Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire was absolutely right to withdraw as the nominee to be secretary of commerce, citing “irresolvable conflicts” regarding the stimulus package and the census. It is the latter issue that has the most direct bearing on the job at the Commerce Department. A recent White House announcement on the census amounted to a direct challenge to Gregg’s autonomy and a dangerous politicization of a process that should be scrupulously apolitical.

The constitutionally mandated census is tremendously important. Reapportionment of congressional seats and the redrawing of district lines at every level of government are dependent on census findings. So are the funding formulas for an immense number of government programs. Changes in census data mean real changes in money and power. To protect the census from political manipulation, seven former census directors wrote a letter last year strongly suggesting that the census be made an “independent, nonpartisan, apolitical and scientific” agency.