Democrats Decry Census Decision as Political Move

WASHINGTON —  House Democrats attacked a Commerce Department decision to reclaim authority over whether to adjust the 2000 census as a political maneuver that threatens to disenfranchise millions of Americans.

Democratic criticism Saturday came after Commerce Secretary Don Evans stripped the Census Bureau of the final say in adjusting raw population numbers using a statistical method known as “sampling.”

Commerce spokesman Jim Dyke said the Friday move established a more open, accountable decision-making process. Republicans have argued that adjustments could introduce errors into the raw data and that the Constitution calls for an “actual enumeration.”

Democrats and civil rights groups had urged the Bush administration to let career statisticians at the Census Bureau make the call. They contend that adjustments would account for about 3 million people--mostly minorities, the poor and children--who were missed in the 2000 count.

There are high political stakes: sampled data could be used to remap congressional, state and local districts. Democrats hope an adjustment could help them overturn the GOP’s narrow majority in the House by the 2002 election.

The Supreme Court has ruled that sampled data cannot be used to allocate seats in the House of Representatives among the states but has not blocked use of sampled data used for in-state redistricting and allocating federal funds.

Democrats will make it clear “that Republicans are very close to disenfranchising the [undercounted Americans] for the next decade to protect their own political power,” said Tom Eisenhauer, spokesman for Rep. Martin Frost of Texas, the third-ranking House Democrat.

Bush has said an “actual count” yields the most accurate census but has not disclosed his position on sampling.

Evans’ order rescinded a Clinton administration rule put in place about a week before the November election that gave the Census Bureau director and a committee of career agency statisticians the final word over adjustment.