CQ TODAY PRINT EDITION
– EXECUTIVE BRANCH
Feb. 5, 2009 – 5:54 a.m.
Administration Plans to Bypass Commerce — and Gregg — on 2010 Census
By Jonathan Allen, CQ Staff
The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official.
The decision came after black and Hispanic leaders raised questions about Commerce Secretary nominee Judd Gregg ’s commitment to funding the census.
Gregg, New Hampshire’s senior senator, voted in committee and on the floor for a 1995 Republican budget that envisioned the elimination of the Commerce Department. Of even more concern to black and Hispanic leaders, Gregg battled President Clinton over a request for “emergency” funding for the 2000 census.
“Secretary of Commerce-designate Judd Gregg ’s record raises serious questions about his willingness to ensure that the 2010 census produces the most accurate possible count of the nation’s population,” the National Association of Latino Elected Officials said in a release on Tuesday, the day Gregg was named to the post. “Policymakers and planners at all levels of government rely on these data to make important decisions about their services, such as the number of teachers that will be needed in their classrooms, the best places to build new roads, or the best way to provide job training.”
The selection of Republican Gregg for Commerce — a plum post often given out to a big fundraiser or personal friend in the president’s own party — left many Democrats scratching their heads and others fearful that Gregg might not defend favored agencies and programs with the department.
“Sen. Gregg’s record of previously voting to abolish the Commerce Department and his attempts to block President Bill Clinton’s efforts to secure adequate funding for the 2000 census raise troubling concerns regarding his commitment to the department’s core missions,” Congressional Black Caucus Chairwoman Barbara Lee , D-Calif., said Tuesday.
It was not immediately clear whether the White House plan to circumvent Gregg on Census Bureau matters would assuage lawmakers who raised questions about his nomination.
“We have no comment at this time,” a Lee spokesman said late Wednesday.
Gregg is expected to sail through the confirmation process, and a spokeswoman for him said earlier this week that the senator “has a strong record of working aggressively to preserve the policies of Commerce.”
Comments
How can Sen. Gregg take this job under these circumstances!!!!!! He's good enough to be Commerce Secretary, but not good enough to handle the Census!!!! Come on
An accurate census is critical to this nation's education programs at all levels; to businesses; to government programs of all kinds and at all levels, i.e., federal, state and local. If Gregg voted against Commerce and census, he should not be confirmed and I find his very nomination curious to say the least.
Just as expected. Gregg was selected to be a token Republican and to free up the Senate seat he held. Gregg will have no real influence.
Always have to make sure you get a piece of the pie huh? So it will cost 1 billion dollars to conduct a survey huh? Who is doing it? Acorn? Always making sure all the free handout crowd gets counted so you can pander more votes. What a joke!!
The census should be inside the Department of Health and Human Services anyway. And that department should have an outstanding secretary nominee SOON.
"Tom February 05, 2009 10:51 AM Just as expected. Gregg was selected to be a token Republican and to free up the Senate seat he held. Gregg will have no real influence." Tom, I'm from NH. Trust me, you don't want this dufus to have any real influence over anything.
I thought it was a bad thing for the WH to assume political control on what are supposed to be non-political government functions But I guess that's only the case when Republicans do it.
I agree with Raul, how can Gregg take the job under these circumstances? It's basically saying that the White House has no confidence in him because, otherwise, they would be sticking up for him instead of giving in to complaints by black and Latino groups so quickly.
This is racism! Blacks and Hispanics assume he is incompetent because he is white. So much for change and bringing people together. This whole administration is a pile of BS
Judd Greg is a disgrace for bailing out of the Senate and not fighting the Magic Communist. New Hampshire state motto: "Live Free or....oh, Who Cares?"
Judd Gregg was tapped for Commerce for two reasons. One, he's a GOP Senator from a state with a Democrat governor so the odds are a Democrat will be appointed to Gregg's vacated seat. That essentially gives the Democrats a "filibuster proof" majority in the Senate. Second, Gregg will be the "House GOP'er", BHO's lip service to bipartisanship. (Even though the term used by Harry Belafonte regarding Colin Powell was more illustrative, it shouldn't be used in polite society.)
The Census is mandated for one thing: determining apportionment. It was not designed so Congress can count how many new Democrats there are in every illegal alien or unrpoductive person they can throw money at. IT was not designed to determine how many bathrooms Americans have in their home so professors can berate Americans on how "ungreen" we are. I thought we were supposed to end racial politics with the election of The One. Guess not, huh?
Obama and the Dems plan on having the next census heavily influenced by "community organizers" who helped sweep them into power last election. The main goal is to create a permanent Democrat majority and manipulating the census is a large part of that.
Bit of micro-managing, ya think? So find somebody else to report to if Gregg is a problem, but putting Census as a direct report to the White House is bad management. Good grief. An accurate count is important (I am applying to be an "enumerator" -- full disclosure) but personally, if the White House can't find a dependable person to handle it, the people there are working above their pay grade. Unless they are looking for ACORN type "enumerating" without accounatbility?
Hmmm. Race matters after all. Perhaps the great evil is not "racism" but rather "white-ism". Keep it up, Global Majorities. Soon your wish will come true and you'll have to rely on yourselves alone. We Whites will find away to absent ourselves from your deletrious presence soon enough -- count on it.
They already have census data. The IRS collects this info already: name, address, income and dependants. whay cant they use this data and cross reference it against the census data for completeness? The irs is every year. the census is once per decade. This sounds like a redistricting ploy to me.
Judd Gregg is not qualified to be in Obama's cabinet.... He pays his taxes...
Why is there a "Black Caucus?" "Hispanic Caucus?" Do these people represent everyone in their district or just black/hispanic folks? Confused
Tom (10:51AM) has it right. But it is not just Commerce that gets this treatment. It is all Cabinet Departments. Obama is on record saying he thinks the existing Cabinet organization is outmoded. He has carved the White House up into a rabbit warren and is installing a variety of czars, special assistants, and "team" leaders in the West Wing for the issues he cares about. I believe he views the Cabinet Secretaries as administrators, not makers of important policy. A story on the Internet today speaks to the friction developing between Volcker and Summers as the special economic team Volker was to head is very slow coming together. This is just the beginning. We're going to see lots more friction as the czars start making policy and the cabinet heads are left in the dust.
Can the Gregg appointment be explained as the perfect excuse to take the Census out of Commerce?
Since the only reason the Census exists, by Constitutional standards, is for congressional reapportionment, I say take it out of the hands of the executive and give it to the Legislature to manage.
Once it was that every black man was counted as 3/5ths of a white man. This coming census lets reverse it. Every black man should count as 5/3rds of a white man.
Why? So that a political operation--the White House--can oversee the process that determines apportionment of House seats and allocation of Federal dollars---duhhhh...
This is going to turn into the liberals long time goal of using "sampling" when it comes to the census. Rather than ACTUALLY counting everyone, they want to count a few and then make estimations (guesses) about the total numbers. Was a bad idea when it was brought up the first time and is still a bad idea today.
Typical of Obama and the minority groups he panders to. Don't like the way the census is normally taken - because it might not give the results you want - then lets change the rules and do it our way. Gotta make sure those minority numbers are recorded the way they want so the democrat areas get more money. And I'm sure ACORN will help with the counting too. Like Lenin said: "its not who votes but who counts the votes that is important."
Er, did anyone consult Congress on this? 'Cause last I looked, federal law said the Census Bureau was firmly under the authority of Commerce, and the Constitution said the conduct of the Census was to be assigned by Congress "in such manner as they shall by law direct." Congress directed it to be handled by Commerce, not by the White House. Someone needs to explain that darn Rule of Law thing to the Obama team.
This is a joke. There will be no guarantee that the census will be fair. Judd Greg should quit before he is confirmed. There is nothing to indicate that because he voted to eliminate certain items from the commerce department that he would not fulfill his constitutional reponsibilities as the secretary. This will be another payback to minorities and special interests like ACORN.
The Constitution requires only an "actual enumeration" via the census. I'm sure that Gregg and the other bureaucrats at Commerce can figure out how to count people.
June Clendening Wrote: """""" An accurate census is critical to this nation's education programs at all levels; to businesses; to government programs of all kinds and at all levels, i.e., federal, state and local. If Gregg voted against Commerce and census, he should not be confirmed and I find his very nomination curious to say the least. """"""" Of course it is, which is why IT SHOULD NOT report directly to a corrupt White House. It is a full court press. Make sure that 50% of the population is on the dole so that they vote Dem, fix the cencus with mis-counts and illegal aliens, etc. Who do you work for June, ACORN?
Inner city groups, various ethinic groups, and political/economic groups have pushed for "estimates" and other population padding strategies to be used in the Census for decades. Now they have a "community orgnizer" President who will corrupt the Cenus to help them. Get ready for "The Acorn Census" in 2010. Another disaster for the country and overcount of minorites and liberal population areas. Political, economic, racial theft on the grandest scale in history. Obama as Lincoln and "Reconostruction II" Nationwide.
Senator Gregg voted against/protested the claim that there was some kind of an "emergency". Only in a democRAT world is an mandatory-every-10-years event somehow an "emergency". Given who's in charge, I expect that the census will sneak up on the morons AGAIN and there will be ANOTHER "emergency" this time around, too... What buffoons...
Maybe the SecTreas surn't oversee the IRS, since he doesn't believe in paying the correct amount of taxes owed!
Of course blacks want this. An honest count hurts them. The WH will insure that does not happen. Just more spin. Am shocked M$M actually reported this.
Obama is a tyrant. His White House is going to manipulate the numbers himself so that the Blue States receive more congressmen than they would otherwise deserve at the expense of the Red States. This makes ACORN and their election fraud unnecessary. America is finished.
Gregg says he has a deal/understanding with the Dem.Governor back home in New Hampshire, to replace him with another Republican. Good luck with that deal...will any of us out here be surprised when the Governor substitutes a Lib Dem? BTW...your check is in the mail! LOL
I would like to see census workers rise up and NOT count the illegal aliens... Maybe that would put an end to 'press 1 for English'....
This is to funny.....ever see the Don Knotts movie " How to Frame a Figg"....that is Gregg, he'll get this nice office with a sexy secetary, but really does nothing but sign papers all day that he does not even know what is in them....the only reason he got the job was to get another republican out of the senate so the demos can get total control of it...of course they did make a deal to replace his seat with another republican picked by the liberal democrat governor of New Hampshire....and you can bet it will be a liberal republican like Snowe, or Collins of Maine, or Arlen Spector of Penn.....to funny! Gregg shold have been loyal to his party, and stayed put, just another politican in it for his own benefit , like they all are these day...so long America it was nice knowing you as you once were.....hello socialism/communisum under the democrats, and rino's.
Maybe the new census figures will back up Pelosi's 500 Million count.
RACISM !
This is a dangerous path the Obama Admin is taking. Makes you wonder if the Gregg appointment was intentional so the White House could control the Census and voting patterns. I see New York and California showing major rises in population so more electoral votes to those states and the dems/Obama.
To the idiot who thinks the census money will go to ACORN- Its called the Census Bureau for a reason. It's because it hires hundreds of thousnads of people to conduct the census. They are temporary governement employees.
I honestly feel like I've entered Bizarro World.
Russ February 05, 2009 1:06 PM said Once it was that every black man was counted as 3/5ths of a white man. This coming census lets reverse it. Every black man should count as 5/3rds of a white man. _____________________________________________ Great idea, Russ. Let's go back to the 19th century sooner than we already are. And let's just not stop at the count. Let's make it so that black men pay 5/3 the taxes as the typical white male.
What these people really want is an estimated (over) count of homeless and illegals, to get them more funds. How can a job (Census Director) be more politicized than having it report to Rahm Emmanuel? I agree, Sen. Gregg should not take the job.
Lol, this is pretty funny, I was wondering why he would appoint a Republican to a position with power. Why? So he can consolidate more power in the hands of the ppl he trusts. With a republican who thinks Commerce is a waste of time in the seat he can "succumb" to demands to circumvent that position and allow his own gaggle free reign. If anyone can't figure out why OBAMA wants no republican hands on the census then they're pretty obtuse. If Census data overstates the numbers of minorities then you can funnel more money to them WITHOUT CHANGING THE LAW. It gets appropriated purely based on the Census data. So you let the white roads and schools crumble abit and funnel a disproportionate amt to the poor minorities and EVERYONE is happy... except the majority of course, but white folks will just take it and keep on working and generating money like they always do. BTW, I'm not necessarily saying that they're trying to lie about the figures. I mean I personally think that the whole democratic movement trying to overload the welfare and public works systems thing looks a lot like a little ol' plan some socialists at berkley came up with in the sixties or seventies. Y'know, you change welfare from a temporary holdover to a permanent entitlement (wait, did the bums ever consider it anything else lol? I'm too young to remember the time when ignorant idiots didn't scream about the government not giving them the welfare they "deserved") and then you make it as easy as possible to get into the system (so that you can get ppl who obviously aren't getting jobs, illegal aliens, whoever, into it) and then flood the system with everyone you can. This is just one line of attack (these douchebags suggested other things which the dems also seem to be doing lol) but it along with others eventually bankrupts your system and along with a political smear campaign leaves the government with no credibility so that.... well, all of that's already happened lol. The next step is to install socialism once you have forced the capitalist system to fail. Personally, I think this is probably what's going on. Don't really care though b/c even though they're only slowly slipping their socialist laws into our system people will wake up one day and say "hey, isn't this supposed to be a free capitalist society? Why do I as an engineer get paid the same as the janitor and why is my tax rate 50%?" And then they'll get their guns and they'll march on washington and clean out the riffraff :D I'm not saying they're purposely going to lie about census figures. The thing is, the census is not exact by any means. There's a lot of estimation, and there's a lot of guessing. By removing any conservative oversight from the process they can make sure that all of the estimation and guessing is in favor of minority areas, against white areas, etc. It sounds pretty screwed up, but its what politicians do lol; the dems need as many black and latino votes as they can get and one good way to do this is to build new roads and schools and public services in black and latino areas.
N.H. Democratic Gov. John Lynch has picked Republican Bonnie Newman to replace GOP Sen. Judd Gregg.
This is getting more ridiculous every minute! Enough of my taxes go for programs that I would never qualify for. Why not hire illegals to do this work? They will work for less than the minimum. If the new Democtas hire them we can skip employment taxes. AND, they will do the job that no real American wants! EVEN BETTER ONCE ROUNDED UP, AND THE JOB IS DONE, WE CAN SEND THEM HOME!
its a Circus.. we are all in trouble now
This is a rooky mistake. I made it when I was a 2LT in 1978. I appointed a work-center supervisor whom I did not fully trust. I held back some of his supervisor authority for myself. It did not work. You cannot hold anyone responsible if you do not give them the authority to carry out their responsibilities. It destroys moral and causes all kinds of conflicts.
i hear the next bank bail out will be $2 trillion
Sure Obama backs his nominees, right into a corner. Lobbyists have cowed the president to pull the census from his appointed commerce secretary? Real smart.
Sen. Gregg should tell Obama "Thanks but no thanks" on the Commerce Secretary job. Obviously, Obama plans on him being nothing but a figurehead in the Cabinet, a way to look "bi-partisan" when in reality it's just the opposite. Manipulate the census numbers and you can manipulate upwards the number of Democrats in office. Judd Gregg is being used by Obama...and appears too power-hungry to notice or care.
these so-called miinorities never cease to find somethinh to bitch about.
They cannot use the IRS data as thats only collected on people who do their taxes, none of those freebooters who voted multiple times would be counted since they don't have an "income" thats reported at least. And this way groups like Lulac get to count all those people who swam the river to get here.
Why bother to take a census? The new powers to be will only be reporting the numbers that they want to see...
Sure sounds like the new HATE MATH to me. Some loose change, that one.
Ralph Gizzip -- what a dope you must be. They've already determined that the new NH senator will be a GOOPer. Stop listening to your thrice-divorced, sex-touristing, drug addicted friend on the radio and pay attention.
Okay, next we will let the White House count the election votes in Minnesota senate elections. Oh, apparently, they already do!
Obama will dump Gregg after a short time. He only wanted to weaken the GOP in the Senate and he found a lap dog that would jump.
Alright all of you conspiracy theorist, there is an organization called the US Congress. They appropriate funds for the 2010 census. There are Republican Senators and Representatives in that body, if they can PROVE some type of census count fraud, then they should have a committee hearing and prove it. I have already volunteered to help count in the 2010 census, weeks ago, but have received no response from this organization. I believe the people in place currently are Bush appointees and the like. Go figure.
Here's a Dem-linked group admitting the reason the Census is so important to them: they want to count as many non-citizens as possible in order to obtain even more money and power: http://24ahead.com/ndn-admits-census-padding-non-citizens-gain-race-based-power
I think I can predict the results this "census": America is now 95% black, 4% hispanic and 1% white. Dole out the federal money accordingly!
He's probably the only nominee without a tax problem
Thousands of true American patriots tried and tried and TRIED to warn America about this ultra left wing radical socialist, but a majority chose to ignore the facts, and mindlessly follow the ad campaign.
Well Amerika, you got what you wanted.
Russ- (sigh) Once again with the old crap about blacks being valued as only three-fifths of a white man. That was NOT about discrimination. It was the idea of northern ANTI-slavery delegates to the constitutional convention, and was intended to LESSEN the influence of the southern slave-holding states. Without the 3/5 clause, the southern states would have had an even greater voice in Congress. Read a book, will ya?
The "stimulus" bill has $1,000,000,000 for the census. Ridiculous! Don't want my kids, grandkids, great grandkids paying back that money. That is not long term employment. The public wants long term employment. Infrastructure project that have a permanent value. Separate the "stimulus" bill into sections: long term jobs, short term jobs, money set aside for government departments (yuck), etc. Separate it out. Pass by segments. The public isn't stoopid. There is just too much pork in the bill. Deal with the pork later. It is apparent that the democrats want to saddle its future citizens with extra debt based on current wants instead of needs. Disappointed that not even a month in office and the same old stuff is happening. Fix the problem. Deal with the extras, later. If an election was held next month, Obama may not have the votes to win. The public senses the same old game plan. Obama needs to get Pelosi in order. She is a detriment to his presidency.
This appears to me to be nothing but an attempt by the administratoin to sieze control of the census results for precisely the purpose of ensuring that accurate results are NOT obtained. Rather, it will be used to inflate the apparent minority population of the country for sevreal purposes: (1) to increase the amount of HUD and other federal funding to cities and districts friendly to the socialists; (2) to justify changing congressional district boundaries to increase the likelihood of liberal candidates being elected in districts that are currently close calls; and (3) to reapportion congressional representation to favor Blue states. This, along with giving amnesty to 20 million illegal aliens, is how the liberals will guarantee that they will never, EVER lose power to conservatives again.
Wow, the number of GOP lug-nuts posting here is amazing. Guess the news that NH Governor already announced he is picking Bonnie Newman to replace Gregg... she is a Republican. And the only proven vote fraud in the past election seems to be coming out in court in the Minnesota recount cases and it is forged absentee ballots committed by Republican voters for Coleman. Guess that lunatic fringe needs to find a new boogey-man since commies, gays, a black President and ACORN are no longer operable scapegoats to try and scare the ignorant with.
I guess its time to stop filling out the census and smack the Federal govt up side the head..wait until you see the long form of it, and the questions it asks! Its not for any federal programs that might help the states, its to know every little thing in your personal life. DONT fill it out!
Sounds like the WH wants to make sure it's got somebody in place to rig the numbers. What other possible reason for such a decision. It's like having payables report to the CEO instead of the CFO. Not too many legitimate reasons to do that.
Here's the answer. Just claim you are afro-american. Then you can qualify for programs and discounts. The institutions don't ask for proof of race. It's whatever the person LISTS on forms. We all have a mixed background. Obama "chose" his race. He could have picked caucasian or african american. Let's all do it! It can happen. What's the government or institution going to do...take a blood sample, snap a photo? There ain't nuthin they can do. Start with your next school registration form. Listed afro-american. Who is ANYONE to ask why you checked that box? What will they demand for proof? It's just depends on what you check, not how you look. It's what you choose...just like Barack!
You that voted for this Marxist were idiots. He is going to turn this great country into a Marxist or Communist state. He is well on his way and the American people just sit back and are letting it happen. Flood your rep's and senator's office with phone call complaints. You had better wake up people. The phony stimulus bill is a payback to all the liberals and ACLU types that backed him. Who do we have to thank for all this mess is the idiotic voting public and the lazy lying liberal press.
The crooks who brought us ACORN now want to control the census. These guys make Carl Rove look like a pussycat. I won't hold my breath for the NYTimes condemnation.
I bet Obama wants to use ACORN to do the census!! What other reason could there be to bypass Sec'y of Treasury? ACORN can count illegals several times, poor urban dwellers and the list goes on.
What are they worried about. Not counting all the illigals?
Wow, what a bunch of whiners. The NH governor has ALREADY nominated and signed off on a Republican replacement, R.T.Tucker. It's been in the news for the past 2 days, the appointment was made the same day Gregg accepted the nomination. http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=news-000003023535 The emergncy funding for the 2000 Census was because the R-controlled Congress at the time didn't want to count it toward the General fund budget, it would have thrown the optics of their tax cut completely out of whack. It's the same ploy as the constant "emergency funding bills" for the Iraq war over the past 6 years. "House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said late last week the House was justified in declaring the $4.5 billion of 2000 census funding an "emergency" because the Supreme Court ruled this year the government could supplement traditional methods of counting the population with a statistical sample. " http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/politics/special/budget/stories/spending072799.htm Do some research before spouting off, eh?
Before any purge, they need to know where their biggest opposition lives. That is Communist 101. If not, then why are they insisting the census results go to the White House?
President Obama is a great politician. Make Sen. Judd Commerce Secretary, remove him as a Republican threat (potential fillibuster), and then take away his powers as Commerce Secretary. That is incredibly smart politics.
If Ms. Lee wants to insure the most ACCURATE possible count then I shall expect to see catagories such as: Mulatto (our new President), AfroAsian, EruoAfrican and or AfroHispanic in the 2010 census.
The entire Obama administration is a sham; a group of tainted individuals more concerned with power and status than the citizens they have pledged to protect. This is a train wreck happening....Obama has no clue, no management skills - just empty rhetoric. WE are in huge trouble with out a leader.
The motivation is obvious. "Sampling" instead of hard counts will make it much easier to rig the census numbers. Therefore - numbers in districts with heavy Republican populations can be deflated while numbers in districts with heavy democrat populations can be inflated. This will boost the democrats numbers in congress as well as give blue states more electoral votes. This is another step in keeping democrats in power for perpetuity. Clinton tried it but didn't succeed. the current administration seems more brazen.
Gregg's appointment seems to follow a theme. 1. Appoint a tax cheater to head the Treasury Department. 2. Appoint a healthcare lobbyist to run the health and and human services department. (luckily he was a tax cheat too, so he was only qualified to run the treasury) 3. Appoint someone with an obvious agenda against the role of the commerce department to take it's helm. This all about making the federal government even less effective (if that's possible) Next thing you know Obama will appoint Jamie Spears to chair a committee devoted to reducing teen pregnancy rates.
How is his reluctance to pour additional funding into the Census in 2000 proof that he intends to harm Blacks and Hispanics? Maybe he just thought they didn't need more money. Only someone with Racist thoughts would attribute racial motives to Sen. Gregg's actions. The Commerce Department is for ALL Americans. An accurate census is everyone's goal. Republicans are just as capable of leading that department as any person.
Why would anyone even WANT a job that was once held by the great Ron Brown???
As long as it is not Nancy Pelosi doing the counting.
They only chose Gregg to steal his Senate seat anyway, these totalitarian facsits will take away his authority away one piece at a time until he quits.
Looks like they just proved Gregg was right: we don't need a commerce dept!
Next change will be to SDP-Socialist Democrat Party so none of the ellitest will have to pay any taxes, the new middle class will pay all taxes.
Why waste the $$$ on doing a census that can be manipulated so easily. Just take the # of taxpayers and their dependants and ask them a few biographical details. Then you will have the data you need. AND, those who don't pay tax won't be counted. Benefits all around.
DON'T WORRY! ACORN will take care of the census.
CLINTON'S 2000 CENSUS!!! Remember the hoopla over the intrusive questionnaire re guns, etc that had NOTHING to do with census information. If you were unlucky enough to get this multi-page mess you were required BY LAW to provide the information...remember it now? MILLIONS OF AMERICANS PROTESTED THIS CENSUS.
Fortunately to work the census you have to pass a test which most people will not complete or score well on unless you are somewhat intelligent. I scored an 85 and did't finish to my embarassment! But i don't think i had any wrong answers! But its mystery how this will be down accurately. they made strong statements about keeping it unpolitical. But now you wonder with these developments!
This should be OBVIOUS people. THe White House wants control of the census to HIGH JACK reapportionment of House seats to districts THEY FAVOR! Illegal minority people will PAD the numbers where they need them. This is a travesty.
It would seem the Hispanic "leaders" want to be sure the illegals are counted accurately to up the monies the southwest states receive for education and health and welfare. I am somewhat surprised the black leaders would feel that way, as the extra monies will only be a clarion call for more illegals to sneak in and take jobs that, at this time, their constituents are in direct competition for. And the more monies sent south will mean less for the poorer schools in NY city; Chicago, and the poorer schools in LA that the young black students attend.
If Senator Gregg has any self-respect remaining, he should decline to accept the nomination under these circumstances.
This just shows how insignificant the Commerce Department really is, proving that it should be abolished after all.
The pigs enable this swill.
ACCURATE DATA WILL PREVAIL!! I work for the Bureau of the Census as a supervisor. We were interested to hear this! Bill Brewster, there is a difference between a census and a survey. I'd find out what that difference was before conducting your cost analysis. At least we are putting a billion into something constitutionally mandated, some people would like to spend billions on a bunch of other stuff that would apall the founding fathers. Rest assured, the most relaible & valid census possible will be conducted and we all take our confidentiality oath VERY seriously. Don't let your opinion of one person/party affect your participation in Census 2010. Please. We have a great group here who beleives in what we do. I can't stand the libs, do the Census just to SPITE them. We count America and each and every citizen has a right and a duty to participate in this civic activity. If the writers of the Constitution of the greatest country in the world thought it wasn't important, shouldn't you?
I'm confident that President Obama will assure all americans that a full and fair census will be conducted, by contracting it out to ACORN.
BTW, the word "data" is plural. E.g., the data ARE....
I guess ACORN will now take over the census.
What a bunch of pathetic uninformed whiners. The only thing weaker than your grip on realty is the vitality of your ideals. Your ideals got a clear shot with control of all 3 branches of government and your ideas clearly failed. In fact the failure was EPIC and based on the comments to this board the reason the last admin was an EPIC FAILURE was lack of sufficent IQ. Go find a lying tax-cheating unlicensed wanna-be plummer to do your thinking for you.
If Gregg is smart he will back out of this job right now. No one with a brain should want to be associated with this lame administration what-so-ever.
The Messiah will RULE. Do not dare question his rules.
Its Change You Can Smell.
Send out nothing but the short forms and maybe people will take you seriously! I got the long form, and the questions asked are hideous and a total disregard to the Constitution and our privacy rights, and I wont fill it out again if they send it me! Look up Phyllis Schlafly's opinion of what is legal and what is not for the Census, and if you get the long form DONT FILL IT OUT! The govt can use it against you!
Census to be contracted out to an independent agency(s) - ACORN and La Raza
Gregg should cheat on the census. Count every illegal as 4 citizens This would be consistent with thew rest of "O" associates
The Tax-Evader-in-Chief, riding high on his own arrogance again!
Ypou can smell the "bait and switch" now! Obama to control the census? The Black Congressional Caucus to control the census? Will this census count illegals and make it public? Or will ACORN do the census taking and we just may wind up with those 500 million a month Americans who'll lose their jobs?
All the democrats care about is over counting minorities. More minorities are in urban areas, so by over counting minorities the urban areas get more government cash.
Another Obama screw up...he is just using Gregg in order to have a Prepublican that he can blame his crappy leadership, unintelligence, communist ideals on...to deflect criticism away from Obama, lizard lady Pelosi, fat pig Frank, Slime ball Schumer and vampire Dodd...the group of Democrats is the worst of the worst, Obama leading the charge...when the going gets tough, it seems Obama jumps in his limo and goes to...2nd grade with Michelle! Wow! Great leader all of you pathetic, moronic and welfare loving Democrats voted for...Obama wants ACORN to be in charge....I think we need the white caucus now and the asian caucas...SO SICK of this garbage coming out of Washington in the last 2 weeks...
Come on people. Where are your heads? This move gives perfect cover and has been very well thought out. The fact that Gregg accepted shows he is more ego than thoughtful. The Dem party will do anything possible to keep their current power base. ANYTHING. They killed two birds with one stone by pulling a Repub from the Senate and getting their 60 seats as the Gov will select a Dem to replace him. Now the Dems also have cover using "mistrust" to hide real census numbers and substitute trusted ones. In actuality, Gregg will be one of the cleanest appointees showing the highest integrity. Its too bad he is not publicly moral and politically correct enough to handle the corruption about to occur on his own. A Dem with integrity would never allow this. Are there any left? You are about to see corruption as it has never existed before.
Given how bad this admin is doing at running its own affairs, would you really trust them to do the census right? This is IMNSHO without a doubt the worst admin I have seen so far and I go back to FDR. These people couldn't brew a cup of coffee right.
I wondered, too, why Sen. Gregg was chosen, because the last thing any responsible, patriotic Democrat should desire, both for the Democratic Party and our country, in the upcoming ten-year census is some culture of corruption Republican running it. I don't care what assurances may have been given by Sen. Gregg that he will run an honorable and honest census, anyone who had even a supposedly remote interaction with Jack Abramoff, as Gregg's office seems to have had, should not be put in a position of public trust. Reaching across the aisle can sometimes go too far, especially as culture of corruption and deceit Republicans keep proving over and over again...no halfway, it's either their way or no way...just like what caused so much damage to our country over the past eight corruption-filled years.
rhomp2002 February 05, 2009 9:13 PM Given how bad this admin is doing at running its own affairs, would you really trust them to do the census right? This is IMNSHO without a doubt the worst admin I have seen so far and I go back to FDR. These people couldn't brew a cup of coffee right. Thats quite the statement considering they have been around and in charge WHAT THREE WEEKS ? You must be a ledgend in your own mind.
Those that control the Census count control the apportionment of billions of tax dollars and more importantly they control the apportionment of Congressional seats per state. How long will it be before we find out that ACORN is now "counting" the populous? The take over and consolidation of power from the "useful idiots" continues.
America is getting really screwed by the corrupt president
Russ February 05, 2009 1:06 PM Once it was that every black man was counted as 3/5ths of a white man. This coming census lets reverse it. Every black man should count as 5/3rds of a white man. Yeah, and you can pay 5/3rds of the taxes, they might as well they are already 5/3rds of the jail inmates and welfare mom's
So let me get this straight . . . Obama appoints a Republican to head the Commerce Department, just so he'll be able to tout further evidence of his "bi-partisanship," and then bypasses him? Convenient that we haven't heard a peep from the loons crying about "King George" in '00 and '04. I'm for impeaching this SOB right now.
Oracle, your post is a joke. Don't even pretend to talk about corruption when William Jefferson, Chris Dodd, Eliot Spitzer, Barney Frank, Jack Murtha, and entire hosts of Democrats have their hands in dirt of some consistency or another.
This is real fishy smelling.
They wanted Gregg to be in this position so they could use it as an excuse to bring the Cenus under the White House rule, so they could redraw Congressional Districts how they wanted. If you can't see that, you're blind.
I'm not sure all of you see the severity of this move. Article 1 section 2 of the Constitution and the entirety of Title 13 of the US code are nullified if the Executive branch is allowed to take control of the census. This is Obama's first of many steps to re-write the Constitution as he sees fit. Goodbye Legislative powers(this move), 1st Ammendment(fairness doctrine), and 2nd Ammendment(http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h111-45).
The census is in the Constitution to apportion House seats and nothing more. This has grown into a huge invasion of privacy by a bloated out of control imperial federal government.
DEAN is absolutely correct in his assessment. The method to their madness is to remain in power now that they succeeded with convincing people to "hope" and "change." This is the way they can control districts and re-districting to suit their purpose. The children from never never land are back in charge. We all better wake up and take this country back from the far left or we will have no country left. The Pres is sure not doing his job when he is still on the "campaign trail," writing op eds and taking his wifey on dates.
Hey Brandon, what branch is the commerce dept in? Oh right..
What a revolting mix of racist claptrap, Limbaugh disinformation and misguided paranoia. While paranoia can be a hightened sense of awareness it can also be looney. It reminds of my sixth grade teacher who was blackly depressed when Kennedy won the election in 1960...she never stopped ranting about the crazy Red Chinese. The Russians were bad but the Chinese were crazy. The rhetoric here is the same as before the election. The reality of what a moderate Obama actually is (unfortunately), doesn't seem to have an effect. Fortunately the reality based population is greater than those living in the fantasy ideological world of "None Dare Call It Treason".
I think it's unconstitutional but who cares about the Constitution of the United States, Obama doesn't.
Mr Allen: The whole article lies in the first paragraph: "The director of the Census Bureau will report directly to the White House and not the secretary of Commerce, according to a senior White House official." If the senior White House official prefers not to be named publically, then can you tell us more about the nature of this decision? Thank you.
Maybe the Republicans would be considered more trustworthy on the census if they hadn't spent so much time urging citizens to not answer in 2000. I'm just sayin'.
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