11-23-2017, 02:47 PM
Trump is politicizing the census. Surprise, surprise! uh huh....
Trump Is On The Verge Of Politicizing The Census, Advocates Say
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-verge-p...43259.html
President Donald Trump is reportedly leaning toward tapping an academic for the No. 2 position at the U.S. Census Bureau, a decision that has alarmed advocates who say the pick lacks adequate management experience for a massive operational role and has political views that would undermine the credibility of the agency.
Politico reported Tuesday that Trump is considering Thomas Brunell, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas with no management experience, to be the deputy director of the Census Bureau. If Trump does pick Brunell, Politico noted, it would break with longstanding tradition of having a nonpartisan career civil servant in the role.
Brunell faces increased scrutiny from civil rights and voting groups because as an academic, he has argued that redistricting for partisan gain can actually be a good thing and has served as an expert witness in support of redistricting plans. Those views are significant because the census, which the U.S. Constitution requires every 10 years, helps determine how electoral maps are drawn. The deputy director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the bureau ― a position that has increased importance as the agency gears up for the 2020 census.
Robert Groves, who ran the Census Bureau from 2009-2012 and is now the provost at Georgetown University, said the deputy director position was traditionally filled by a civil servant who had been promoted through the bureau. Phil Sparks, a former Census official who is now co-director of The Census Project, a coalition that monitors the Census, likened the position to a train engineer who makes sure everything is running on time.
“You want to have a strong person in that position because that’s the day-to-day administrator for the Census Bureau,” Sparks told HuffPost. “The fact that they are considering someone with a highly partisan background just boggles the mind.”
African Americans and Hispanics, two groups Sparks said the Census has traditionally had trouble counting, could suffer significantly if there is not strong and clear organizational leadership at the Census.
Lawmakers are required to draw electoral districts in such a way that each district has roughly the same number of people in it. Federal law prohibits lawmakers from drawing those maps in such a way that intentionally dilutes the impact of minority votes. A good census is crucial to making sure that doesn’t happen by giving lawmakers an accurate sense of the minority populations in each area......
(so Trump could end up facilitating illegal census behavior)
Trump Is On The Verge Of Politicizing The Census, Advocates Say
https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-verge-p...43259.html
President Donald Trump is reportedly leaning toward tapping an academic for the No. 2 position at the U.S. Census Bureau, a decision that has alarmed advocates who say the pick lacks adequate management experience for a massive operational role and has political views that would undermine the credibility of the agency.
Politico reported Tuesday that Trump is considering Thomas Brunell, a professor at the University of Texas at Dallas with no management experience, to be the deputy director of the Census Bureau. If Trump does pick Brunell, Politico noted, it would break with longstanding tradition of having a nonpartisan career civil servant in the role.
Brunell faces increased scrutiny from civil rights and voting groups because as an academic, he has argued that redistricting for partisan gain can actually be a good thing and has served as an expert witness in support of redistricting plans. Those views are significant because the census, which the U.S. Constitution requires every 10 years, helps determine how electoral maps are drawn. The deputy director is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the bureau ― a position that has increased importance as the agency gears up for the 2020 census.
Robert Groves, who ran the Census Bureau from 2009-2012 and is now the provost at Georgetown University, said the deputy director position was traditionally filled by a civil servant who had been promoted through the bureau. Phil Sparks, a former Census official who is now co-director of The Census Project, a coalition that monitors the Census, likened the position to a train engineer who makes sure everything is running on time.
“You want to have a strong person in that position because that’s the day-to-day administrator for the Census Bureau,” Sparks told HuffPost. “The fact that they are considering someone with a highly partisan background just boggles the mind.”
African Americans and Hispanics, two groups Sparks said the Census has traditionally had trouble counting, could suffer significantly if there is not strong and clear organizational leadership at the Census.
Lawmakers are required to draw electoral districts in such a way that each district has roughly the same number of people in it. Federal law prohibits lawmakers from drawing those maps in such a way that intentionally dilutes the impact of minority votes. A good census is crucial to making sure that doesn’t happen by giving lawmakers an accurate sense of the minority populations in each area......
(so Trump could end up facilitating illegal census behavior)