Granby01033

"They fear that if the census starts counting people accurately, Democratic urban areas will gain power and federal funds at the expense of suburban GOP strongholds."

President Bill Clinton proposed changing the United States Census in 1998. Instead of relying just on actual head counts, which always undercount people, Clinton proposed using statistical sampling as well. His goal was a more accurate census in the year 2000.  The National Academy of Sciences supported the idea. The GOP put the kibosh on it because the people most likely to go uncounted in the census were those least likely to support Republicans.

As Richard R. Buery, Jr. wrote in The Nation,

Census data are the basis for appointment of seats in the House, as well as for drawing new Congressional districts within the states for state and local government. In addition, billions of dollars in federal funding are distributed each year on the basis of census data. Republicans know that people of color, renters, recent immigrants, linguistic minorities and urban residents-the very folks the census keeps missing-tend to vote for Democrats. They fear that if the census starts counting people accurately, Democratic urban areas will gain power and federal funds at the expense of suburban GOP strongholds.

It's the politics of the census that seems to have led Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH) to withdraw his nomination for Secretary of Commerce. The AP reports:

Gregg's record raised concerns about his commitment to an accurate census count, a priority for minority groups that have historically been undercounted.

The White House sought to soothe those concerns in a statement late last week reassuring that the census director would "work closely with White House senior management."

That, in turn, sparked an uproar from Republicans, who accused the White House of injecting partisan politics into the census and seeking to cut out agency professionals in favor of political operatives.

House Republican leaders sent a letter to the White House on Wednesday demanding a reversal and scheduled a Capitol Hill news conference for Thursday to broadcast their complaints and announce formation of a census task force.

The White House move, Republicans contended, "would result in the unprecedented politicization of the census."

From what I've heard, Gregg wasn't a particularly talented candidate for Commerce. His party affiliation had much more to do with his appointment than his resume.  The guy's easily replaced if Obama considers Democrats as well as Republicans in the post.

As the census approaches, it should be fun to watch the GOP kick and scream about the census, though it's unlikely anything untoward will happen.

--Mb