[WOBBLY BOB]

Grive admits spending taxpayer money on novelty items isn't something he necessarily likes.

He said, "I would actually prefer that we didn't have to spend that money, but there are independent businesses measuring people's knowledge of the census and we are at a ten year low. Thirty-one percent of the people 18-29 when asked if they know what the census is, they say no."

this in turn will be used to tell us how we're obviously not spending enough on K-12 education.

[backwoods-engineer]

Census swag? You have got to be kidding! That’s like spending the last $100 of your max-out Mastercard on quarters for the bubblegum-and-fake-gold-ring machine at Wal-Mart!

[iowamark]

Representative Michele Bachmann has been critical of how the census is being conducted. She called the novelty items a waste of money.

Bachmann said, "Like everything else the government does, when they don't have to watch the bottom line like a private business, there is no end to what they will spend people's money on."

Grive said all of the advertising will, in the long run, prove to be money well spent. He believes it will lead more people to fill out their census forms and mail them in.

LOL