NOMINATIONS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “The Trump administration is leaning toward naming Thomas Brunell, a Texas professor with no government experience, to the top operational job at the U.S. Census Bureau, according to two people who have been briefed on the bureau’s plans.
Brunell, a political science professor, has testified more than half a dozen times on behalf of Republican efforts to redraw congressional districts, and is the author of a 2008 book titled ‘Redistricting and Representation: Why Competitive Elections Are Bad for America.’
The choice would mark the administration’s first major effort to shape the 2020 census, the nationwide count that determines which states lose and gain electoral votes and seats in the House of Representatives…
Brunell was under consideration over the summer for the Senate-confirmable job of census director, but the administration declined to nominate him after receiving pushback from Capitol Hill, according to two people who track the census closely.
The White House and Census Bureau both referred comments to the Commerce Department, which oversees the bureau. The Commerce Department declined to comment. Brunell, reached by phone, declined to comment.”
-Danny Vinik and Andrew Restuccia, “Leading Trump Census pick causes alarm,” Politico, Nov. 21, 2017 05:06am