Census Bureau 'Concern' at White House Appointments

According to media reports, Census Bureau officials are concerned that the White House has added two 'political operatives' to the US Census team.

Less than a year ago, the US Supreme Court rejected the Trump administration's attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 US Census; which the Insights Association argued would deter responses from immigrants, and could result in minorities being undercounted. The administration is now accused of 'meddling' in the census process again, with the two appointments.

Steven Dillingham, the President's chosen candidate for the role of Director of the US Census Bureau, said in a statement that Nathaniel Cogley (pictured) has joined the bureau in the newly created position of Deputy Director of Policy; while Adam Korzeniewski has been named Senior Advisor to Cogley. Cogley received a PhD in Political Science from Yale in 2013 and was then Head of the Department of Government, Legal Studies and Philosophy at Tarleton State University. Korzeniewski once worked as a Republican political consultant for the failed Staten Island congressional run of YouTube pro-Trump prankster Joey Saladino; and was previously Lead Field Manager for the 2020 Census in the Queens borough of New York.

Dillingham said that the men would help the bureau complete the census, which helps determine $1.5 trillion in federal spending and how many congressional seats each state gets. The American Statistical Association's Board of Directors has called for Dillingham to provide an explanation to US taxpayers that justifies the need for these new political appointments, which the Board said are in direct conflict with the bureau's mission to ensure 'proper, accurate, and timely delivery of statistical information to the public'. According to non-profit media organization NPR, an unnamed Census Bureau source said that none of their colleagues has expressed any support for the appointments and there is 'great concern'.

Meanwhile Democrat politician Carolyn Maloney, who is the Chair of the House Oversight and Reform Committee that oversees the bureau, described the appointees in a written statement as 'starkly partisan allies', adding that their hiring was an attempt by Trump to politicize the agency after his failed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 Census.

Web site: www.census.gov .