Nathan Benefield
Chief Policy Officer
An Ohio native, Nate holds an undergraduate degree in political science and economics and a master’s degree in public service management from DePaul University in Chicago. He also completed his doctoral studies (ABD) in political science at Loyola University, also in Chicago.
Nate joined the Commonwealth Foundation in 2005. Now as Chief Policy Officer , he provides strategic leadership as well as operational oversight spanning policy analysis, government relations, marketing, and communications.
Nate has researched and written extensively on public policy issues including the state budget, public sector labor reform, government spending and taxes, liquor privatization, education, and economic development. Under Nate’s policy leadership, the Commonwealth Foundation’s work on public sector pension law helped drive the bipartisan pension reform of 2017, heralded by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post as an example for other states to follow.
Nate has testified numerous times before state legislative committees and is often called upon by legislators and members of the media to provide expertise. He is a frequent commentator on both television and radio, and his writings have appeared across the state and nationally in outlets including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Patriot-News, and Weekly Standard.
Nate’s favorite rock song and personal motto are both “Don’t Stop Believin.”
School choices promote accountability
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?
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
A new publication from the Galen Institute: Frequently asked questions on health policy and responses from our pro-market perspective…
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Employee Free Choice Act Would Disenfranchise 105 Million Workers
Web Memo on proposed card-check legislation from the Heritage Foundation…
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Who else has Rendell promised money to?
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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Health Care Advice to Candidates
John Goodman offers a bit of advice on health care policy to presidential candidates.
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Common Sense of Bonusgate
Paul Jacob of The Sam Adams Alliance weighs in on Pennsylvania’s “Bonusgate”. Listen to the audio version here.
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Of Calendars and Porn Taxes
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
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
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
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
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
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
Washington Examiner editorial on how rich states grow faster by taxing less…
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I Am Lawsuit Abuse
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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Taxpayer Protection Limit equal to 3.29%
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
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
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
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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Schools get no relief on pension contributions
That’s a horrible headline for the AP story in the Morning Call. Who are the “schools” anyway? It’s the taxpayers who get no relief. While the pension contribution…
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Where will projected I-80 revenue go?
In light of the FHWA questions to the Turnpike Commission – specifically about whether I-80 revenue will be used for debt services for non-I-80 expenses, and how payments to…
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