The letter, signed by Faleomavaega as Chair of the Census Task Force of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, was also signed by Rep. Carrie P. Meek of the Congressional Black Caucus and Rep. Charles A. Gonzalez of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.

The letter simply poses the question of Governor Bush, “Do you stand with those who would deny minorities, children, and the poor fair representation and economic benefits for purely partisan political reasons?  Or, do you stand with the non partisan professionals at the Census Bureau, the overwhelming majority of the scientific community, including the National Academy of Science, and the rest of us who believe that every person in America deserves to be counted in the 2000 Census?”

The population counts from the 2000 Census will be used to determine how many of the 435 seats in the U.S. Congress each state will get.  The same counts will be used by states to redraw the political boundaries for representation in the state legislature as well as in the U.S. Congress.

As a result of a recent Supreme Court decision, the Census Bureau will now use the unadjusted census counts to reapportion the House of Representative seats.  However, it plans to make available to each state for redistricting purposes, population counts that would have been corrected or adjusted using scientifically proven statistical sampling methods, in addition to the unadjusted numbers.