Nathan Benefield

Nathan Benefield

Senior Vice President

Nathan (Nate) Benefield is the Senior Vice President at the Commonwealth Foundation.

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

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 17, 2009

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 Taxpayers

Public Union Democracy

Is “Card Check” Racist?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 16, 2009

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

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 16, 2009

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 Budget

Health Care

Ten More “You Lie” Opportunities

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 16, 2009

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” Opportunities

Taxes & Economy

Are Tea Party Protesters Nut Jobs?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 16, 2009

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

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 15, 2009

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 Grade

State Budget

Bad Budget for Business

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 15, 2009

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 Business

Regulation

If You Don’t Like Pork, Don’t Vote for It

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 14, 2009

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 It

Taxes & Economy

Saving is Good for the Economy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 14, 2009

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 Economy

Regulation

Constitutionality of PA Dog Law Upheld

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 14, 2009

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 Upheld

Government Accountability

Recaps of 9/12 March on DC

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 13, 2009

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 DC

Government Accountability

CF Blog Roundup

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 13, 2009

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 Roundup

Government Accountability

Follow PA Lawmakers and Politics on Twitter

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 11, 2009

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 Twitter

Education

The Right Direction

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 11, 2009

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 Direction

State Budget

Which New Taxes are Coming for Pennsylvania?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 11, 2009

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?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

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

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

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 Government

Health Care

More Thoughts on Obama’s Health Care Speech

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

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 Speech

Government Accountability

Legislative Staff and Term Limits

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

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 Limits

Health Care

Obama’s Pants are on Fire

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 10, 2009

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 Fire