Thursday, November 13, 2008

A New Census Director?

From the Latino Census Network

As President-elect Barack Obama puts together his transition, the top priority of advocates for the Census is the selection of a new Census Director by the end of January. With the 2010 Census less than 18 months away, the pressure is on to get the Obama Administration to quickly get a new leader for the Bureau on board to replace Census Director Steve Murdock. While some have argued that, given the short time left to pull of the Decennial, it would make sense to push to retain Murdock in this post to assure continuity, it appears that even Murdock acknowledges that with a new President will come a new Census Director.

The name that has been circulating the most to replace Murdock is that of Kenneth Prewitt. He was the person who oversaw the very successful 2000 Census, which would address the continuity issue. Prewitt is currently on the faculty of the political science department at Columbia University and has broad support.

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