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.”
Critics say open records bill not open enough
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on the Senate open records bill and its many weaknesses, in light of improvements we support: Common Cause/Pennsylvania Executive Director Barry Kauffman called the…
Media
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No I-80 Tolls = Less money for SEPTA
The Turnpike Commission posted a summary of Lease and Funding agreement for tolling I-80. Not too much new here except for one major inconsistency … $300 million shall be…
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Big Government draws Lobbyist Gifts
In another exposé of how Harrisburg works, Peter Jackson of the AP looks at the lobbyist spending and gift-giving. Why all the money ? Health care lobbyists want to…
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What do Liberals and Conservatives like?
Patrick Ruffini’s blog does an analysis of Facebook data to determine what conservatives, liberals, and moderates enjoy: Radiohead Republicans … There just aren’t that many of them…
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AP: Corporate Welfare Doesn’t Work
Marc Levy of the AP with analysis of taxpayer subsidized businesses and job growth in Pennsylvania: To date, the Rendell administration has offered $1.7 billion in aid through…
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Imbeciles against WAMs
Yet another article on corporate welfare programs, by Rick Fellinger in Chambersburg Public Opinion, this one focusing on WAMs. In spite of Johnna Pro’s claim “there’s no such…
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Political hacks give bad policy advice
Dick Morris offers the opinion that President Bush should sign the SCHIP expansion. Why? Because is a smaller version of socialized medicine than “Hillary Care” and will “take the…
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Politicians fight against openness
Times-Tribune editorial on why the PA House gutted the Open Records bill, effectively undermining the effort to make state government somewhat open. In related news, Governor Rendell has decided…
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Biofuels Report: “No more Subsidies!”
Earth Track has released a report titled Biofuels – At What Cost? Government support for ethanol and biodiesel in the United States: 2007 Update. The…
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Did Governor Rendell fix Medical Malpractice?
Not to impugn John Graham’s post on StateHouseCall, saying “Gov. Rendell Has One Health Reform Half Right,” but we think Pennsylvania gets less than a thumbs up on…
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PA Conceals List of Polling Places
In an odd move, in the wake of open records reform, the state has decided to conceal its list of polling places. They cite fear of terrorists getting…
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Did Thornburgh really call for “moderation”?
The most recent Madonna and Young Political Uncorrected commentary claims that former Gov. Dick Thornburgh’s congressional testimony wasn’t about defending his client Cyril Wecht, who is under indictment…
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Educators urge Legislature to fix system (i.e. spend more)
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review on the latest call for increased state spending on education from the Education Policy and Leadership Center. Their drumbeat is that the state’s share is only 38%…
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State Lawmakers Argue Gaming Board Lacks Authority
ABC 27 article and video on the latest controversy over at the Gaming Control Board: The Philadelphia Inquirer reports DeNaples is being investigated by a Dauphin County…
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Watch Benefield live on PCN
The Pennsylvania Cable Network will be covering my testimony on prison privatization live – estimated time is 2:30 pm.
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Private Prisons Increase Capacity, Save Money, Improve Service
Good Afternoon, my name is Nathan Benefield, I am the Director of Policy Research with the Commonwealth Foundation, a research and educational organization based in Harrisburg. I would like to…
Testimony
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Rendell: Give me money, I will stop terrorism
Governor Rendell continues to claim that energy plan will stop funding of terrorism. It won’t – his plan is all about getting more money to hand out to…
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The Global-Warming Debate Isn’t Over Until It’s Over
John Stossel on Townhall.com on the Global Warming scare. Video of his latest segment is posted below. Also of interest is this New York Times column that…
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House Republicans in double trouble
First, the bonusgate investigation has added subpoenas for House Republicans to those of House Democrats. One can only assume the Senate is next. Now Brett Feese’s…
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We’re #1! And #4? In Lobbying, that is.
Finally, Pennsylvania ranks first in something – unfortunately, it is a dubious honor. The ranking is “most money spent on federal lobbying” by state and local governments. The great…
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Opposing Reform for Opposing Reform’s sake
Yesterday the House voted to water down an ethics bill, which would have appointed half the members of the ethics committee by random, instead of by leadership appoints (read the…
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