White House Continues Effort to Control Census

by Connie Hair
04/06/2009

Having failed to move the operation of the 2010 census into the White House, President Obama late last week nominated as director of the U.S. Census Bureau the Michigan sociology professor Robert Groves, a fervent advocate of statistical sampling. That technique, which uses samples instead of actual counting, is easily manipulated and often results in the over-counting of traditional Democratic constituencies, especially minorities.

The data from the Decennial Census taking place in April of 2010 will be used to apportion seats in the House of Representatives and to disburse billions in federal dollars. Republicans are very concerned that the White House efforts to politicize the census will result in a corrupted count aimed to benefit Democrats. With Groves' appointment, their apprehension should grow.

Groves served at the Census Bureau from 1990 to 1992 as an associate director of statistical design, where he strongly advocated adjusting population numbers in urban areas to augment the number of people in these typically Democrat strongholds. The United States Supreme Court ruled this process unconstitutional in 1999.

Earlier this year, hyperpartisan White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel moved oversight of the 2010 Census from the Commerce Department to the White House. In 2006, then Rep. Emanuel revealed to USA Today the motivation behind the shift, “If you think redistricting is always partisan and political which it is… it’s going to be on steroids this time.â€