Do Census Layoffs Clear the Way for Hiring of ACORN Workers?

American Spectator ^ | 7.2.09 @ 9:21PM | By Matthew Vadum

[Behind Liberal Lines]

[T]oday the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the layoff of Census workers comprised the bulk of the jobs just lost in the federal government. The July 2 Employment Situation Summary states: "Employment in federal government fell by 49,000 in June, largely due to the layoff of workers temporarily hired to prepare for Census 2010."

What's wrong with this picture? The federal government isn't exactly on an austerity binge right now.

Given that the Obama administration lied about ACORN's involvement in the Census, it might be lying now about the laid off workers being temporary employees. Is the way being cleared for ACORN workers to be hired?

****

former ACORN organizer Gregory Hall recently warned in a Washington Examiner op-ed about the dangers of letting ACORN participate in the Census: "There is no reason to believe the problems of staff mistreatment or systematic fraud will be any different if and when the federal government asks ACORN to take its show on the road to households across the country."

[Behind Liberal Lines]

ping

[Bahbah]

Here we go!

[jiggyboy]

The initial phase of the Census was to verify addresses. These were temporary 10-week jobs and advertised that way in every medium. People were interviewed, some were hired, they did the job, then the job ended.

The next phase of the Census is to knock on doors of people who didn’t fill out their form all the way, or incorrectly, etc. These are also temporary 10-week jobs and advertised that way in every medium. People will be tested, some will be hired, they will do the job, then that job too will end.

It’s that simple.

[vadum]

Could be. Let the Obama administration explain.

[freekitty]

They are probably still being paid.

[Brad’s Gramma]

Ping

[JoanneSD]

The census is not until next year, when on you are supposed to say who lived in your residence or where ever people live..on April 1 st..

[stboz]

We gots to get ow bruvers in dem spots....gimmie yo stuff, white boy

[reefdiver]

Nasty stew brewing. Changings coming

[spokeshave]

yeh....and all those laid off couldn’t get unemplyment benefits.

[Blue_Ridge_Mtn_Geek]

This is the third census which I have followed very closely, and it has been in preparation virtually since the end of the last census in 2000. There are ample online documents describing the whole process. It would be wise to familiarize yourself with these before scarfing up internet rumors and running with them.

TIMELINE
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/about_2010_census/013279.html
THIS CENSUS IS DIFFERENT
http://2010.census.gov/2010census/about_2010_census/007622.html

I’m not saying there is nothing to be concerned about here - - -I’m as aware as anyone about the dismal track record of ACORN, and it is not a happy thought that a bunch of their operatives will be lining up for Census jobs (along with 10’s of thousands of other people looking for temporary work). However, it pays in credibility to be in a position to separate fact from outlandish claims based on pure speculation. One way to do that is to become familiar with the well documented public record of Census 2010 preparations going back a number of years. The above links and related pages are a decent place to get started. Some online search engines can help extend the search. Use them if you are interested in this subject.

[mojo114]

Assuming your the author of the article, sorry to see your post get tossed. I am with you 100% on this, always watch what the right hand is doing because the left hand is somewhere else.
Thanks for keeping us all vigilant!

[TYVets]

In ACORN are we seeing the beginnings of 0bama’s 200,000 member personal army?

[RavenATB]

I was in Salt Lake City in for a trip this past spring, and they were conducting census employee group training in one of the meeting rooms in the hotel where we were staying. Of the 40+ people I saw taking that training about 25% were actually wearing “ACORN” shirts. They may not have been “current” employees of ACORN, but they were very close in the “gene pool.”

I also noted while at the hotel desk that not one of the people taking that training who I heard speak in the lobby area used even reasonably correct grammar. They had a lot of “bling,” though...

[Strategerist]

No, the temp workers for the Census are paid by the hour, and do not get paid between operations.

As mentioned in a previous post, there are a variety of different phases in the Census leading up to 2010 and you basically are laid off between each phase. They probably have completed a lot of the mapping phase and people stopped working; they’ll come back for the actual interview phase next year.

Also they have to weed through a lot of people that are basically stupid and incompetent. They get a lot in the early phases and have to let them go.

[MSF BU]

I will not be on any count of people in this commonwealth. If somebody from Oklahoma or Wyoming wants to ‘add’ me to his count that’s fine with me. As a matter of fact, you both can.

[stephenjohnbanker]

Too bad we have to worry about this.

[dr_who]

If Republicans don’t fight in one venue, they’ll soon have to fight in many more. Obama is going to keep testing the courts and undermining the law until he gets what he wants, the constitution and democracy be damned.

[SueNomi]

I was contacted in Feb. for a job with the census as a Crew Leader for address canvassing. At that time, I was told this would be a 22 week assignement.

This got shortened to 18 weeks by the time we trained the crew and before we hit the streets, the assignment was shortened further to the 10 weeks which in fact lasted only 1 1/2 months.

It was my observation that most of the people working the office and most of the ones they did keep on were of the ACORN variety and mindset.