Locke Enters Debate Over Obama's Census Plans

Published December 24, 2015

It didn't take long for Gary Locke, who this week became President Obama's third nominee to head the Commerce Department, to get caught up in a heated debate over the national head count.

Just hours after the announcement, Republicans called on the former Washington governor to spurn the administration's plan to assert greater control over the 2010 census. The census has deep political implications because it is used to redraw congressional districts.

Republicans object to Obama's plan to have the next Census Bureau director report to both the commerce secretary and White House senior officials.

"Governor Locke must promise to keep politics out of the census by retaining control over a fair and accurate count in the Commerce Department," House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a statement offering congratulations to Locke on his nomination. "The United States census should remain independent of politics; it should not be directed by political operatives working out of the White House."

Rep. Darrell Issaa, R-Calif., ranking minority member on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform who has raised the specter of a lawsuit against Obama's plan, said in a statement, "The White House should learn from past mistakes and abandon any attempt to circumvent the authority of the commerce secretary. Injecting 'Chicago-style' politics into the census process represents the worst kind of political opportunism and completely undermines the president's call for bipartisanship."

A Senate committee has a hearing scheduled next week on the census plan. Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are also pushing for an investigation.

Locke follows Democratic Gov. Bill Richardson of New Mexico, who withdrew due to an ongoing investigation of pay-to-play allegations involving his administration's handling of state contracts and Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire. Gregg withdrew over concerns he could not back the White House economic agenda and over a dispute of the White House taking greater control of the 2010 census, a process typically under the administrative control of the commerce secretary and census director.

"Who oversees the census won't change," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibb said this week, adding that the director of it always reports to the commerce secretary. "I think members of Congress and the White House both have an interest in a fair and accurate census count."

Locke, 59, was the nation's first Chinese-American governor, serving two terms in Washington from 1997 to 2005. He currently works for the Seattle-based law firm Davis Wright Tremaine on issues involving China, energy and governmental relations.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

URL

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/locke-enters-debate-over-obamas-census-plans