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    Obama Census Chief Approved Over GOP Protest

    Obama Census Chief Approved Over GOP Protest

    Monday, July 13, 2009 6:25 PM

    WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the 2010 census has been approved by the Senate.

    The confirmation Monday for Robert Groves, a veteran survey researcher at the University of Michigan, ends weeks of opposition by a pair of Republican senators.

    Sixty votes in the 100-seat Senate were necessary for Groves' approval after Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., used a procedural motion to advance the stalled nomination.

    Groves had been approved easily by a Senate committee in May. But Republican Sens. Richard Shelby of Alabama and David Vitter of Louisiana had blocked a full confirmation vote. They said they wanted more assurances that statistical sampling would not be used in the count.

    http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/us_c ... 35055.html
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    MW
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    A little insight on Mr. Groves:

    "Obama Taps Robert Groves to be Census Director
    Robert Groves, a former Census Bureau associate director of statistical design who must be confirmed by the Senate, has spent decades researching ways to improve survey response rates.

    AP

    Thursday, April 02, 2009


    WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama has chosen Robert M. Groves to be the next census director, turning to a professor who has clashed with Republicans over the use of statistical sampling to lead the high-stakes head count.

    The White House will announce the selection of Groves later Thursday, a Commerce Department official told The Associated Press. The official demanded anonymity because the individual was not authorized to speak before the announcement.

    Groves is a former Census Bureau associate director of statistical design, who served from 1990-92. He has spent decades researching ways to improve survey response rates. If confirmed by the Senate, he will take the helm less than a year before the decennial count, which has been beset by partisan bickering and will be used to apportion House seats and allocate billions in federal dollars.

    House Republicans quickly expressed dismay Thursday over the selection of Groves, saying Obama's choice raised serious questions about an "ulterior political agenda."

    "The fight to protect the accuracy and independence of the 2010 census has just begun," said Rep. Patrick McHenry of North Carolina, the top Republican on a House subcommittee overseeing the census. "President Obama has made clear that he intends to employ the political manipulation of census data for partisan gain."

    When he was the bureau's associate director, Groves recommended that the 1990 census be statistically adjusted to make up for an undercount of roughly 5 million people, many of them minorities in dense urban areas who tend to vote for Democrats.

    But in a fierce political dispute that prompted White House staff to call advisers to the bureau and express opposition, the Census Bureau was overruled by Republican Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, who called the proposed statistical adjustment "political tampering."

    The Supreme Court later ruled in 1999 that the use of statistical sampling cannot be used to apportion House seats, but indicated that adjustments could be made to the population count when redrawing congressional boundaries.

    Current Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has said there are no current plans to use sampling for redistricting, while indicating that sampling could be used to measure census accuracy or collect a wider range of demographic data.

    Groves, 60, now a professor at the University of Michigan, would take over at a critical time. Census officials acknowledge that tens of millions of residents in dense urban areas -- about 14 percent of the U.S. population -- are at high risk of being missed due to language problems and a deepening economic crisis due to the financial meltdown that has displaced homeowners.

    The government is devoting up to $250 million of the $1 billion in stimulus money for outreach, particularly for traditionally hard-to-count minorities.

    But Hispanics, blacks and other groups are warning that traditional census outreach will not be enough, citing in particular rising anti-immigration sentiment after the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.

    Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, praised Groves as a well-regarded academic, calling the question of statistical adjustment in the 2010 census a "non-issue" because there are no current plans for it.

    Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-Mo., who chairs a House subcommittee on the census, said Groves will be a strong and effective manager for the bureau. "I look forward to working closely with him to reduce the undercount of minorities," said Clay, speaking also on behalf of the Congressional Black Caucus.

    Republicans have been crying foul after the White House earlier this year indicated that it would take greater control over the census to address minority group concerns about Obama's initial nomination of GOP Sen. Judd Gregg as Commerce secretary.

    Gregg later withdrew his nomination, partly citing disagreements over the handling of the census. The White House has since made clear that Locke will make the final decisions regarding the 2010 head count.

    Democrats and Republicans for years have disagreed on whether the census should be based on a strict head count or cross-checked against a "statistical adjustment" to include hard-to-track people, particularly minorities, who might have been missed.

    Meanwhile, the cost of the 2010 census is estimated to be $15 billion, the most expensive ever, and experts have long said the Census Bureau must do more to reduce a persistent undercount among minorities, as well as to modernize what is basically a paper mail-out operation that has been in place for decades."

    http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first10 ... -director/

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