First from a trusted fellow wordpress blogger: The credit for the following article is entirely that of Matthew Vadum’s.
ACORN and the U.S. Census
July 6, 2009
By Matthew Vadum
Remember the Obama administration lying about ACORN’s involvement in the 2010 Census?
After the Census Bureau responded to a Freedom of Information Act request, Judicial Watch reported that
…the Obama Commerce Department downplayed ACORN’s participation in the Census, and labeled “baseless” the notion that ACORN would be involved in any Census count…[but]…offered ACORN the opportunity to “recruit Census workers” who would participate in the count. Moreover, as an “executive level” partner, ACORN has the ability to “organize and/or serve as a member on a Complete Count Committee,” which, according to Census documents, helps “develop and implement locally based outreach and recruitment campaigns.”
According to its application ACORN also signed up to: “Encourage employees and constituents to complete and mail their questionnaire; identify job candidates and/or distribute and display recruiting materials; appoint a liaison to work with the Census Bureau; provide space for Be Counted sites and/or Questionnaire Assistance Centers; sponsor community events to promote participation in the 2010 Census,” among 18 requested areas of responsibility. The documents also show the decision to add ACORN as a partner occurred in February, long after the January 15th Census partnership application deadline. (One Census official had bet “it was under Bush.”)
Then last week the government reported that the layoff of Census workers comprised the bulk of the jobs just lost in the federal government: “Employment in federal government fell by 49,000 in June, largely due to the layoff of workers temporarily hired to prepare for Census 2010.”
What’s wrong with this picture? The federal government isn’t exactly on an austerity binge right now.
Given that the Obama administration lied about ACORN’s involvement in the Census, it might be lying now about the laid off workers being temporary employees. Is the way being cleared for ACORN workers to be hired?
If the administration hadn’t tried to move oversight of the Census into the White House and then lied about ACORN’s high-level participation in planning for the 2010 Census, the news of the layoffs would not have caught my attention.
However, it did attempt the Census power play and lie about ACORN’s involvement in the Census, so reasonable observers have every reason to be suspicious.
Former ACORN organizer Gregory Hall recently warned in a Washington Examiner op-ed about the dangers of letting ACORN participate in the Census:
There is no reason to believe the problems of staff mistreatment or systematic fraud will be any different if and when the federal government asks ACORN to take its show on the road to households across the country.
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/07/06/acorn-and-the-u-s-census/
Now I give to you for your consideration this video. Imagine a “freshman” Congressman having this novel idea:
End note:
The U.S. Post Office is a Federal Entity.
We already have thousands of postal workers that go “door to door” every day.
Those with P.O. Boxes can go to their Main Post Office to fill out their census sheet.
A plausible idea; with some fine tuning….might work.
WHO would you rather see at your door America?
