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James O’Keefe Investigates Census Fraud

By: Brian Darling (Diary)  |  June 1st, 2010 at 07:00 PM  | 

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Earlier today, James O’Keefe revealed his latest work of investigative journalism.  O’Keefe produced a whistle blowing video and blog post showing alleged government waste at the U.S. Census in New Jersey.  What do the members of Red State Nation think about this latest act of involuntary government transparency on the part of James O’Keefe?  I say three cheers to O’Keefe for exposing how my tax dollars are wasted by the federal government.

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  • Richard Mullins

    Exposing Fraud and abuse should be what we all do with the Government.

  • Scope

    when I was laid off from my Virginia construction industry job, it hurt as I was the higher income earner in the family. I was eligible for unemployment, and then some, for six months. Probably because Virginia didn’t post as high unemployment as some other areas of the country, which was adjusted upwards after Tim Kaine left office, in order to qualify for extended unemployment, you had to have worked 30 full days, or 240 hours, to qualify for extended benefits. It may be that the Census supervisors are trying to get the Census workers hours up so they qualify for extended unemployment benefits when the Census is done.

    Interestingly, the Census worker just showed up at my house a week ago. Because my neighbors (20 something and as Liberal as one can get) were not home, the worker asked me to tell her all about my neighbors. Names, race, and ages. I simply said that they were some 20 somethings, and that we only waved hello when we were coming and going. She was going to try to get in touch with Montpelier Foundation (the landlords) to get the info required on them. A few days later a big burly man showed up, and asked me the same, I told him the same.

  • DefendUSA

    I worked on the 1990 census. I was told to be as efficient as possible. And I do not remember faking a time sheet, in any way shape or form. I believe I made 7/hr. The time machine for that is dead and gone.

    I saw the same type of fraud with Army logistics. Ordering supplies that were not needed but fear of the budget cuts forced the hands of the Supply chief.
    There was no incentive to be efficient in that case.

    O’keefe is the man.

  • jeffreywturner

    I mean it was good work and all, but a boat and a briefcase full of money?

    As great as it is to sniff out government waste, I’d much rather see O’Keefe go after some of the counting fraud that is sure to be going on. (ie: intentionally over-counting and / or double-counting of homeless people and others in the inner-city areas in order to boost the numbers in those areas for apportionment)

    • eastbaylarry

      I heard in anither report, (I don’t remember the source at the moment), that census workers were being hired for 4 hours work then layed off…then rehired for 4 hours work then layed off.
      Repeat as needed to show ‘job growth’.

  • techsan

    First of all…this is outstanding work. James hits another home run.

    However, it is sad how institutional the attitude is. Here are two of the lowest-level census admins who think it’s no big deal to hand out tax dollars. It’s slightly sad that these three folks are specifically singled out. And they may think “it’s not fair!!!!!” in their best 3rd-grade whine. And they might even have a partial point. Then again, James, along with 50% of this country, are these peoples’ employers. We need to hold them accountable if the institution chooses not to do it’s basic job. All James did was to point it out. I’ll give better than even odds they get little to no personal harassment over it…just, hopefully, a sense of shame. A more expected response is a lawsuit…which, due to the Streisand Effect, would help James’ cause more than hurt it.

    A responsible government would launch a full investigation of census procedure and add a layer of accountability. Ummm…yeah…I won’t hold my breath either.

  • conservativecrusade

    as setting a certain amount of hours for training is standard practice in many companies. Most are aware that the scheduled hours each day, may not be the actual hours spent in training, but they still pay you for them.

    But at the same time, while the issue he raised is sort of petty and questionable that it is actually fraud, I am concerned with the flippant attitude the management has towards doctored time cards. Maybe if he had caught them adding hours after they completed training and were in the streets, OK, but the part in the video may be standard practice for that division.

    There is a ton of legitimate fraud going on in our government, hope he goes after it. Giving a person a set amount of hours during training is not uncommon and not that explosive.

  • Stinger808

    George Stephanopoulos wouldn’t know irony if it came up and smacked him in the face.

    http://bigjournalism.com/mwalsh/2010/06/01/pot-meet-kettle-former-clinton-hack-george-stephanopoulos-calls-james-okeefe-a-political-activist/

  • Raven

    Not for the 2 days of training.
    Now for the time on the job, my concern starts to show up.

  • mackbolan

    I think he did a great job with this piece. I think he would have been better off giving the extra money to some charity at the end and making the point that if the 600,000 census workers all did the same with their stolen tax payer dollars it would add up to a whole lot of help for people who really need it and without a doubt would be a better application of our tax dollars than when the government decides how to spend it.

    It would also strengthen the case against any bleeding heart that wants to brush off such blatant theft of our tax dollars as just a political hit piece.

  • RedBeard

    It’s not really stealing from the taxpayers. It’s just… umm…

    Well, OK, it’s stealing. But it’s only a billion bucks or so.

    Lighten up. Everyone does it.

    Morality is just so old fashioned.

  • joehnewyork

    Great job but next time take Hannah on the boat at the end.

  • Jewels

    His videos just keep getting better.

    I’m also reminded of the news that the census has been firing and hiring people every month in order to inflate employment numbers- is there any doubt at all that this bloated organization only exists to screw us over?

  • My Dinner With Andre The Giant

    I work for the Census as a Field Operations Supervisor, which is a Crew Leader’s boss. While, on the one hand, this apparently happened, this video does not show anything at all like the Census Bureau that I know. Any Crew Leader who tried this in my office would be fired, and Signorile is nothing like her counterpart that I work with.

    Obviously there will be census Enumerators who cheat. Some will goldbrick, while others will inflate their hours and mileage. However, we do our best to make sure that miles claimed are plausible and that a certain standard of productivity is maintained. And I’ve got a boss demanding that we come down like a ton of bricks on any sub-par or dishonest Enumerator or Crew Leader.

    Mackbolan describing census workers as 600,000 thieves is viciously stupid. Most of us are like anyone else…doing an honest job the best we can. More importantly, I don’t know anyone in any supervisory role who doesn’t work for free every week. To do my job well requires about 75 hours/week, though I am only allowed to claim 40. I have worked all but one day since mid-April. I have hurried my Crew Leaders and Enumerators along at every turn, even though getting the job done early means working myself out of a job that much more quickly. Call me a thief to my face, and I don’t think you would like the result.

    I wholeheartedly agree that government fraud and waste is disgusting. But working for the government is not the same thing as stealing. I (and everyone I know who is still employed by the Census Bureau) have earned every single penny I’ve been paid.