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Trump Destruction of Postal Service Launches; Democrats Call For Investigations
The U.S. Postal Service is being hijacked in the middle of an election season. Why is Louis DeJoy removing top officials who run day-to-day operations? It's his job to get the mail delivered on time, not play partisan games.
Newly installed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy said.... he has a “good relationship” with Trump — he’s donated more than $2 million to the Trump campaign or Republican causes since 2016, and chaired the finance committee for the 2020 GOP convention....
DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major Republican donor, came to implement policies that prohibit postal workers from taking overtime or making extra trips to deliver mail on time, and how delays specifically affect election mail.
Since taking on his new role in mid-June, DeJoy has made such changes as cutting back overtime and dispatching delivery vehicles on time even if that means leaving behind shipments late to arrive at distribution centers.
23 postal executives were reassigned or displaced in an early August shakeup. The new structure centralizes power around a Trump megadonor and de-emphasizes decades’ worth of institutional postal knowledge.
Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer called on DeJoy to immediately rescind the directives....called for an investigation of DeJoy over new cost-cutting measures at the agency that postal workers say have delayed mail delivery and ensnared ballots in recent primary elections.
....review the financial holdings of DeJoy and his wife Aldona Wos, the ambassador-nominee to Canada. The couple’s holdings include between $30.1 million and $75.3 million in assets in USPS competitors or contractors....
DeJoy had 30 days from taking office to divest himself of assets that present a conflict of interest, according to the Postal Service. Agapi Doulaveris, a spokesperson for the Office of Inspector General, said the department had received the letter, but could not comment on details of ongoing work.
USPS employees are raising the alarm that ballots and our very democracy are at risk with the changes at the Postal Service. DeJoy must answer immediately. We cannot allow Trump and his loyalists to hijack the USPS for political gain.
Coronavirus funding for the Postal Service — and Schumer and Pelosi’s demand that DeJoy roll back the cost-cutting policies — emerged as a sticking point between Democrats and the White House in negotiations on a “Phase IV” relief package. The House passed a package with $25 billion for the Postal Service that does not need to be repaid to replace the Treasury loan.
Trump's frequent warnings that he believes mail-in ballots are prone to fraud and could lead to a rigged election has left some wondering what DeJoy had in mind when he took the job. The Trump administration has objected to any direct aid to the Postal Service.
Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/07/postal-service-investigation-dejoy/