Government Accountability

Government Ethics: Alaska vs. Pennsylvania

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 22, 2009

Amanda Carpenter writes about a report that Alaska Governor Sarah Palin may be cited (though no penalties would be attached) for ethics violations for … wait for it ……

Media

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Public Union Democracy

Todd Palin is Bankrolling Efforts to Defeat His Wife

  • Nathan Benefield
  • September 4, 2008

If you saw this blog title and thought there was something out whack, as I did, well you are right, but not because Todd Palin is deliberating undermining his wife.

Media

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State Budget

Is the “far right” a losing proposition?

  • Nathan Benefield
  • August 4, 2008

Michael Smerconish – who gets mis-identified as a conservative due to his shaved head and glasses – calls for the GOP to act more “moderate” in order to win…

Media

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Taxes & Economy

Bush: Drill Now

  • Nathan Benefield
  • July 14, 2008

President Bush will repeal the executive order banning offshore drilling. Of course, the executive order was superseded by a law banning offshore drilling, which Congress will have to…

Media

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Criminal Justice Reform

Private Prisons Increase Capacity, Save Money, Improve Service

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 24, 2007

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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Health Care

The Pension and Healthcare Non-Crisis

  • Richard Dreyfuss
  • January 29, 2007

Despite the well-documented unfunded liabilities in Pennsylvania’s largest public employee pension plans (PSERS and SERS), the response from Harrisburg to the coming fiscal crisis ranges from denial to paralysis. Following…

Commentary

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Taxes & Economy

Gov’t subsidies bad economic policy

  • Nathan Benefield
  • October 4, 2006

Bill Dunkelberg’s comments on KYW: Philadelphia Gas Works wants a hundred million more dollars of your money. Why? Well, over the years, they have been inefficiently managed, beset with…

Media

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State Budget

CAGW Pig Book: $29 BIllion in Pork in 2006

  • Nathan Benefield
  • April 6, 2006

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) released their annual Pig Book yesterday, which indentifies $29 billion of pork-spending (defined as requests by members of Congress for special projects) in the…

Media

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