President Obama's pick to lead the 2010 census has pledged to lawmakers that he will maintain his independence at the helm of the decennial count.
Robert Groves, who this week submitted written answers to a questionnaire prepared by the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, wrote that he would "actively resist any attempt at interference" by outsiders. Groves said he would resign if he encounters overwhelming political pressure that would compromise the process.
Republicans are wary (subscription) that census officials might attempt to use statistical sampling to correct for an undercount of minorities, an adjustment that would result in a boost in funding and congressional representation for Democratic areas.
Groves, whose confirmation hearing is set for Tuesday, reiterated the statement of Commerce Secretary Gary Locke that there are "no plans" to use sampling to adjust census data. "On matters of the scientific bases and statistical properties of the census ... the White House can have no role," Groves added.
By CARRIE DANN, CongressDaily
Former Census Bureau director Kenneth Prewitt will become involved with the 2010 decennial count as the agency's part-time consultant, the Commerce Department confirmed today. Prewitt, a Clinton-era appointee who ran the bureau from 1998-2001, was widely considered to be a frontrunner to return to the post in advance of next year's population count but withdrew his name from consideration earlier this year.
President Obama nominated another former bureau official, Robert Groves, earlier this month to fill the post instead. Now a professor at Columbia University, Prewitt will work "a couple days a week" with bureau officials to troubleshoot problems that arise as the nation's largest peacetime mobilization effort gets underway, said Commerce Department spokesman Nick Kimball.
House Republicans, who have raised concerns that the potentially controversial headcount will be unduly influenced by the White House, have drafted a letter to Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to object to Prewitt's "back door entry" to the bureau without going through the Senate confirmation process. Democrats scoffed at the complaint, pointing out that it is hardly uncommon for former federal officials to offer expertise on a part-time basis. "Considering former Secretary [Carlos] Gutierrez used [Prewitt] as a consultant, too, you have to ask why the Republicans are in such a tizzy," said Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y. Groves' Senate confirmation hearing is scheduled for May 6.
By ANDREW NOYES, CongressDaily
The Obama administration's selection of a Patent and Trademark Office director cannot come soon enough, according to officials inside the agency. They cite serious cash-flow problems, internal cutbacks and a downturn in the number of applications filed and patents granted amid continued U.S. economic gloom. "We need a new director just as soon as we can get one," Patent Office Professional Association President Robert Budens said Monday.
While the administration and Commerce Department, which houses PTO, have been tight-lipped about the appointment, sources say Commerce Secretary Gary Locke is involved and an announcement could come in the next week or two. Oft-mentioned prospects for the job include Q. Todd Dickinson, who ran the office under former President Bill Clinton, Silicon Valley attorney Jim Pooley and IBM Vice President David Kappos.
During his March confirmation hearing, Locke vowed not to let urgent issues like the 2010 census crowd out topics like improving the patent office's productivity. The agency faces a backlog of more than 750,000 applications.
The 2010 census has been a source of controversy throughout the transition period, beginning in early February with President Obama's selection of Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to run the Commerce Department. The pick created a firestorm of protest (subscription) from minority groups who believed Gregg was unsupportive of efforts to adequately count their constituencies in the census -- leading the administration to announce it would wrest control of the Census Bureau from Commerce. This move created another angry backlash (subscription), this time from Republicans complaining that the White House was politicizing the census and making an unprecedented power play. When Gregg resigned on Feb. 12, he cited the census as one of the main reasons.
The storm seemed to die down when Gregg's replacement, former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, insisted to Congress that Commerce would retain control of the Census Bureau after all. But a new controversy has emerged over Obama's pick to head the bureau, Robert Groves, a statistics expert from the University of Michigan. This time, Republicans are concerned that Groves will introduce statistical sampling to the 2010 count -- a practice that he unsuccessfully advocated as a bureau official in the early 1990s.
Eliza Krigman has more on the Groves controversy, and the difficulties facing the bureau less than a year out from the census, in this week's National Journal (subscription).
The Senate on Tuesday confirmed former Washington Gov. Gary Locke as Commerce secretary. The voice vote makes Locke, 59, the 15th member of President Obama's Cabinet and leaves only HHS Secretary-designate Kathleen Sebelius remaining to be confirmed.
Locke, a Democrat, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor. He was Obama's third pick to run the Commerce Department, after New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., withdrew from consideration.
By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
The Senate Commerce Committee unanimously approved President Obama's choice for Commerce secretary, former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, in a vote off the Senate floor this morning. Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., announced during Locke's confirmation hearing Wednesday that he intended to move quickly to clear the nomination and hoped to have the full Senate vote soon. A leadership aide said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., would work with Republicans on an agreement for a vote but did not indicate a timeline.
Commerce Secretary-designate Gary Locke today affirmed that the yet-unnamed Census Bureau director will report directly to him, answering after being pressed by Senate Commerce ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas.
House Republicans have been vociferous opponents of an initial Obama administration announcement, made when Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., was its choice to head the Commerce Department, that the Census Bureau director would report to the White House. Gregg eventually withdrew his nomination amid the census controversy.
Addressing GOP fears that the apportionment of federal resources and congressional redistricting -- determined by the decennial census -- would be influenced by a politicized inflation of minority and hard-to-reach populations, Locke vowed that the bureau will use an actual head count for apportionment and has "no plans to use any kind of statistical sampling with respect to population count."
For more on the hearing, read CongressDailyPM (subscription).
by JEANNETTE LEE, CongressDaily
Sens. Thomas Carper, D-Del. and John McCain, R-Ariz., and others on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Federal Financial Management Subcommittee are urging the president to nominate a Census Bureau director, pronto.
With just a year until the decennial count, the bureau has yet to thoroughly test new technologies, is thin on staff and is far from solving the long-standing problem of undercounting ethnic minorities, a GAO official told the panel at a hearing Thursday.
Given the tight deadlines, the leadership vacuum at the Census Bureau badly needs filling, said Carper, the subcommittee chairman.
"Uncertainties surround the bureau's readiness for 2010," testified Robert Goldenkoff, director of strategic issues at GAO. "They are under the gun."
Goldenkoff and five other witnesses said a good troubleshooter at the helm would be key to pulling off what is slated to be the country's most expensive national headcount to date. Former Census Bureau Director Barbara Bryant urged the subcommittee to "do everything in your power and use your influence on the administration" to get a new director.
Carper asked each witness to recommend two prospects by the close of business today "who you think are well-equipped to do this job." Carper said he would forward the names to Commerce Secretary-designate Gary Locke, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and "probably" to Vice President Joe Biden, Carper's former fellow senator from Delaware.
"Maybe the administration has its own candidates," Carper said, but "we'll submit a talent pool in case they need help in that regard." Carper told CongressDaily he didn't have any nominees in mind, but "we know there are good people out there."
NextGov has more on the challenges facing the bureau as 2010 approaches.
For his third nominee to lead the Commerce Department, President Obama has turned to Gary Locke, who combines the gubernatorial experience and Democratic pedigree of first pick Bill Richardson with a fiscal conservative streak more reminiscent of second pick Judd Gregg.
Locke built a decidedly pro-trade record during his eight years as the nation's first Chinese-American governor in Washington state and then as a China trade specialist with an international law firm. Locke helped arrange deals in China for Microsoft, Boeing and Weyerhaeuser. He guided Washington through a serious budget shortfall, but he took some criticism for doing it in part by cutting services. He also helped push a successful ballot initiative that linked Washington's minimum wage to inflation.
A comparison of Locke's positions to those of his two predecessors for the Commerce job follows after the jump.
By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
Updated at 1:30 p.m.
Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke was introduced this morning as President Obama's nominee to head the Commerce Department. Obama has to be hoping the third time's the charm. His two earlier choices for the post, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., both withdrew.
"I'm sure it's not lost on anyone that we've tried this a couple of times, but I'm a big believer in keeping at something until you get it right," Obama joked at the press conference announcing Locke's nomination. "And Gary is the right man for this job." Obama went on to praise the country's first Chinese-American governor for his work wooing business to Washington state and for growing the state's high-tech economy. With this pick, the only Cabinet seat without even a nominee is back down to one: Health and Human Services was originally intended for former Sen. Tom Daschle, who withdrew his nomination after it emerged he had failed to pay all his income taxes.
Subscribers can view Locke's Almanac of American Politics profile here.
By CONGRESSDAILY STAFF
Former Washington Gov. Gary Locke, a Democrat, is expected to be named soon as President Obama's third choice for Commerce secretary.
Locke, 59, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor when he served two terms in the Washington statehouse from 1997 to 2005. He now works in the Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine.
Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson backed away from the post after initially accepting offers from Obama.
