LV census results in question

A ranking Republican congressman charged Tuesday that Census 2000 results from 15 areas around the country -- including the Las Vegas region -- are tainted by "fraud or irregular procedures."

Local U.S. Census Bureau officials denied the charges, saying that they are being punished for doing a good job of bringing in census forms from areas that were heavily underrepresented in the 1990 Census.

Rep. Dan Miller, R-Fla, head of a House census panel, said a "sudden surge" of completed Census forms from areas that had previously resisted counting efforts suggest "questionable behavior."

He identified 15 areas of the country -- all believed to be underrepresented in the 1990 Census and most with large populations of ethnic minorities -- in which the numbers were suspect.

Besides Las Vegas, Miller questioned results from East Los Angeles, Commerce and Santa Ana in California; Florence, Ala.; West Atlanta; Chicago's far south and near north areas; Marion County, Ind.; Rapid City, S.D.; Newark, N.J.; Queens and northeast New York City; New Castle and North Philadelphia, Pa., and Hialeah, Fla.

Miller is calling for a recount of the areas.

The charges revisit 1998's partisan fight over the structure of the Census. Past counts tended to underrepresent minority neighborhoods, many of which vote Democratic. Undercounts affect districting for congressional seats and federal spending.

Critics said a statistical method should be used to more accurately gauge the number of people in targeted areas, but Republicans said only a direct count would do.

The direct count was continued in the 2000 Census, but efforts were made to increase participation among areas undercounted in 1990.

Nevada had the third-worst initial response rate in the nation in 1990. Census officials estimated that the state lost up to $200 million since 1990 in federal funds because of the estimated 28,000 Nevadans who were never counted.

That undercount and loss of federal funds triggered a federal, state and local effort for a better response. Civic and religious leaders joined politicians to urge local participation.

Local officials celebrated a much-improved response rate with the conclusion of the head count in June. Besides federal money, the political stakes are big for the state: The 2000 count is expected to bring Nevada at least one more seat in the House of Representatives.

But Miller charged that too many of the completed forms came from areas that have high rates of "vacancies" or deleted addresses in communities that were underrepresented in previous counts.

"There's absolutely no basis for any of the (charges)," said David Hoggard Jr., manager of the Las Vegas Census Office. "I would take our numbers and put them against any other office in the country."

Dot Rosino, manager of the North Las Vegas Census Office, said the local effort did a much better job of counting people in minority neighborhoods.

"That's why we hired people from those neighborhoods, so they would see their neighbor or someone from their church," Rosino said.

Multiple attempts to reach people at all hours of the day and night account for the high response rate from addresses that might have previously been written off, she said.

Follow-up checks to ensure accurate results haven't turned up problems, she added.

Hoggard said he believes the political war over the census is spilling into the present allegations.

Representatives for Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., and Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., said Congress members are watching the issue.

"At this point the congresswoman is satisfied that the Census Bureau is treating this with the seriousness that it deserves," Berkley's press secretary, Michael O'Donovan, said.

Robert Uithoven, Gibbons' district director, said his boss will meet with Miller this week.

"We'll be picking up a third seat from this census and only a fair and accurate count will ensure that," Uithoven said.

Gibbons might support a recount for the Las Vegas area, he said.

Miller, who has the office next door to Gibbons in the Capitol, said the information on count problems came from members of the census subcommittee staff in consultation with a Census Monitoring Board and two former senior Census Bureau officials, whom Miller did not identify.

The congressman said the staff members identified more than a dozen census offices "in which data suggests fraud or irregular procedures." Miller said that was disappointing in view of the roughly $6.5 billion the government has invested in the national head count.

Census officials had acknowledged previously that they are reviewing some 150,000 households because questions have been raised. Tuesday they accused Miller of overstating the problem.

"We have told the subcommittee not to misrepresent the data because they are not easily interpretable to the public," Census Director Kenneth Prewitt said in a conference call with reporters. "But obviously they have not done so."

Suspicions about the 15 locations are based on problems the bureau has had in South Florida and Chicago.

Previously the Census Bureau had ordered a recount of thousands of city households in Chicago because some workers might have cut corners to boost the number of completed questionnaires.

The largest recount to date is the one taking place in Florida, where suspected corner-cutting has led census officials to go back and review information gathered from more than 71,000 households.

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