U.S. Census loses top two officials

WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Census Bureau has lost its two most senior officials to resignations, raising fears a massive procedural overhaul due for 2010 is in jeopardy.

Louis Kincannon, a statistician appointed by U.S. President George Bush to lead the agency in 2002, cited family responsibilities in his official resignation letter Tuesday, but told The Washington Post he wasn't comfortable with "different views perhaps about priorities" at the agency, which is overseen by the U.S. Department of Commerce.

The second resignation was from Hermann Habermann, a career statistician who runs the census operation. There was no official reason given for his resignation and the Post said it was unable to contact him.

The bureau has been striving to create a system to conduct a full census every year rather than once a decade. Census figures are using creating political districts and such things as highway appropriations, and U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., a former ranking Democrat on the census subcommittee, said she is concerned with the resignations' effects.

"At this point, without knowing who's taking over, it fair to say that the accuracy of the 2010 census is absolutely in jeopardy," Maloney said in a statement.