Hiding is not a communication strategy.

Neither is crossing your fingers.

With all the attention being paid to the federal budget crisis, privileged classes of taxpayers, and the search for revenue, you’d think that anyone whose clients enjoy a tax break would be prepared  should a reporter call.

Being caught by surprise is never fun…especially when the fact that you were caught by surprise becomes part of your quote.

That’s what happened to Robert Green, described as a ‘tax specialist whose clients include traders on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the hub of commodities futures contracts.’  When called the other day by Andrew Ross Sorkin of the New York Times, who was working on a story about the sweet tax deal lavished on certain classes of commodities traders, Green ‘ seemed genuinely taken aback.

“I’ve been dreading getting a call like this,” he said, apparently worried that any publicity of the tax break could put pressure on lawmakers to revisit the rule. “No one has shot something across the bow.”

Green managed to recover sufficiently to get out a quotable statement. One can only imagine how long Sorkin had to wait for that to occur.  Lesson learned: if your industry, clients or topic of expertise is in the news, you may well get a call. Be prepared.