Congressman Patrick McHenry (NC-10), Ranking Member on the House Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives, released the following the statement in response to President Obama’s forthcoming nomination of Robert Groves to be Director of the U.S. Census Bureau

“The fight to protect the accuracy and independence of the 2010 Census has just begun.  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.  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.”

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