Were Unemployment Numbers Manipulated Before the 2012 Election?

CLAIM OF “FAKED JOBS REPORT” COULD HAVE IMPACTED OUTCOME

by Sharon Rondeau

(Nov. 20, 2013) — On Tuesday, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, a member of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, hinted to Fox News’s Megyn Kelly that election fraud could be involved if allegations that unemployment numbers were manipulated before the 2012 presidential election are proved accurate.

On Monday, an article published by The New York Post written by John Crudele reported that someone within the U.S. Census Bureau, which is responsible for gathering and reporting employment statistics, inflated the jobs numbers shortly before the 2012 presidential election in which Barack Obama and Mitt Romney were locked in a tight race.

During her interview with Chaffetz, Kelly asked, “Is this about stealing an election?”

The Post & Email was one of the first media outlets which suggested that Obama might have “won” the 2012 election by means of fraud, including vote-flipping on electronic touch-screen machines.

Some believe that the claims in The Post’s report are “far-fetched,” while Business Insider was told by a source at the Census Bureau that the main source quoted by The Post had left his job in August 2011, before the numbers were allegedly “faked.”  However, Crudele reported that the perpetrator of the manipulation in 2010 told him that he was instructed “was told to make up information by higher-ups at Census.”

Crudele also said that others at Census participated in creating false results which “escalated at the time President Obama was seeking reelection in 2012 and continues today.”

A Census spokesperson reportedly indicated that something untoward had occurred, as he or she was quoted as having said, “This was an employee who was willfully disobeying Census procedures and disobeying the law” in an apparent reference to Julius Buckmon, identified as the source of some of the information in Crudele’s report.

The extent to which the employee’s alleged malfeasance affected national numbers

In a follow-up article on Tuesday, Crudele states that allegations of manipulating data in the Philadephia office of the Census Bureau dated back to 2010 and were “admitted” by then-regional director Fernando E. Armstrong.

Business Insider takes issue with Crudele’s report, which failed to state that Buckmon had not worked at the Census Bureau since 2011.  Crudele insists that a proper investigation of Buckmon was not done in 2010, accentuating the need for one now, citing a “Census source” who reportedly said that the numbers continue to be misrepresented.

A Washington Post opinion piece found fault with Crudele’s citation of a “knowledgeable source,” but reporters use anonymous sources routinely.

Crudele’s LinkedIn profile states that he has written for The New York Post since 1989.

Radio commentator Rush Limbaugh reminded his audience that he had denounced the September 2012 employment report as having been “manipulated” by “the regime,” utilizing The Post & Email’s term for Obama’s occupation of the White House and de facto government appointees.

On February 5, 2009, The Washington Post reported that Obama had “decided to have the director of the U.S. Census Bureau work directly with the White House, the administration said today, a move that comes as the Census Bureau prepares to conduct the 2010 census that will determine redistricting of congressional seats” with “oversight” provided by “White House aides.”

Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Darrell Issa has opened an inquiry by sending a letter to Census Bureau Director John Thompson.

In an apparent attempt at damage control, The Huffington Post on Tuesday released an article entitled, “No, Obama Did Not Fake The Unemployment Rate” mixed with opinion and citing the Census Bureau’s response as a “complete denial” of Crudele’s report.

When the figures were released on October 5, 2012, a month before the election, former GE CEO Jack Welch and others, including Limbaugh, called them inaccurate.  Forbes called the report “excellent or a sham.”

Crudele said that “Census never publicly disclosed the falsification” from 2010 and cites Census documents as a source of his information.

The Census Bureau is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce.  Census’s statement in response to Crudele’s report indicates that “when we learned of the allegations of fabricated Current Population survey results, we immediately reported them to the Office of the Inspector General.”

Last fall, Obama reportedly received approximately 3,000,000 more votes nationally than did challenger Mitt Romney.