Republican Fundraising Letters Causing Census Confusion

A fundraising letter being sent out by the Republican Party has caused confusion with this year's Census because the letters are being mistaken for the census forms.

Thursday, April 29th 2010, 7:25 pm

By: News 9


By Charles Bassett, NEWS 9

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A fundraising letter being sent out by the Republican Party has caused confusion with this year's Census because the letters are being mistaken for the census forms.

The letters are being sent about by the Republican National Committee, not Oklahoma's Republican Party, but the party in Oklahoma admitted there are problems with the letters.

"I look at this, and I think it's intentionally misleading. They're trying to use trickery to make people open a fundraising mailer," said Karina Henderson, Oklahoma Democratic Party.

The Republican National Committee mailer even asks recipients to answer questions like the census form, but on the back, it asks for donations, something the Census doesn't ask for.

"They're using the Census, which so many of them have so many problems with in order to try to get fundraising going on, and it's ridiculous. It's low," Henderson said.

Even Oklahoma's Republican Party acknowledged the letters can be confusing.

"The parties operate strictly off of donations. I'm sure that people have advised them that this may cause them to open the letters and read them and increase the amount of donations they get," said Gary Jones, Oklahoma Republican Party.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill a few weeks ago to stop the letters. The bill stated if an organization puts the word Census on a mailer it must also include a disclaimer saying it was not a government document.

But the RNC found a loophole in the measure. Now the envelope has a clear plastic window so the word Census can be seen on the document inside.

"We don't control what the RNC does, and sometimes they do some things that raise questions, but we try to be as up front and as transparent as we can here at the Oklahoma Republican Party," Jones said.

The republican lawmaker who first tried to stop the mailings said he will try again, and this time he wants to restrict any visible use of the word "Census."

The Census bureau said they've had some calls about the mailers.

Oklahoma's Republican Party said they are encouraging their constituents to fill out their Census forms and return them.

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