over the weekend. The Pittsburgh Tribune Review featured a story…

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Hold the Pork

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 7, 2008

John Fund in the Wall Street Journal on the 9,000 earmarks, and the possibility Bush will refuse to acknowledge them. Since the earmarks were dropped into a conference report,…

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How states encourge higher uninsurance rates

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 5, 2008

Wall Street Journal article by Tarren Bragdon questions Why does New York spend more on Medicaid — a health-care program for the poor — than every other state…

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Proposed PA tax on adult businesses

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 5, 2008

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story on the latest new tax proposal, this one on “adult businesses” from Senator Jane Orie (so much for Senate Republicans opposing any new taxes). I was…

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Leading Bioenergy Crops Bad for the Environment

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 4, 2008

An analysis in Science Magazine of a finds that the environmental impact of biofuels from corn, soy and other crops may be worse than fossil fuels. More from…

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Cost of Calendars

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 4, 2008

The Chief Clerks offices for both the PA House and Senate have graciously provided the cost of printing those lovely Capitol Calendars. Here is the breakdown: House:Calendars Printed:…

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Rich states grow faster by taxing less

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 3, 2008

Washington Examiner editorial on how rich states grow faster by taxing less Topics on this page Washington Examiner…

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I Am Lawsuit Abuse

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 2, 2008

New website highlights of the worst cases of lawsuit abuse, including the infamous case of a judge suing a dry cleaner for losing his pants – for $67 million.

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Lawmakers have priorities confused

  • January 2, 2008

This Letter to the Editor at The REPUBLICAN & Herald succinctly nails what’s wrong with Harrisburg. We need more such letters in newspapers across Pennsylvania. Actually, we need more…

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Taxpayer Protection Limit equal to 3.29%

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 2, 2008

With the latest population estimate from the Census Bureau (which shows continued anemic growth in PA), we can now estimate what the spending limit under the proposed…

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Politics and ideology stall health-care initiatives

  • Nathan Benefield
  • January 2, 2008

I thought I’d comment on this Beaver County Times Editorial that decries “politics and ideology” for stopping health care initiatives like RendellCare. They are right, you know, ideology –…

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Why the “Year of Reform” Wasn’t

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 31, 2007

Russ Diamond on “Why the “Year of Reform” Wasn’t”: Nothing else has been accomplished on the reform front, though. Newspaper editors, pundits, journalists and citizens are asking: Why?…

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The New Deal Jobs Myth

  • Nathan Benefield
  • December 31, 2007

Amity Shlaes in the Wall Street Journal looks at how the New Deal era programs didn’t “create jobs”, but rather stifled growth. This is an important lesson for those…

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