The Census Project Blog

by Phil Sparks

When I was the associate director in charge of communications at the U.S. Census Bureau in the late 1990s, I was exasperated about the complex and time-consuming approval process regarding any public statement that came out of the Bureau. Obviously, the data and the various demographic reports issued by the Bureau are important. And, the Bureau must carefully consider how it portrays the data reports so as not to take a public position on the policy implications embedded in most of its releases of information. But, the entire process, involving various layers of the Bureau and then the Department of Commerce, which supervises the Bureau, are positively Lilliputian!

By my count, in the late 1990s I needed 14 different sign-offs in order to release a statement about anything concerning the Bureau or its data! The drill was the same every time. My communications team would write a press release or a draft statement within a few hours. I would review and redraft the material within a few more hours. Then the real process began. The release/statement spent about 5-7 days going through regular channels at the Census Bureau. Then, it was sent to the Department of Commerce for further approvals.

In good times, the whole process took 8-10 working days. Now imagine how this process is going to work given the emerging controversies regarding Census 2010. The Census Bureau approval process is an artifact of a much earlier, more deliberative day. But, it’s facing a 24/7 news cycle.

Unfortunately, we already have a glimmer of what it will be like for the Census Bureau when it faces mounting attacks on Census 2010 from both the left and the right. Two weeks ago Senators Vitter and Bennett introduced their amendment to the census budget (see Terri Ann’s Lowenthal’s posts on 10/6, 10/8 and 10/15), which would require an extra question on the 10-question Census 2010 form. The authors designed the extra question so that undocumented residents could be excluded from the congressional apportionment count. And by the way, who would be the winners if this terrible amendment were enacted? Mostly Southern, Republican-leaning states. They would gain congressional seats. The losers? Mostly, Democratic states like California, Illinois and New York.

For the Census Bureau, and its supervisor the Department of Commerce, a response in the form of a talking points memo issued by the Secretary of Commerce was circulated in record time — It took only five days! Meanwhile, the 24/7 news cycle had been grinding on without a response from the Obama administration for days and days.

Now, the fate of the Vitter/Bennett amendment is up in the air. It could pass. The administration lost valuable time and political capital by not responding to this ridiculous proposal much sooner.

But, the larger question is how will the Bureau, and its supervisor the Department of Commerce, respond next year when the going really gets tough? With more than a million census takers and billions of taxpayer dollars on the line to fund Census 2010, problems are sure to arise. The Census Bureau can’t be responding a week late to crisis after crisis!