West Virginia can offer many things to many types of people if we are smart about the proper growth-facilitating policies. There is nothing unique about West Virginia that keeps it from enjoying the kind of economic prosperity that so many others in the U. S. take for granted. I have no doubt that if we can get the correct policies in place, one day we will be reading an article in The Wall Street Journal titled“ The West Virginia Miracle.”
Ted Boettner
Executive Director, West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy
WVE: Tell us about your background and your personal mission.
TB: I grew up in Charleston, WV, and graduated from West Virginia University. I received a master’ s degree in political science from the University of New Hampshire a couple of years later. In graduate school, I found out quickly that I was keenly interested in public policy and especially data-driven policy analysis to find solutions to social and economic problems such as income inequality, climate change, affordable health care, foreign interventions and racism. Before being hired as the executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy in late 2007, I worked for the West Virginia Citizen Action Group.
I believe privilege confers responsibility. As a college-educated white male, I have a moral responsibility to speak out against the misery that people suffer from and the misery for which I share responsibility. That’ s why my mission has always been to try to advance the causes of freedom, justice, equality and peace and try to speak out against the abuses of power that create so much hardship in our society.
WVE: When was your organization founded, and what type of research does it conduct?
TB: The West Virginia Center for Budget & Policy was founded in 2007 to ensure that sound research and analysis help provide a foundation for advancing public policy in West Virginia. Our mission is to support an informed public dialogue on public policy issues that impact working families and ensure our work is timely, relevant, accessible and credible. The center also believes in the necessary and positive role the public can play in shaping positive outcomes while also making government more transparent and accountable to West Virginians. Our research is focused on three central areas: tax and budget, family economic security and economic development.
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