Friday, August 6, 2010

Whistleblowers pressured to make false census reports in California and NY

Washington: "Federal investigators have opened multiple inquiries into California census operations, including allegations that some workers felt so much pressure that they cut corners or got things wrong during the crucial population count....

Last month, investigators revealed that

The Brooklyn case arose from

Both cases underscore the potential for problems in trying to count 309 million U.S. residents....

  • Todd Zinser, the Commerce Department inspector general, noted that more than 100 of his investigators have fanned out to census offices in every state.

He said investigators were trying to determine whether the kind of data falsification found in New York "could be more widespread."

  • The California investigations aren't yet complete, but the whistleblowers who filed the complaints charge that the
  • problems boiled down to management's demands.

"The goals had everything to do with speed, and nothing to do with accuracy," said Craig Baltz, a former worker in one of the Census Bureau's two Fresno, Calif. offices. "Instead of slowing down to ensure accurate data, we sped up."

  • Baltz charged that in some difficult-to-reach areas, "enumerators had two choices: Turn in accurate work and get written up or terminated, or falsify data and keep working." Baltz worked for the census from last October till July.

In one case, a former census worker allegedly tallied residents of a migrant farm workers' camp in California's San Joaquin Valley,

  • but the camp itself was empty, abandoned because

(continuing, McClatchy): "Another former California census worker, Dan Gibson, voiced fears that "the quality of the work suffered greatly" under relentless management pressure, though he said individual field staff members were "incredible" and "highly honorable." Gibson supervised field operations in the Salinas census office until he was fired last March.

"These people were very loyal, very committed," Gibson said of the field staff, while adding that accuracy became more difficult under

  • regional management he described as "a reign of terror."

The Commerce Department's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the California allegations, along with charges of sex, race and age discrimination.

via Lucianne.com

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