The future of the Census and my co-author, Tom Brunell

I don't have a great deal to say about this yet, but I may at some point.

Donald Trump might pick a friend and co-author of mine to head the Census-- Tom Brunell.  Brunell and I published a paper together in Electoral Studies, "Ideological Representation and Competitive Congressional Elections," arguing that noncompetitive elections produce better representation.  Brunell and I are basically the only two people around who think that competitive elections are bad for democracy.  I published an article on this in 2005 in the Journal of Theoretical Politics using game theory, and eventually, Brunell put out a book on the topic.

Brunell is rumored to be up for a big job with the Census.  I... wonder.

If Trump's people care primarily about loyalty, they'll... research him.  They'll look at his associations, McCarthy-style.  They'll see me on his cv.  They'll read this blog.  And they'll deny him the job because nobody with such unsavory associations would be trustworthy.

I wonder if the shit I say about Trump will cost Brunell the job...

I can see traffic to this blog, and there was a weird spike right before I saw the news about Tom Brunell...  I kinda wonder...

Nah....  couldn't be....

The thing is, this sounds like total fucking bullshit.  A ridiculous conspiracy theory.  I'm writing something that sounds as absurd as the idea of a president whose campaign collaborated with the Russians to interfere with the election, and who is being blackmailed by the Russian President, and that could never even be considered, right?  Right?

Anyway, I'll have more to say if Brunell gets the job.  He's a good guy.  And contrary to what the goo-goos tell you, he's right about redistricting.  More to come, if this is as ludicrous as it sounds.

'Cuz, this is just a bunch of malarky, right?  Right?

Tweet

Subscribe to receive free email updates: