A high-profile task force examining the crisis among state budgets has engaged Widmeyer Communications for PR support as it prepares to release an anticipated report next week.
The Task Force on the State Budget Crisis, formed last year with the support of several foundations, is led by ex-Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker and Richard Ravitch, a former New York lieutenant governor and budget expert.
The task force will release its report on July 17 in Washington as states continue to reel from the 2008 financial crisis. It has examined the balance sheets of six states – California, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Texas and Virginia – to highlight ways state budgets can hide problems and “obscure fiscal reality.”
Scott Widmeyer, president of WC, told O’Dwyer’s his firm is providing communications counsel and preparing media for what is expected to be a widely discussed report as the fiscal woes of states and bankruptcies of some cities and municipalities draw interest.
“It’s a diagnosis and weaves it all together and puts years and years of budget issues in perspective,” Widmeyer said of the report, which will not recommend particular policies but will note rules and procedures to bring greater transparency.
Following the report’s release, the task force will hold discussions on its results later this year and will likely propose solutions to its “diagnosis” in 2013 after the elections, Widmeyer said.
Other members of the task force include former New Jersey senator and Reagan and Bush Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady, Carter administration cabinet member Joseph Califano, and Reagan cabinet member George Shultz.
Donald Boyd is on leave from the Rockefeller Institute of Government to serve as executive director.