Nathan Benefield
Senior Vice President
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 senior vice president, 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.”
State Budget
ACORN Got $200,000 from PA Taxpayers
Given all the recent scandals surrounding ACORN, the vote to defund them in the US Senate, and the Census severing ties with ACORN, it raises an interesting…
Media
Read More: ACORN Got $200,000 from PA TaxpayersPublic Union Democracy
Is “Card Check” Racist?
A new study on the Employee Free Choice Act finds that the ill-named legislation would deliberately harm minorities (HT: The Union Label) This proposal would likely expand labor hierarchy, labor market…
Media
Read More: Is “Card Check” Racist?State Budget
Braveheart and the PA State Budget
I’ve compared Pennsylvania policy-making to Braveheart before, but the move from a public conference committee to secret,…
Media
Read More: Braveheart and the PA State BudgetHealth Care
Ten More “You Lie” Opportunities
John Hawkins has a list of 10 more lies, mistruths, or inaccurate claims put out by President Obama on health care: The President is working with Republicans. Republicans haven’t…
Media
Read More: Ten More “You Lie” OpportunitiesTaxes & Economy
Are Tea Party Protesters Nut Jobs?
Reason TV interviews a number of attendees of the 9/12 Tea Party in DC in a new video asking whether they are “small group of radical freakazoids or a…
Media
Read More: Are Tea Party Protesters Nut Jobs?Education
State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the Grade
Cato has a new policy report, as well as a recent blog post which sums up the arguments, on why large-scale government preschool programs are not what…
Media
Read More: State-Run Preschool Doesn’t Make the GradeState Budget
Bad Budget for Business
Lowman Henry calls out the PA Senate GOP for its budget deal, from many of the same reasons we did – it…
Media
Read More: Bad Budget for BusinessRegulation
If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for It
State Rep. James Casorio issued a news release today criticizing a taxpayer-funded loan to what he terms a “puppy mill”. The loan came from the Renewable Energy Program of…
Media
Read More: If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for ItTaxes & Economy
Saving is Good for the Economy
The Freeman, the monthly publication of the Foundation for Economic Education, has a good article on the ridiculous economic argument that savings is bad for the economy. This…
Media
Read More: Saving is Good for the EconomyRegulation
Constitutionality of PA Dog Law Upheld
A federal court ruled last week that Pennsylvania’s new “dog law”, enacted last year does not violated Constitutional protections against unwarranted search and seizure: U.S. District Judge Sylvia…
Media
Read More: Constitutionality of PA Dog Law UpheldGovernment Accountability
Recaps of 9/12 March on DC
Here is some coverage of 9/12 protest in Washington DC from Pennsylvania (and some national) bloggers and attendeed: PA WaterCooler has a photo essay from John Lewandowski, who went…
Media
Read More: Recaps of 9/12 March on DCGovernment Accountability
CF Blog Roundup
Here are some of the most recent Commonwealth Foundation citations from Pennsylvania blogs: Capitol Ideas gives us some linkage on health care reform and on flying cars. GrassrootsPA…
Media
Read More: CF Blog RoundupGovernment Accountability
Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on Twitter
I recenlty learned of a tool – not sure if it is new or not – to compile lists of Twitter users that anyone can follow with a single click. …
Media
Read More: Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on TwitterEducation
The Right Direction
A colleague of mine suggests that the budget deal (see our grade of the budget agreement) is better than we say it is,…
Media
Read More: The Right DirectionState Budget
Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?
The new Pennsylvania state budget “deal”, which House Democrats, Senate Republicans, and Senate Democrats have agreed to – but which House Republicans have disavowed and Gov. Rendell has not signed…
Media
Read More: Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?State Budget
PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?
John Micek reports that there may be a compromise coming in the Pennsylvania state budget, but surprisingly (to me) it is not the $27.5 billion plan outlined by…
Media
Read More: PA Senate GOP Caving on Tax Hikes?Taxes & Economy
A Failure of Government
The Institute of Economic Affairs in Britain has a new paper on the role of government in economic contractions in the United States, noting the interventions policies of Hoover…
Media
Read More: A Failure of GovernmentHealth Care
More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care Speech
Here are some poignant comments on Obama’s latest health care speech: Greg Scandlen notes that in Obama’s “29th speech devoted exclusively to health care since he became president” he…
Media
Read More: More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care SpeechGovernment Accountability
Legislative Staff and Term Limits
Following up on our blog post and Brad Bumsted’s article about Pennsylvania having the most legislative staff, I took another look at the…
Media
Read More: Legislative Staff and Term LimitsHealth Care
Obama’s Pants are on Fire
Obama’s health care speech, in which he denounces misinformation and scare tactics, he offered quite a bit of misinformation and scare tactics (e.g “more will die as a result”). The…
Media
Read More: Obama’s Pants are on FireTaxes & Economy
Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & Trade
ALEC has compiled data from the Heritage Foundation to produce rankings of which states have the most to lose from Cap and Trade, i.e. the Waxman-Markey bill.
Media
Read More: Pennsylvania is Among “The Biggest Losers” on Cap & Trade