Imagine if Karl Rove Had Run the U.S. Census (Updated)

Nice to see people are waking up to the major problem of this idea by the Obama Administration.

I do wonder what Republican U.S. Senator Republican Judd Gregg, the proposed Commerce secretary nominee thinks about this.

As the article states

The White House has proposed that the director of the Census, a Commerce Department employee, report to the White House. The White House contends this is no big deal. Nevertheless, the move followed a wave of protest from liberal civil rights groups concerned that they might not succeed in maximizing the count of minority voters if the census remained under the auspices of Republican Judd Gregg, the Commerce secretary nominee......


It is ironic that the Obama team selected Republican Judd Gregg to head the Commerce Department as an intended symbol of the Obama administration’s commitment to New Politics. This was supposedly evidence of a less cravenly political style of governing than what many contended was par for the course in the Bush years. Now, it appears the Obama team intends to strip Gregg of real authority over this key responsibility, giving lie to the notion that the Obama administration believes in post-partisanship.

How does he feel that President Obama says he wants to put him in charge of a important department (especially in this Term because of the Census) but does not trust or to be more exact will listen to people that do not trust his ethics as having a valid Census that is not "cooked".

It is just bizarre.

I would be worried how loyal the boss was going to be the next few years.

Tip of the hat to Instapundit

Update- As I thought this also appears to be illegal

Congress has “directed” in Title 13 that the Census be carried out by the Bureau of the Census “as an agency within, and under the jurisdiction of, the Department of Commerce.” 13 U.S.C. 2. The Secretary of Commerce is directed to carry out the duties of this title and while he can delegate “the performance of such functions and duties,” he can only do so to “officers and employees of the Department of Commerce.” 13 U.S.C. 4. So what Obama is doing by having the Census Bureaus report directly to the White House is not authorized by federal law. Also, only “sworn officers and employees of the Department or bureau” are allowed to examine individual census reports. This is part of the confidentiality requirements of Section 9 of the law. Depending on what kinds of reports and information would be given to the White House, there could also be a violation of this confidentiality requirement.

I worked the Census 10 years ago and let me tell you that CONFIDENTIALITY thing is big. See A New Politics Alright for more