Postmaster DeJoy Testifying Before Congress
August 24, 2020 – The new Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service (USPS), Louis DeJoy testified virtually before the US Senate Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday, and in-person on Monday at the House amid reports of backlogged mail, mounting delays, dead animals, and rotting food in US post offices around the country. This occurred after well over 600 high speed postal sorting machines were taken offline to be scrapped, overtime was to be cut, and mailboxes confiscated from the streets across America. Mr. DeJoy, a long-time GOP donor and fundraiser, and Trump mega-donor took office as the 75th Postmaster General and CEO of the US Postal Service mid-June of this year. Since then, things have only gotten worse.
Unlike many of his predecessors, Postmasters General, Mr. DeJoy, did not come up through the ranks as did the most recent Postmasters – including his immediate predecessor, the thirty-three year retiring veteran of the postal service, Postmaster Megan Brennan. Notably, Brennan was the first woman to hold the position of Postmaster General, in addition to holding an MBA from MIT.
So Much for Rank and File
In contrast to those who rose through the ranks of the postal system, DeJoy is an outsider. As such, he lacks the rank-and-file knowledge of the inner-workings of the post office, which was exemplified when questioned by the House as to the cost of simply mailing a postcard. In addition to his lack of basic knowledge, he has no formalized education in advanced business or management – no advanced or graduate degrees in organizational management or economics as did his predecessors. DeJoy however, does come to the position of Postmaster General as former CEO of his family’s trucking company – a transportation business called New Breed Logistics, selling it to the freight company XPO Logistics, a company that had a history of contracts with USPS. DeJoy sold New Breed to XPO Logistics in 2014, for $615 million. After the sale, DeJoy remained CEO for a one year transition period to his retirement in December 2015, but kept his position on the board until 2018. During that time however, there was a string of lawsuits, including the XPO shareholders class action, and other lawsuits – settlements paid out to those experiencing harassment and grievous personal harm, many of them women.
But the major issue at hand is not Mr. DeJoy’s past corporate successes, nor his business acumen – but his integrity and intent in his handling and running the United States Postal Service. As a large and repeat megadonor to both Trump and the GOP, the question everyone should be asking is, Why would a multi-millionaire want to run the postal service? And why would he take on such a task if he could command way more as a CEO in the private sector? Taking the Postmaster General job would only net him around $300,000 ($287,620 as reported in 2017), far below the average private sector CEO salaries typically well over a million a year – and more in line with the millions he “donated” to Trump and the GOP.
Privatize for Profit?
DeJoy’s actions follow in the path which Trump has stated on more than one occasion – that he’d like to “privatize” the post office. It is to that end, DeJoy, and no doubt Trump could personally benefit. Not inconspicuously however, DeJoy made numerous “contributions” to the Trump campaign and the GOP. Such contributions can be seen as “investments” to the average onlooker – someone vying to extract favor to “buy” the position of Postmaster General for himself, with the added bonus of a highly coveted position – US Ambassador to Canada for his Wife. And of course there are issues that have the appearance of conflicts of interests between DeJoy and his wife’s stock holdings in companies competing with the post office worth several million dollars – with the potential to be seen as a serious conflict of interest that would raise questions for any serious onlooking as to whether DeJoy was put in place to make the post office “more efficient, or to get it to the position of being privatized.”
Making the Cut
So how did Mr. DeJoy get to be in the list of finalist for the job? It appears through House testimony by the Postal Board of Governors, Chair, Mike Duncan – in charge of reviewing candidates to hire, “added” DeJoy’s name to the list of finalists that the executive search firm Russell Reynolds had produced. At the House hearing, Duncan was sworn to answer questions by House members at the same time as DeJoy was testifying before them, although Duncan testified remotely. When pressed for answers why DeJoy’s name added to an already established list by the executive search firm, Duncan admitted that he “added” DeJoy’s name to the list of finalists – after the names supplied by the search firm had been whittled down and in the second round of review. This of course put DeJoy in a better position to be chosen as he “skipped” over the first round of reviews by the search firm Russell Reynolds and was inserted into the second round. House members took notice of this apparent attempt to stack the deck of candidates in favor of DeJoy, but Republicans ignored this apparent attempt to circumvent the hiring process, and unabashedly mocked Democrats for their inquiries and questions.
As any candidate for a job, knowing that someone was allowed to skip over the initial job application and review process is unsettling. Duncan’s explanation that he “inserted” DeJoy’s name – did not sit well with many house Democrats – in addition to Duncan not bothering to offer up names and credentials of other candidates he allegedly had “suggested” to Russel Reynolds. The fact is that Mr. Duncan’s reputation with the GOP precedes him. Duncan, had been appointed to the Postal Service Board of Governors by President Donald Trump in 2018, confirmed by the Republican led Senate, and elected as Board of Governors Chair in 2019. As the past chairman of two major Republican Super PACs — the Senate Leadership Fund and American Crossroads – giving him a lot of clout with the Republican national Committee (RNC). Notably, Duncan is a star of the GOP, as he was Chairman of the RNC from 2007 to 2009, growing the donor base to 1.8 million, and raising an unprecedented $428 million – more than any time in RNC history.
Making the Connection…
Moreover, Duncan’s history and connections with the GOP are longstanding. He was a Public Liaison at the White House under President George H.W. Bush, and also served as President and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. Currently, he is the chairman of a private college, and CEO and chairman of a bank, located in Kentucky. But as to the issues at hand, Duncan’s ties to Trump – “ALL” are without question, in addition to every board member of the Board of Governors of the Postal Service in which he is Chair – are all Trump appointees.
For those unaware of and how the Board of Governors of the postal service works, here is a brief primer. The Board of Governors are appointed by the President and confirmed by the now Republican controlled Senate. The Board of Governors – that oversee the Postal System are all Trump appointees – with the maximum number of one party as allowed by law – five Republicans (including the Postmaster General). What this means, is any Deputy Postmaster would need to be a Democrat – and that position entails overseeing election mail. Coincidentally or not, that position has remained unfilled.
Ron Stroman, the former Deputy, resigned on June 1, just days before DeJoy started on June 15. Stroman, whose job was also included overseeing “election” mail stated in an interview with NPR:
It was certainly clear to me that when they hired Louis DeJoy, the board of governors [was] going in a completely different direction, and looking to bring someone in whose philosophy and approach, I think, to managing the Postal Service was probably inconsistent with my own philosophy. So after having considered that, I made a decision it was time for me to leave the Postal Service.
Another member of the Board who recently resigned, was USPS Inspector General (IG), David Williams. He was Vice-Chair of the Board of Governors, and a history of being a longtime government watchdog and public servant. His resignation was effective as of April 30. Notably, when Williams was the USPS inspector general, he along with eight other former IG’s called on both branches of Congressional leadership to put in place greater protections that would ensure the independence of agency IG’s as Trump had been firing several in recent months. It would appear that may have been an impetus for his resignation.
The Board of Governors
The tenure of the each board member on the Postal Service Board of Governors is seven years, and by law is to be bipartisan. But currently, there are only six members with the postmaster being seven – still two short of the nine required. It is these “governors” who elect the Postmaster General, who then “also” becomes a member of the Board. Despite the numerous vacancies currently on the Board of Governors of the Postal Service, and the apparent partisanship nature of appointments, the Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the governors for an indefinite term, and the Deputy Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the governors and the Postmaster General.
Taking all this information in stride, the Democrats at the House hearing with DeJoy were emphatic that people need to have “confidence” in the vote by mail system in the upcoming election. Because of the pandemic, health and safety concerns of voters is paramount – as health officials advise that less, not more in person contact should be the standard to strive for in the coming months – and certainly in the voting and election process. In contrast to the health professionals advice, Donald Trump has vociferously stated he does not like voting by mail – despite himself and his staff, and most members of Congress voting by mail. He stakes his claim on a nonfactual argument that the vote by mail process is “rife” with fraud – even though there has been no evidence of any widespread fraud – other than the Russians trying to hack the presidential election in 2016. Yet, Trump’s insistence on voter fraud persists among the Republican congress and his sycophants. Based upon the foregoing, any logical person, including the Democrats cannot help but wonder if Mr. DeJoy is but a shill put in place to help dismantle the post office, so that it can be privatized – something Trump has long advocated. The only other possibility that could explain his dismantling of the postal system is DeJoy’s sheer incompetence, which is highly unlikely – although still possible.
Despite numerous requests by Democrats for logistics studies and documentation which DeJoy relied on to allow the dismantling of machinery and confiscation of mail boxes to go forward – he produced none. Yet, a recent memo was “leaked” by a whistleblower to House Democrats outlining what DeJoy considers “efficiency” – yet as seen by postal workers and the public as the opposite – neither getting their mail, prescriptions or goods on time as the Postal Service is engulfed in chaos.
Conspiracy to Break the Law?
To bolster the argument for a conspiracy to dismantle the post office, the president tweeted on Wednesday, that mail-in voting “for whatever reason, doesn’t work out well for Republicans.” It is a fact, that when more people vote, Democrats often win – but so does democracy. And of course there is no guarantee that this upcoming 2020 election will be free of election meddling by foreign powers. But in truth, both DeJoy and Trump could very well be engaging in federal crimes.
Under 18 USC section 1701, the statute provides that any “knowing and willful” obstruction or slowing the mail will bring about fines and/or prison or both.
18 USC section 1701, “knowing and willfully” obstructing or slowing the mail, states:
Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both.
Moreover, if there is “interference” by one using their “administrative authority” as a federal employee which would include both the president and DeJoy, such interference will be reviewed according to the following provision:
18 USC section 595 states in part:
Whoever, being a person employed in any administrative position by the United States, or by any department or agency thereof, [ …] uses his official authority for the purpose of interfering with, or affecting, the nomination or the election of any candidate for the office of President, Vice President, Presidential elector, Member of the Senate, Member of the House of Representatives, Delegate from the District of Columbia, or Resident Commissioner, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.
And lastly, 18 USC section 610, forbids Coercion of Political Activity, related to voting rights stating:
It shall be unlawful for any person to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, or attempt to intimidate, threaten, command, or coerce, any employee of the Federal Government as defined in section 7322(1) of title 5, United States Code, to engage in, or not to engage in, any political activity, including, but not limited to, voting or refusing to vote for any candidate or measure in any election, making or refusing to make any political contribution, or working or refusing to work on behalf of any candidate. Any person who violates this section shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than three years, or both.
Follow the Money
Despite all these statutory regulations, there is no doubt – extraordinary sums of money flowed to Trump and the GOP – many that coincide with DeJoy taking the Postmaster position and his wife getting an ambassadorship – one must admit, if there was no intent to enrich themselves or reap substantial benefit, their timing is impeccable. All this will need to be scrutinized by the Government Accountability Offices (GAO) for self-dealing, conflicts of interest and ethics violations. Yet, such oversight might not be possible, as the Postal Service just lost it’s own IG inspector general Williams – with no replacement in sight.
There is a plethora of evidence that taking machines off-line right before an election and certainly during a pandemic is not a good idea – when people are most vulnerable and need the added lifeline of the post office to deliver essentials – as well as their ballots. Despite their public outcries to Congressional representatives, the mail continues to pile up – while Congressional Republicans tow the party line touting the complaints of delays as a Democratic hoax, mirroring the president’s claims of conspiracy and fraud – despite the horror stories and photos of rotting food, rodents, and dead animals in the post offices which are the casualties of the cutbacks. Yet the Republicans who question DeJoy seem to take no interest. Could it be because they or their party received large sums of money from DeJoy?
The Blame Game
Despite all this, Republicans failed to take-up the issue seriously, instead spending their time casting blame on the Democrats for creating a problem that was clearly of Trump and DeJoy’s own making. It appears the cries of their constituents are falling on deaf ears. When House Democrats pushed the issue of DeJoy restoring the 600+ sorting machines already removed or dismantled, DeJoy replied with an emphatic “No.” He insisted the decommissioned machines were not needed, despite the obvious backlog and delays. Curiously, he stated that the decommissioning was something that takes place on a regular basis, and he had nothing to do with it. DeJoy made every effort to disavow any involvement with the “decommissioning process” even though it took place on his watch. He also would not provide information on who ordered these machines disassembled and removed if he didn’t order it – even though it all happened after he arrived on June 15 – not before. The Democrats who questioned DeJoy were armed with documents provided to them by whistleblowers, presumably postal personnel, such documents graphically depicted the delays and the timeperiod in which they occurred – after DeJoy took office. Despite the numerous attempts by Democrats in both House & Senate to obtain the documents from DeJoy himself, and despite his failure to provide them – they like everything else that is hidden from view, ultimately will see the light of day. Those documents did in fact prove damning for DeJoy.
The Take-Away
So what’s the take away from all this? It appears that DeJoy was put in place by Trump and his appointees on the Board of Governors, to carry out the will of Donald Trump – that is to quash the mail-in election. Trump has said numerous times he does not want a mail-in election, because he knows he may lose if more people can vote. To carry out his wish of suppressing the vote, his sycophants carry out his wishes. This is not an “efficiency” test as DeJoy claims – the evidence suggests he is focused solely on delay and dismantle. Although he agreed to not dismantled any more, the damage has been done. In fact, many of the House members discussed issues in their districts traced to the mail disruptions.
New Hampshire Senator Lays it on the Line…
A member of the Congressional hearing, a senator weighted in. Senator Maggie Hassan questioned DeJoy remotely about the Manchester, NH sorting facility, the biggest sorting facility in NH which she witnessed first-hand being crippled as a result of having machines recently removed or taken off-line. She elaborated on several sorting machines that had been removed, and that only one was left that could sort a particular type of mail, and that it was breaking down while she was at the facility. She told him that is not efficient and there needs to be a back-up plan as these delays are unacceptable. She also discussed retaliation that has occurred by some postal workers who have spoken up – Hassan pointedly requested DeJoy to make sure there is no retaliation. The Senator made it clear to DeJoy, her constituents are contacting her office upset and scared – not getting their prescriptions on time – and as a result many are rationing critical medications – in some cases causing serious injury and hospitalizations.
DeJoy Memo: The Election Results May Not Arrive in Time to be Counted…
Despite DeJoy’s assurances at the Hearing to get the mail out on time, DeJoy had sent a letter to 46 state Secretary of States in charge of sending out ballots and counting the returns – that there could be delays in the election mail. If that happens, mail-in ballots might not be counted – may be deemed late if not received by state prescribed deadlines. Despite having sent this letter, DeJoy “assured” Congressional Democrats that the election ballots will be processed, and will reach their destination on time. So what is the truth?
Will Americas Election Ballots Reach Their Destination on Time to be Counted?
Only time will tell – but it appears that DeJoy is well-positioned to become another felon in the line-up of Trump’s “Who’s Who” of convicted felons – all those directly involved, or ties to his administration. So what’s it going to be? Delivering the mail – or Delivering the Next Election to Trump? It depends if DeJoy is still Postmaster General come November. If he is, the question we must ask ourselves is not, Will Trump ‘win” the election…But, DeJoy and Trump “pull” it off….
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