C-Seg; CNC Census Troubles

Shortly before leaving for its holiday break, the U.S. Senate confirmed Stephen Murdoch, President Bush's choice as new head of the Census Bureau. Preparations are already underway for the 2010 Census, which is expected to be the most expensive, most high-tech population count ever. Oklahoma has a lot at stake, like representation in Congress and federal funding for vital programs. Reports of cost overruns gadgets that don't work and a shake-up at the top are worrisome. Elizabeth Winn Johnson reports from Capitol Hill. Census chief Charles Lewis Kankanan quit his job in what passes in Washington for a SNIT. He's been widely quoted as having lost confidence in the Department of Commerce, the parent agency of the Census Bureau. The confirmation hearing for a new number cruncher in chief began with the litany of woes. Senator Susan Collins of Maine cited persistent problems with new technology, data processing, and ballooning contracts.

Add to these issues is an ever-present problem of inaccurate counting, whether it's over or undercounting. It is evident that the next Census director will have his hands full. Texas demographer Stephen Murdoch will be wrestling a big beast in 2000. The Census cost about $6 billion dollars. The 2010 count is projected at more than $11 billion. One of the cost culprits, handheld computers used by Census takers in the field. They're supposed to save time and money, but they're not working as planned. And a last-minute reversion to a paper-based system will cost big. What I can commit to you is that we will, I will find out where we stand. And will aggressively pursue the funding levels that we need to have a complete Census. Murdoch promised to bolster confidentiality and to do better by the historically undercounted minorities, young people, and renters.

That's especially important to Oklahoma and the South as a whole, where growth outpaces the nation overall. People are moving to Oklahoma based on the overall economy in our strong job market. State Department of Commerce spokeswoman Leslie Blair says Oklahoma's economy is riding the oil and gas wave. But there's also strong growth in our manufacturing sectors, in our aerospace sectors. We are seeing strong growth throughout our economy. As the region's economy diversifies, so do its people. Hispanics are the fastest growing minority, up nearly 40 percent since 2000. Stephen Murdoch says diverse languages and cultures. Plus alternative living arrangements make it hard to get accurate counts. But he thinks the Census can do better. He cited the successful use of partnerships in the colonias of South Texas. By getting local people, people who were parts of those communities as members of the partnership organizations, we were able to get information that we had missed or that had been missed

by the Census in previous periods. States have a keen interest in this upcoming count. Numbers translate into how seats. My Conway is a representative from neighboring Texas. A closed loop of 435. There's going to be states at lose seats and states at gain seats. Texas is poised to gain. Oklahoma officials say for now the state appears on track to keep the seven seats it has. For KGOU and Capitol News Connection, I'm Elizabeth Win Johnson in Washington.