Leader Schumer Calls On Postal Service Board Of Governors To Disclose Decision-Making Process For Postmaster General Pick DeJoy, The First In Decades Without Direct Experience Within Postal Service, Now Set To Lead Postal Service Amid Global Pandemic
In New Letter To Postal Service Board Chairman Leader Schumer Calls For Greater Transparency From Board Of Governors On Selection Of Postmaster General Pick Louis DeJoy, Demands Delivery Of Key Information And Docs To Congress For Review
Leader Schumer Says DeJoy Is First Pick In Decades With No Direct Experience Within Postal Service, May Have Been Forced Through By Trump White House And Treasury Department, And Has Financial Interests In Companies With Ties To Postal Service
Leader Schumer To Postal Service Chairman Duncan: Disclose Board Of Governors’ Decision Making Process Related To Selection Of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy To Congress No Later Than June 25th
Washington, D.C.—Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today released a letter recently sent to U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Robert Duncan expressing serious concern with the selection of Louis DeJoy to be the next Postmaster General of the United States Postal Service. Mr. DeJoy will be the first Postmaster General in decades without direct experience within the Postal Service, at a time when the national public health and economic crises caused by the COVID?19 pandemic make qualified, effective leadership especially critical.
Leader Schumer notes that Mr. DeJoy has yet to make any public commitments regarding his positions on many of the important issues facing the Postal Service, including accessibility, reliability, privatization, and the future of its workforce. Questions have also been raised about Mr. DeJoy’s ability to effectively manage an entity with over 600,000 employees and whether White House and Treasury Department officials inappropriately pressed the Board for his selection over other candidates. In addition, his financial interests in companies that have business ties with the Postal Services, as well as his extensive campaign fundraising efforts, raise questions regarding whether and how the Board of Governors addressed legal prohibitions on his ethical conflicts of interest and partisan political activity as a federal employee.
Leader Schumer requests that a series of information and documents regarding the above queries and others be delivered to Congress no later than June 25th, 2020.
Leader Schumer’s letter to U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors Chairman Duncan can be found here and below:
Dear Chairman Duncan:
I write to express my serious concerns regarding the selection of Louis DeJoy as the next Postmaster General of the U.S. Postal Service and request that the Board of Governors immediately disclose all materials related to its search process. The millions of Americans who rely on the Postal Service — to communicate, vote, or conduct business — deserve to know if the next Postmaster General was selected for reasons of politics or patronage or if he will protect and strengthen its essential services.
In the midst of the public health and economic crisis caused by the COVID?19 pandemic, Mr. DeJoy’s selection comes at a critical time for the Postal Service. Although he has previous experience in the logistics industry, Mr. DeJoy will be the first Postmaster General in decades without direct experience within the Postal Service. Questions have also been raised about Mr. DeJoy’s ability to effectively manage an organization with over 600,000 employees and whether White House and Treasury Department officials inappropriately pressed the Board for his selection over other candidates.
Mr. DeJoy, who starts as the 75th Postmaster General on June 15th, has yet to make public commitments regarding his positions on many of the important issues facing the Postal Service, including accessibility, reliability, privatization, and the future of its workforce. His financial interests in companies that have business ties with the Postal Service, as well as his extensive campaign fundraising efforts, also raise concerns regarding whether and how legal prohibitions on his ethical conflicts of interest and partisan political activity as a federal employee will be addressed.
Given these concerns, the Board of Governors must be fully transparent regarding its selection of Mr. DeJoy and disclose to Congress all underlying materials related to its search process. The communities served by the Postal Service and its thousands of frontline workers deserve a more fulsome explanation regarding Mr. DeJoy’s selection, including whether the Board conducted the due diligence necessary to support its controversial choice.
As part of Congress’s constitutional oversight responsibilities, I request that you provide and produce the following information and documents by June 29, 2020:
1. All communications to or from members of the Board of Governors and White House or Treasury Department officials regarding the search process for a new Postmaster General.
2. Minutes of closed Board of Governors meetings regarding the search process for a new Postmaster General.
3. Names and accompanying documentation of the more than a dozen individuals who in a first round were interviewed by the Board of Governors as part of its search process for a new Postmaster General.
4. Presentations made to Board of Governors regarding the narrow list of finalist who underwent a final vetting process as part of the search process for a new Postmaster General.
5. Documentation and dates of any meetings or conversations that occurred with Mr. DeJoy and the Board of Governors, including by individual Board members or groups of members.
6. Contracts with, documents create by, and communication to and from the Board of Governors, the national executive search firm Russel Reynolds, and the advisory service firm Chelsea Partners regarding the search process for a new Postmaster General.
7. Analysis by the Board of Governors, if any, of the quality of Mr. DeJoy’s performance on previous contract his former companies, including New Breed Logistics, Inc. or XPO Logistics, Inc., had with the Postal Service.
8. Analysis by the Board of Governors, if any, before the selection of Mr. DeJoy of how he will comply with federal ethics laws and regulations, including any review of his financial disclosure statement and determination of assets he must divest or conflict of interest waivers he must seek.
9. Analysis by the Board of Governors, if any, before the selection of Mr. DeJoy of how he will comply with the Hatch Act’s prohibition against federal employees participating in certain partisan political activities and the steps Mr. DeJoy has committed to take in response.
10. Commitments or representations Mr. DeJoy made to the Board of Governors regarding universal service obligation and accessibility of postal services; the affordability of products and services; service standards and the quality of services provided to Americans; the rights of Postal Service workers to unionize and collectively bargain; and the Postal Service’s workforce and financial condition.
Thank you for your attention to a matter that impacts every American who relies on the Postal Service.
Sincerely,
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