July 19, 2012, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today urged the U.S. Senate to reject Obama nominee Erica Groshen to head the Bureau of Labor Statistics, citing her ties to a left-wing organization with communist roots and her radical views against small businesses.
“Confirming Erica Groshen would be a sure-fire way to substantially erode the public’s confidence that the data released by the agency are not ideologically skewed,” Wilson wrote in an oped published by Investor’s Business Daily today.
Americans for Limited Government released a report today detailing Groshen’s decision to “send at least one of her children to a camp that revels in its past as a ‘red diaper baby’ indoctrination center,” Wilson wrote in a letter to Senate members.
“This choice reveals much more about Ms. Groshen’s personal belief system. A belief system that the United States spent 50 years in a Cold, and sometimes hot, War to defeat,” Wilson wrote.
Camp Kinderland, where Groshen sent at least one of her children, was founded by members of the Communist Party in the 20th century, sang Soviet anthems, saluted Soviet flags, and was investigated by Congress in the 1950’s for its communist ties. According to the camp’s website, “Camp Kinderland is true to the vision of its founders.”
Groshen’s actions to send at least one of her children to a camp with communist origins contradicts her claims in a Theislandnow.com interview where she stated, “I have a very non-political, non-partisan background,” Groshen said. “That’s the kind of work I’ve always done at the Fed and when I was briefly an academic. The BLS is just a continuation of that sort of career because that’s who I am. That’s what I do.”
The ALG report blasts Groshen, “Given the history of the camp one might wonder why a person who touted herself as non-political would send their children there.”
Wilson also highlighted a 1998 paper Groshen coauthored that stated, “Small may be beautiful in many arenas, but it is not beautiful for workers,” adding, “any public policy advantage awarded to small firms (such as labor or environmental standard exemptions) should provide cause for worry.”
“Groshen’s preferred method of alleviating this ‘worry’? Heavier regulation of small businesses — which is one of the very last things our economy needs right now,” Wilson wrote in his oped.
Small businesses supply just about half of all jobs in the U.S. — some 60 million — according to the Small Business Administration.
In his oped Wilson concluded, “The Senate should reject Groshen’s nomination and call on Obama to submit a choice more compatible with the objective role of this agency.”
Attachments:
Special Report from Americans for Limited Government on Erica L. Groshen, Nominee for Commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics July 2012 at http://netrightdaily.com/2012/07/who-is-erica-groshen/
Interview Availability: Please contact Rebekah Rast at (703) 383-0880 or at rrast@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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