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.”
Anton gives Rendell an “F”
Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association President & CEO Fred W. Anton III gives Gov. Rendell some advice at the Northeast Pennsylvania Manufacturers and Employer’s Association luncheon. Read the Republic Herald story.
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Public Pensions and Risky Hedge Funds
The Massachusetts Secretary of State is voicing criticism in the Boston Globe over the amount of pension money going into risky hedge funds. This is noteworthy because Pennsylvania State…
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“Full of Baloney”?
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s Eric Heyl on Rep. Peter Daley’s efforts to expose the “dark side to Quiznos.” Yes, the sandwich shop. Topics on this page Eric Heyl…
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Health benefit costs
Th Bucks County Courier Times looks at the healthcare benefits crisis… Good health comes at hefty cost to taxpayers “Biting the bullet’ at public systems Public…
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Ticking Time Bomb
Patriot-News editorial on the coming pension crisis. Topics on this page The Patriot-News…
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Gov. Rendell and PA’s Business Climate: Rhetoric Doesnt Match Reality
As election time draws nearer, Gov. Ed Rendell is issuing a flurry of press releases to convince voters that his administration has improved Pennsylvania’s competitiveness and economic growth. To that…
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Read More: Gov. Rendell and PA’s Business Climate: Rhetoric Doesnt Match RealityPublic Union Democracy
Answering the Teachers Unions
John Stossel on RealClearPolitics Topics on this page John StosselRealClearPolitics…
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Minimum wage push continues
From The Morning Call Online: “Kate Philips, Rendell’s spokeswoman, said the administration is grateful the bill emerged from the committee, but that $6.25 ”barely keeps us competitive” with…
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Dreyfuss on the pension crisis
…in the Centre Daily Times. Topics on this page Centre Daily Times…
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Insult to injury
State weighs COLA raise in the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Topics on this page Pittsburgh Tribune-Review…
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EDITORIAL | A really ‘big’ scam: No shame
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the BIG scam in Beaver County. Topics on this page Beaver CountyPittsburgh Tribune-Review…
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Who Pays for the Minimum Wage?
From Michigan’s Mackinac Center…. “When a business experiences increasing inventories, raising prices is the last thing it should do to resolve the problem. The same principle applies to labor.
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Hey, Big Spender
Peggy Noonan in today’s Wall Street Journal on President Bush’s bankrupt fiscal policies and his notion of “compassionate conservatism” Noonan: “That’s not what I understood him to mean. If…
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Close the Loopholes
Few issues get politicians more exercised than the issue of tax “loopholes” – provisions in the tax code that allow affected taxpayers to reduce the amount of money they must…
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EDITORIAL | Gambling easy with house cash Taxpayers left on hook for state, teacher pensions
This Times-Tribune editorial recognizes the need to address the looming pension crisis. Topics on this page The Scranton Times-Tribune…
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State kept funding agency in audit dispute
State Rep. Mike Veon and State Sen. Gerald LaValle’s BIG slush fund gets scrutiny from the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. While the Veon/LaValle scandal may be an extreme example of how…
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Let Common Sense Prevail on School Construction Projects
In the current debate over school property tax reform in Pennsylvania, all of the plans under consideration in Harrisburg focus solely on the revenue side of the school finance equation…
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Read More: Let Common Sense Prevail on School Construction ProjectsRegulation
Cities start adding up retiree benefit costs
An article from the Pittsburgh Business Times on the coming government retiree benefits crisis. Governments at all levels are only beginning to understand how big of a financial crisis…
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When Social Security looks fiscally responsible
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review Editorial on the coming pension crisis. What continues to amaze us is the feedback from un-informed and mis-informed union members who are saying that we (the Commonwealth…
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The Laws of Economics are Sovereign, Even in Pennsylvania
It’s a shame that King Canute never ran for office in Pennsylvania. King Canute was the mighty English ruler who, tired of the ceaseless flattery of his advisors, had them…
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Read More: The Laws of Economics are Sovereign, Even in PennsylvaniaRegulation
Repealed, but not removed
WGAL’s Ben Simoneau highlights how the “unvouchered expense” payments will impact taxpayers for years via pension increases for lawmakers. What Simoneau didn’t cover (not that I expected him…
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