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Obama Moves Census to White House – UPDATED

Posted by Duane Lester on Feb 10th, 2009 • Clicks

Every ten years, a census is taken in the United States to Count the number of people in the country. This is a critical exercise for politicians, as it is the basis for redistricting, dictating how many representatives each state gets in the House. It dictates how many electoral votes each state gets for president.

It is generally a non-partisan event, but for some reason, President Obama has chosen to move the responsibility for the census from the Commerce Department to the White House, and has turned it over to his Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel.

As a matter of impact, the census has tremendous political significance. Political parties are always eager to have a hand in redrawing districts so that they can maximize their own party’s clout while minimizing the opposition, often through gerrymandering.

The census also determines the composition of the Electoral College, which chooses the president. If one party were to control the census, it could arguably try to perpetuate its hold on political power.

The results of the census are also enormously important in another way — the allocation of federal funds. Theoretically, a political party could disproportionately steer federal funding to areas dominated by its own members through a skewing of census numbers.

At this point the White House doesn’t seem willing to say what Emanuel’s role will be in overseeing the census, and White House officials say census managers will work closely with top-level White House staffers, but will technically remain part of the Commerce Department.

The question remains: why? Why move the responsibility from the Secretary of Commerce to the White House Chief of Staff?

The answer: minority groups don’t trust Obama. That is to say, they don’t trust his judgment. He selected Republican Judd Gregg to head the Commerce Department, and he hasn’t been a big supporter of the department in the past. Plus, being a Republican, he’s a de facto racist:

Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Barbara Lee, D-Calif., said in a statement Wednesday, "Two of the most important responsibilities of the commerce department are to ensure that minority-owned businesses are fully integrated in our nation’s economic recovery and to conduct the decennial census."

Lee said, "… 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."

The National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) also voiced concern.

"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," a NALEO spokesman told Politico.com.

The Hispanic newspaper La Opinion, in an editorial yesterday, urged caution, saying, "Gregg’s history on this issue is not good," adding that it is "deeply concerned about the Gregg appointment."

"We believe that he will follow Obama’s directive for the agency that oversees a wide variety of areas. … Our fear, though, is that other priorities may also push aside the importance of national headcount or that it will be undertaken reluctantly due to the Commerce Secretary’s lack of conviction and interest in the value of the census. We cannot afford this risk."

So, was Obama’s appointment of Gregg a gesture of bipartisanship, or a really good excuse to move the Census to the White House? I’m thinking more the latter than the former, but maybe that’s the anti-communist in me.

For those who are wondering what all the hullabaloo is about, Rahm Emanuel is one of the most partisan human beings to even walk the halls of the White House. And, he’s a bit of a thug:

At a dinner to celebrate President Clinton’s first election victory, Mr Emanuel began to name those who he believed had earned his enmity. As he listed the names of those he saw as traitors, he grabbed a steak knife, stood up and began plunging the knife into the table and shouting “Dead! Dead! Dead!” after each name.

“When he was done, the table looked like a lunar landscape,” one witness recalled. “It was like something out of The Godfather. But that’s Rahm for you.”

Imagine what he’s going to do to a map showing red districts.

Update:

Boortz wonders how it ever got to the Commerce Department in the first place and if this power grab is Constitutional (like that matters these days):

The census is written into the Constitution. In Article I, Section 2 the US Constitution orders that "The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct."

Now, a question. Which branch of government is outlined in Article I of the Constitution? Any takes? If you guessed the Legislative branch, then give yourself a pat on the back.

Now, the next question .. if the census is set forth in Article I of the Constitution and not Article II (that would be the Executive branch) .. how did it end up under the Commerce Department in the first place? And how can the Obama White House now claim control? Is this White House power-grab as legal?

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