Today Robert Groves was confirmed as Census Director (he was Obama's pick to head this politically appointed post).
Wicker votes nay; Cochran votes yea.
Showing posts with label Robert Groves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Robert Groves. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Groves confirmed as Census head
After a few months of stalled negotiations, Robert Groves has been confirmed as Obama's pick to head the 2010 Census.
From the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
More from the NY Times.
From the AP:
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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.
More from the NY Times.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Locke: Unlock the door to Groves' confirmation
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke urges House Republicans to end their blockade on President Obama's nominee to head the 2010 Census. See the AP story below.
Locke urges end to GOP block on census nominee
By HOPE YEN – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is urging an immediate end to a GOP block on President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the 2010 census.
Robert Groves, a veteran survey researcher with the University of Michigan, was easily approved by a Senate committee last month. But Republicans have stalled Groves' full confirmation vote for undisclosed reasons.
With the census just months away, Locke said in a statement Wednesday that the government cannot wait "any longer" for Groves' confirmation. He said the longer the delay, the greater the risk to the accuracy and success of the census.
Under Senate rules, a senator can hold up a nomination without going public or providing a reason. Groves is among roughly 30 Obama nominees currently in limbo.
Locke urges end to GOP block on census nominee
By HOPE YEN – 4 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is urging an immediate end to a GOP block on President Barack Obama's nominee to lead the 2010 census.
Robert Groves, a veteran survey researcher with the University of Michigan, was easily approved by a Senate committee last month. But Republicans have stalled Groves' full confirmation vote for undisclosed reasons.
With the census just months away, Locke said in a statement Wednesday that the government cannot wait "any longer" for Groves' confirmation. He said the longer the delay, the greater the risk to the accuracy and success of the census.
Under Senate rules, a senator can hold up a nomination without going public or providing a reason. Groves is among roughly 30 Obama nominees currently in limbo.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
GOP blocks Census head confirmation
From the Wall Street Journal:
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans are blocking a vote on the nomination of Robert Groves to be the Census Bureau's director, leaving the agency without a leader less than a year before the 2010 nationwide head count.
Dr. Groves, President Barack Obama's pick to lead the bureau, was approved easily by the Senate homeland-security committee in May, but Republicans blocked a confirmation vote last week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Republicans weren't yet in agreement on the nominee.
It is unclear why Republicans are blocking the vote. A McConnell spokeswoman, Jennifer Morris, said she had no information on the delay.
Dr. Groves, director of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and a former Census Bureau official, has raised concerns among mainly Republican lawmakers because he is an expert in sampling, the use of statistical adjustments to compensate for undercounted populations. Dr. Groves has said he won't use the practice for the 2010 count.
"Every day that goes by that the Census Bureau does not have a director that is responsible for steering the ship, the risk to the Census in terms of its operational success grows great," said Terri Ann Lowenthal, who headed the Obama transition team's effort on the Census.
Preparations are well under way for the 2010 count. In recent decades, the count has been plagued by data-collection problems in low-income urban areas and remote rural areas. Engaging undocumented immigrants, who are hesitant to provide personal information, has always been difficult.
The bureau is in need of a figure to publicly emphasize the importance of the decennial count, Ms. Lowenthal said, and without a director, this has been all but impossible
WASHINGTON -- Senate Republicans are blocking a vote on the nomination of Robert Groves to be the Census Bureau's director, leaving the agency without a leader less than a year before the 2010 nationwide head count.
Dr. Groves, President Barack Obama's pick to lead the bureau, was approved easily by the Senate homeland-security committee in May, but Republicans blocked a confirmation vote last week. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said Republicans weren't yet in agreement on the nominee.
It is unclear why Republicans are blocking the vote. A McConnell spokeswoman, Jennifer Morris, said she had no information on the delay.
Dr. Groves, director of the University of Michigan's Survey Research Center and a former Census Bureau official, has raised concerns among mainly Republican lawmakers because he is an expert in sampling, the use of statistical adjustments to compensate for undercounted populations. Dr. Groves has said he won't use the practice for the 2010 count.
"Every day that goes by that the Census Bureau does not have a director that is responsible for steering the ship, the risk to the Census in terms of its operational success grows great," said Terri Ann Lowenthal, who headed the Obama transition team's effort on the Census.
Preparations are well under way for the 2010 count. In recent decades, the count has been plagued by data-collection problems in low-income urban areas and remote rural areas. Engaging undocumented immigrants, who are hesitant to provide personal information, has always been difficult.
The bureau is in need of a figure to publicly emphasize the importance of the decennial count, Ms. Lowenthal said, and without a director, this has been all but impossible
Friday, May 8, 2009
Groves discusses sampling, managerial styles during nomination process; pledges to run politics-free Census
From the AP:
Groves pledges to run 2010 census free of politics
By HOPE YEN – 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is pledging to stand up to congressional Republicans — and the White House if necessary — and to stick to sound science when leading the high-stakes head count.
If he cannot, he will resign, nominee Robert M. Groves said.
In a 41-page Senate questionnaire obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, Groves defended his push for statistical sampling in the 1990 census to make up for an undercount of millions of mostly minorities, who tend to vote for Democrats — a move that was then decried by the Republican commerce secretary as political tampering. Groves is a veteran survey researcher at the University of Michigan.
While Groves said the use of sampling in 2010 was unlikely given the little time remaining, he would not say whether he would support other measures such as a government halt to immigration raids. "I will work with all agencies of government to assure the best census this country can achieve," Groves wrote when asked if he would seek to scale back enforcement.
On matters of science, Groves was unequivocal. "The White House can have no role," he said. "If the director is perceived to be a pawn of one or another political ideological perspective, the credibility of the statistical system is threatened."
Groves said if he encounters undue partisan interference from the White House or elsewhere that he cannot resist, "I will resign and work outside the system to stop the abuse."
The Senate Homeland Security committee is scheduled to hold Groves' confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
In his questionnaire, Groves also:
_Cast the Census Bureau as woefully outdated, saying it lacks scientific talent due to a recent and upcoming wave of retirements.
_Acknowledged he lacked extensive management experience to run the bureau's sprawling operations but said he was up to the task.
Separately, the Commerce Department said it had hired Kenneth Prewitt, who headed the 2000 census count, as a part-time paid consultant to Secretary Gary Locke on 2010 census issues. He will be part of a team of experts who will present recommendations later this year to the census director.
Prewitt, now a Columbia University professor, served last year as an adviser to Republican Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. At the time, Prewitt privately urged the Bush administration to push for a change in federal laws to allow for broader use of statistical sampling, or "accept the likelihood of a distributionally inaccurate census that is more undemocratic."
"I appreciate that ... sampling will be viewed as an unrealistic option," Prewitt wrote in the memo of March 17, 2008, provided to the AP, noting the likely political resistance from Republicans who oppose census sampling methods that tend to favor Democrats.
"However, there are times when crisis conditions produce political courage," he said.
Gutierrez never followed up on that recommendation for broader use of sampling.
Groves, 60, a former census associate director from 1990-92, said he joined several officials in recommending the 1990 census be statistically adjusted because the "adjusted estimates were of higher quality than the unadjusted."
The recommendation came amid a fierce political dispute that prompted White House staff under President George H.W. Bush to call advisers to the bureau and express opposition. The Census Bureau was then overruled by Republican Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, who called the proposed adjustment "political tampering."
The Supreme Court later ruled in 1999 that the wording of the federal law barred broad uses of statistical sampling to apportion House seats. Justices, however, indicated that adjustments could be made to the population count when redrawing congressional boundaries and distributing federal money.
In his questionnaire, Groves indicated that he believed adjusted counts could help improve the census but said he had no plans to push sampling in 2010 or beyond.
"I believe the Supreme Court ruling stands as the guidance on this issue," he said.
If confirmed by the Senate, Groves will 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 because of language problems and an economic crisis 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. A nationwide group of Latino ministers has called for a boycott of the census unless Obama moves forward on his pledge to pass immigration reform.
Obama last month announced the selection of Groves, who has spent decades researching ways to improve survey response rates and designing surveys for agencies from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics to the EPA and National Institutes of Health.
Groves pledges to run 2010 census free of politics
By HOPE YEN – 19 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's pick to lead the Census Bureau is pledging to stand up to congressional Republicans — and the White House if necessary — and to stick to sound science when leading the high-stakes head count.
If he cannot, he will resign, nominee Robert M. Groves said.
In a 41-page Senate questionnaire obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, Groves defended his push for statistical sampling in the 1990 census to make up for an undercount of millions of mostly minorities, who tend to vote for Democrats — a move that was then decried by the Republican commerce secretary as political tampering. Groves is a veteran survey researcher at the University of Michigan.
While Groves said the use of sampling in 2010 was unlikely given the little time remaining, he would not say whether he would support other measures such as a government halt to immigration raids. "I will work with all agencies of government to assure the best census this country can achieve," Groves wrote when asked if he would seek to scale back enforcement.
On matters of science, Groves was unequivocal. "The White House can have no role," he said. "If the director is perceived to be a pawn of one or another political ideological perspective, the credibility of the statistical system is threatened."
Groves said if he encounters undue partisan interference from the White House or elsewhere that he cannot resist, "I will resign and work outside the system to stop the abuse."
The Senate Homeland Security committee is scheduled to hold Groves' confirmation hearing on Tuesday.
In his questionnaire, Groves also:
_Cast the Census Bureau as woefully outdated, saying it lacks scientific talent due to a recent and upcoming wave of retirements.
_Acknowledged he lacked extensive management experience to run the bureau's sprawling operations but said he was up to the task.
Separately, the Commerce Department said it had hired Kenneth Prewitt, who headed the 2000 census count, as a part-time paid consultant to Secretary Gary Locke on 2010 census issues. He will be part of a team of experts who will present recommendations later this year to the census director.
Prewitt, now a Columbia University professor, served last year as an adviser to Republican Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. At the time, Prewitt privately urged the Bush administration to push for a change in federal laws to allow for broader use of statistical sampling, or "accept the likelihood of a distributionally inaccurate census that is more undemocratic."
"I appreciate that ... sampling will be viewed as an unrealistic option," Prewitt wrote in the memo of March 17, 2008, provided to the AP, noting the likely political resistance from Republicans who oppose census sampling methods that tend to favor Democrats.
"However, there are times when crisis conditions produce political courage," he said.
Gutierrez never followed up on that recommendation for broader use of sampling.
Groves, 60, a former census associate director from 1990-92, said he joined several officials in recommending the 1990 census be statistically adjusted because the "adjusted estimates were of higher quality than the unadjusted."
The recommendation came amid a fierce political dispute that prompted White House staff under President George H.W. Bush to call advisers to the bureau and express opposition. The Census Bureau was then overruled by Republican Commerce Secretary Robert Mosbacher, who called the proposed adjustment "political tampering."
The Supreme Court later ruled in 1999 that the wording of the federal law barred broad uses of statistical sampling to apportion House seats. Justices, however, indicated that adjustments could be made to the population count when redrawing congressional boundaries and distributing federal money.
In his questionnaire, Groves indicated that he believed adjusted counts could help improve the census but said he had no plans to push sampling in 2010 or beyond.
"I believe the Supreme Court ruling stands as the guidance on this issue," he said.
If confirmed by the Senate, Groves will 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 because of language problems and an economic crisis 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. A nationwide group of Latino ministers has called for a boycott of the census unless Obama moves forward on his pledge to pass immigration reform.
Obama last month announced the selection of Groves, who has spent decades researching ways to improve survey response rates and designing surveys for agencies from the U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics to the EPA and National Institutes of Health.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Letter to Congress
Robert Groves will face a confirmation hearing in early May, according to media reports. Here's a copy of a letter sent urging Congress to confirm his appointment. The letter is signed by six former Census directors.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Will Groves pick force Locke to contradict his testimony to Senate regarding statistical sampling?
...or, so asks Human Events.
White House continues effort to control Census
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.” As outrageous as that maneuver was at the time, the president has now reinforced politicization of the process with his nomination to run the Census Bureau the man whose name is synonymous with exploitation of the census to reach political outcomes.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sits on the Senate subcommittee responsible for census oversight. “A sampling process would open the census to the worst kind of political manipulation,” Coburn (R-Okla.) said. “The Constitution clearly requires a count of every person, not a best guess that could be influenced by political rather than empirical considerations.”
On Friday, House Republican leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) expressed concern about the Groves nomination. “Conducting the census is a vital Constitutional obligation,” Boehner said. “Its findings help determine how hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are spent, as well as how the American people are represented in Congress. It should be as solid, reliable, and accurate as possible in every respect. That is why I’m concerned about the White House decision to select Robert Groves as director of the Census Bureau. … We will have to watch closely to ensure the 2010 census is conducted without attempting similar statistical sleight of hand.”
Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) serves as the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee charged with census oversight. “The fight to protect the accuracy and independence of the 2010 Census has just begun,” McHenry said. “With the nomination of Robert Groves, President Obama has made clear that he intends to employ the political manipulation of census data for partisan gain. Mr. Groves is a leading advocate for partisan data manipulation. In fact, his efforts to tamper with census results in 1990 are well-documented and were rightly rejected.
“This represents a reversal of recent White House assurances that it would not exercise political influence over the census. This move will force Commerce Secretary Locke to contradict his sworn testimony during his confirmation hearing. Secretary Locke made clear that the political manipulation of census results, or ‘statistical adjustment,’ would not be used in the 2010 Census. This alone should be enough for the U.S. Senate to prevent the confirmation of Mr. Groves.
“The partisan adjustment of census data produces a false count that does not address the undercount,” McHenry continued. “Furthermore, it is both unconstitutional and prohibited by federal law. The census is far too important to become a tool to wield political power. In order to uphold the law and protect the credibility of our country’s entire statistical system, we will take any and all action necessary to preserve the 219-year tradition of an accurate and independent census.”
White House continues effort to control Census
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.” As outrageous as that maneuver was at the time, the president has now reinforced politicization of the process with his nomination to run the Census Bureau the man whose name is synonymous with exploitation of the census to reach political outcomes.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) sits on the Senate subcommittee responsible for census oversight. “A sampling process would open the census to the worst kind of political manipulation,” Coburn (R-Okla.) said. “The Constitution clearly requires a count of every person, not a best guess that could be influenced by political rather than empirical considerations.”
On Friday, House Republican leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) expressed concern about the Groves nomination. “Conducting the census is a vital Constitutional obligation,” Boehner said. “Its findings help determine how hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are spent, as well as how the American people are represented in Congress. It should be as solid, reliable, and accurate as possible in every respect. That is why I’m concerned about the White House decision to select Robert Groves as director of the Census Bureau. … We will have to watch closely to ensure the 2010 census is conducted without attempting similar statistical sleight of hand.”
Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) serves as the ranking Republican on the House subcommittee charged with census oversight. “The fight to protect the accuracy and independence of the 2010 Census has just begun,” McHenry said. “With the nomination of Robert Groves, President Obama has made clear that he intends to employ the political manipulation of census data for partisan gain. Mr. Groves is a leading advocate for partisan data manipulation. In fact, his efforts to tamper with census results in 1990 are well-documented and were rightly rejected.
“This represents a reversal of recent White House assurances that it would not exercise political influence over the census. This move will force Commerce Secretary Locke to contradict his sworn testimony during his confirmation hearing. Secretary Locke made clear that the political manipulation of census results, or ‘statistical adjustment,’ would not be used in the 2010 Census. This alone should be enough for the U.S. Senate to prevent the confirmation of Mr. Groves.
“The partisan adjustment of census data produces a false count that does not address the undercount,” McHenry continued. “Furthermore, it is both unconstitutional and prohibited by federal law. The census is far too important to become a tool to wield political power. In order to uphold the law and protect the credibility of our country’s entire statistical system, we will take any and all action necessary to preserve the 219-year tradition of an accurate and independent census.”
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Breaking news: Obama nominates Groves as Census Director
The AP has an informative piece regarding Obama's pick to head the Census Bureau, which oversees the upcoming decennial headcount of America. Obama's choice - Robert Groves - is a professor who advocates the controversial "sampling" method of counting individuals, as opposed to actual enumeration. Read the story below or click here for more information.
Obama to nominate sampling expert to head census
By HOPE YEN –
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 on 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 over the selection of Groves, saying Obama's choice raised serious questions about his political intentions.
"This is an incredibly troubling selection that contradicts the administration's assurances that the census process would not be used to advance an ulterior political agenda," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Mr. Groves will have every opportunity to address these concerns during the confirmation process."
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.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has made clear that sampling will not be used for apportionment. He stated during his confirmation hearing that there are no 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.
Census experts have said it would be difficult at this point to make plans for sampling in the 2010 census for congressional redistricting purposes since it is only a year away. It is more likely that Groves could have an impact on statistical adjustment and other decisions as part of long-term planning for census surveys after 2010.
Groves, 60, 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 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.
Obama to nominate sampling expert to head census
By HOPE YEN –
WASHINGTON (AP) — 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 on 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 over the selection of Groves, saying Obama's choice raised serious questions about his political intentions.
"This is an incredibly troubling selection that contradicts the administration's assurances that the census process would not be used to advance an ulterior political agenda," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the top Republican on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. "Mr. Groves will have every opportunity to address these concerns during the confirmation process."
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.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has made clear that sampling will not be used for apportionment. He stated during his confirmation hearing that there are no 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.
Census experts have said it would be difficult at this point to make plans for sampling in the 2010 census for congressional redistricting purposes since it is only a year away. It is more likely that Groves could have an impact on statistical adjustment and other decisions as part of long-term planning for census surveys after 2010.
Groves, 60, 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 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.
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