Jackie Kucinich at Roll Call:
GOP House Trio Urges Bachmann to Reverse Boycott of Census
Three House Republicans on the subcommittee overseeing the 2010 Census are asking Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) to reverse her decision to boycott the national population count, fearing others will follow her lead.
“Boycotting the constitutionally mandated Census is illogical, illegal and not in the best interest of our country,” Reps. Patrick McHenry (N.C.), Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.) and John Mica (Fla.), members of the Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census and National Achieves, said in a statement Wednesday.
“[A] boycott opens the door for partisans to statistically adjust Census results,” the trio’s statement said. “The partisan manipulation of census data would irreparably transform the Census from being the baseline of our entire statistical system into a tool used to wield political power in Washington.”
Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), the only other Republican member of the subcommittee, did not sign on to Wednesday’s statement.
Sources say the GOP Members approached Bachmann privately over the past few weeks and asked her to stop the boycott. They decided to go public because Bachmann appeared unfazed by their request, according to a GOP aide.
Bachmann won't listen to Patrick McHenry?
Debbee Keller, a spokeswoman for Bachmann, said in an e-mail: “Congresswoman Bachmann can not be reached, but we appreciate their views and hope to be able to work with them to keep ACORN — which has earned public mistrust through its repeated voter registration fraud — out of the Census.”
Cannot be reached by her staff?
Is Bachmann hiking the Lake Wobegon Trail? |
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