By Rep. Patrick McHenry (NC-10)
 
ACORN, the left-wing political advocacy group, is helping to recruit census takers as a member of the Census Bureau’s Partnership Program.  This is an organization that has proven to be very adept at using government forms to commit fraud.  So the idea of putting millions of census forms in its hands seems misguided, to say the least.
 
This week, my Republican colleagues and I on the census oversight subcommittee sent a letter to the Bureau asking it to reconsider ACORN as a partner.  According to the Bureau’s guidelines for participation, partners must not “distract from the Census Bureau’s mission.”  If the Bureau believes that ACORN’s reputation reflects positively on the Bureau’s mission, then we’ve requested that it defend that position in writing to the Congress.
 
The integrity and accuracy of the census is worth defending.  Census results guide the distribution of billions in public funds and determine the apportionment of districts at all levels of government.
 
Robert Groves, President Obama’s appointee to head the Census Bureau, will have his confirmation hearing this Friday, May 15th.  Mr. Grove