What is the Census Bureau hiding?
Census, which is under investigation by several government agencies and by Congress, is refusing to turn over an estimated 1,900 e-mails and text messages between a regional supervisor in its Philadelphia office, where falsification of unemployment data took place, and a colleague in its Chicago region, whom a source has identified as the supervisor’s mentor and confidant.
On March 5, under the Federal Freedom of Information Act, I requested all e-mails between Fernando Armstrong, regional director of the Philadelphia office, and Stanley Moore, Chicago’s regional director, from 2010 until my filing date.
Census estimates there were 1,900 e-mails, but it turned over just 10 pages. Three of those pages weren’t even between those two men. The other seven are what we in the news business describe as crap.
The federal agency is also refusing to hand over any report that it may have written on Julius Buckmon, a former Census data collector who allegedly falsified surveys. Information from those surveys goes into the Labor Department’s unemployment report as well as its consumer inflation survey.
Information on falsification is detailed in documents from a racial and age discrimination complaint Buckmon filed against the bureau in 2010. Buckmon claims higher-ups told him to lie.
Meanwhile, another source has come forward to claim that data falsification was more widespread than just Philadelphia and that it continued even after Buckmon left in 2011.
This new source also tells me there was a keen focus at Census on the nation’s unemployment rate during the last presidential campaign. This rate is compiled from the Current Employment Survey — also known as the Household Survey — and uses data compiled by enumerators like Buckmon.
The Post has filed an appeal of Census’ rejection of my request for a copy of the Buckmon investigation. And they will soon be appealing the rejection of the Armstrong-Moore documents.
The bureau does seem to be moving forward, however, on another FOIA request for e-mails between Armstrong, two of his underlings in the Philadelphia office and Brian Monaghan, who as chief of the Census Field division was Armstrong’s and Moore’s boss. Monaghan works out of the Washington-Maryland area.
A $239.04 check made out to the US Treasury to pay for copying the e-mails of those four workers was cashed last week. But none of these documents has landed on my desk. That request is for e-mails between the four men from July 2012 through December 2012. A surprising drop in the unemployment rate occurred in the months before the November election.
Communications between Moore and Armstrong could be particularly interesting, since Moore was in charge of the Census region that includes President Obama’s hometown of Chicago.
Phone calls by me to Moore, Monaghan and the press contact at Census were not returned. Armstrong referred me to the press office.
Moore is no longer working at the bureau’s Chicago office, but his new location is a bit of a mystery. Sources said Moore was transferred to Washington and was dealing with the 2020 Decennial census.
A woman who answered Moore’s phone said he’s working in Census’ Burr Ridge, Ill., office.
But no such location showed up when I conducted a search of Census facilities.
I also hear that the higher-up, Monaghan, is retiring. In fact, the Census job board seems to be listing his position.
The person who answered Monaghan’s phone on Tuesday said he was in a meeting, but my call went unreturned.
Census looked as if it were planning to turn over the Armstrong-Moore correspondences and, in a letter to me dated March 26, I was told the cost for copying those 1,900 e-mails would be $304.
But then something changed. On April 4, Census sent me back my $304 check, along with the aforementioned 10 pages: “Good morning, Stan. I have not forgotten our conversation yesterday” and other such chit-chat.
The rest was exempted from disclosure, Census argued, because they too would somehow violate someone’s personal privacy.
The other rejected FOIA — of the Buckmon investigation report — is also intriguing.
I don’t believe there was a full investigation of the alleged falsification surrounding Buckmon in 2010 and 2011. A Census investigator named Rachel Ondrik did question some workers about the allegations, but seems to have dropped the matter.
Census won’t say when or if an investigation was conducted. And it refused to comply with my FOIA request, saying it is protecting someone’s privacy. Census didn’t indicate, however, whose privacy. And I wonder if there really is no report, how can revealing that fact infringe on anyone’s personal privacy?
I’m willing to accept any old report the bureau might have done.
In a curious twist, Ondrik and her Census partner last year pleaded guilty to submitting false expense claims. But the Maryland judge in the case threw out the plea agreement under which she would only have been fined. Instead, the judge sentenced Ondrik to jail time.
After that, Ondrick was granted a new trial, which was supposed to have started a few weeks ago.
That trial, however, didn’t begin as scheduled. The court wouldn’t explain the delay.
One more thing I need to bring up. A while back, Obama put this statement in the Federal Register: “My administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in government.”
Oh, yeah! Then, Mr. President, I’d like to see all the requested documents on my desk ASAP.