Date: Mon, 22 Jun 1998 17:11:04 -0400 From: Keri Monihan <kmonihan(a)ccmc.org> Following is the text from the most recent Census 2000 News Alert, if you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 202/326-8728. President Set To Nominate Prewitt as Census Bureau Director Move Comes as Appropriators Begin Consideration Of Census Bureau Funding for FY '99 President Clinton is reportedly set to formally nominate Dr. Kenneth Prewitt, president of the New York-based Social Science Research Council, as head of the Census Bureau. Prewitt is a highly-regarded social scientist who formerly headed the National Opinion Research Center in Chicago and was instrumental in founding the Consortium of Social Science Associations (COSSA). It does not appear that he has spoken publicly on any issues surrounding the 2000 census. The director's position has been vacant since Dr. Martha F. Riche resigned in late January. Atlanta Regional Director James Holmes has been serving as Acting Director of the agency. In an article today in the Capitol Hill newspaper Roll Call, Rep. Dan Miller, chairman of the House census oversight panel, is quoted as saying that he feared Dr. Prewitt "is simply being used by the Clinton White House as yet another statistical shill for their beleaguered statistical estimation scheme that has brought the 2000 Census to the brink of disaster." The announcement of Dr. Prewitt's nomination is likely this week. Budget Hearings. The House and Senate funding panels are preparing to take initial action on the Census Bureau's budget bills before Congress heads home for its July 4th break at week's end. The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and State, The Judiciary and Related Agencies will "mark-up" the Fiscal Year 1999 (FY99) funding measure for programs under its jurisdiction on Tuesday, June 23, at 10 a.m. in room S-146, The Capitol. The House's counterpart subcommittee has set a tentative mark-up for June 24 (time and location to be announced). Appropriations panels rarely release details of their budget numbers before they meet. Census commentary: Two nationally syndicated columnists have weighed in on the controversy over the use of sampling in the census in recent weeks. George Will's column appeared in numerous newspapers, including The Washington Post on June 14 under the headline "Would You Buy A Used Census From This Prez?" In it, Mr. Will accused President Clinton of disregarding the Constitution's requirement of "actually locating actual people" and said that "[t]he central problem is the political temptations in sampling." He quotes David Murray, head of research for the Statistical Assessment Service and a member of the new Census Monitoring Board, as saying: "The ability to 'create' or 'eliminate' millions of strategically placed citizens with the stroke of a pen introduces a potent and disturbing new political weapon." Dr. Murray is a former anthropology professor. David Broder's column, entitled "Playing Hardball On The Census," ran in The Washington Post on June 21. Mr. Broder suggested that sampling opponents may have an easier time prohibiting the Bureau from using statistical methods because of provisions in this year's funding bill that the President accepted. Mr. Broder called the hearing on the lawsuit filed by Speaker Newt Gingrich "a near disaster" for the Administration, noting that the two Republican-appointed judges on the three-judge district court panel "riddled the Justice Department attorney with skeptical questions." He also quoted Thomas Hofeller, staff director of the House census subcommittee, as saying: "Someone should remind Bill Daley [the secretary of commerce and overseer of the Census Bureau] that if he counts people the way he wants to, his brother [Chicago Mayor Richard Daley] could find himself trying to run a majority-minority city." Mr. Broder predicted that the Administration might have to appeal an adverse decision in the lower court on the constitutional issue to the Supreme Court. Stakeholder activities: The 2000 Census Advisory Committee to the Secretary of Commerce held its quarterly meeting at the Census Bureau's Suitland, MD, headquarters on June 11 and 12. The committee is drafting a final report to the Secretary that will be delivered before the panel sunsets at the end of the year. The Secretary has the authority to reconstitute the panel and appoint new members. Census Bureau staff discussed plans to distribute data from the 2000 census through its new Data Access and Dissemination System (DADS). The Bureau hopes to rely more heavily on electronic distribution of information, thereby reducing the amount of paper products available. However several Advisory Committee members expressed concern that the new system would limit access for many data users who cannot afford to use the Internet on a regular basis. Congressional staff representing Republican and Democratic members of the House census oversight subcommittee also spoke to the committee. Tom Hofeller, the panel's staff director, disagreed with concerns expressed by some committee members and outside observers that subcommittee Chairman Dan Miller (R-FL) and his staff were engaging in "[Census] Bureau bashing," saying that while they clearly had a "policy disagreement," he had the "highest respect" for the Bureau's employees. The American Legion's representative on the panel said that any suggestions that census numbers could be manipulated for political purposes implied that Bureau staff would be involved or at least condone such an action, a conclusion he believed was wrong and unfair. The American Legion has not taken a position on the use of sampling methods but is working with the Bureau to help promote census participation. Mr. Hofeller and his staff colleagues have visited both the Sacramento, CA, and Columbia, SC, census dress rehearsal sites. Mr. Hofeller described the visits as "very illuminating" and noted several operational concerns including a "cookie cutter approach" to paid advertising and outreach, some failures to recruit enumerators indigenous to each neighborhood (particularly when language barriers exist), and the pace and accuracy of address list development efforts. He also suggested that the Census Bureau is not as eager to plan for a "non-sampling census," although Congress directed preparations for two kinds of censuses in this year's funding bill. Important housekeeping notes: Census 2000 Initiative project consultant TerriAnn Lowenthal will have new telephone and fax numbers, effective June 25. Please make a note of the following numbers: (tel) 202/484-2270; (fax) 202/554-9851. Also, please direct all requests to receive our News Alerts, as well as any change of address, phone or fax, or e-mail address, to Keri Monihan at the Communications Consortium Media Center, at <kmonihan(a)ccmc.org>rg>, or 202/326-8728. Questions about the information contained in this News Alert may be directed to TerriAnn Lowenthal at (202) 434-8756 or, by e-mail at <terriann2k(a)aol.com>om>. Please direct all requests to receive News Alerts, and all changes in address/phone/fax/e-mail, to Keri Monihan at <kmonihan(a)ccmc.org> or 202/326-8728. Please feel free to circulate this information to colleagues and other interested individuals.