Sound Ideas Transcend Party Labels - Commonwealth Foundation

When Jane Janeczek, a lifelong Democrat and daughter of former Democratic governor George Leader, was elected Commonwealth Foundation board chair, some wondered how she came to embrace our policy solutions. As she explains in a new op-ed in the York Daily Record, sound public policies transcend party labels:

In the same way, the policies Commonwealth Foundation advocates are not driven by partisanship but by principles that transcend party labels.

As my father and I — both lifelong Democrats — became more familiar with the work of the Commonwealth Foundation, we found not one policy proposal with which we disagreed. Whether prison reform to fix an ailing system, pension reform to put our state on solid financial footing, or paycheck protection to respect the use of taxpayer dollars, the Commonwealth Foundation’s proposals represent common-sense polices.

In fact, Janeczek is far from an outlier.

Our polling results over the past few years demonstrate a majority, or a significant minority, of Democratic voters support almost all of CF’s policy priorities.

Here's a rundown:

59 percent of Democrats support Paycheck Protection
70 percent of Democrats support Contract Transparency
62 percent of Democrats support limits on state spending increases
52 percent of Democrats support privatizing the state liquor stores
Exactly half of Democrats support moving all new employees to a 401k style plan
More than 40 percent of Democrats, a plurality, support school vouchers and scholarship tax credits
More than one-third of Democrats opposed the Gov. Wolf’s first budget and tax increases when it was initially proposed
39 percent of Democrats support slowing the growth of welfare spending
69 percent of Democrats in the Philadelphia region support making Philadelphia Public School employees pay a percentage of their health insurance premiums
69 percent of Democrats support Initiative & Referendum

The bottom line is this: Commonsense free market solutions appeal to all voters, regardless of political party.