The Biden administration is scrambling to save Christmas, working with port operators, shipping companies, and labor unions to try to untangle supply chain issues that threaten some of the joy of the holiday season. While he’s at it, there’s one more thing President Biden can do: get Louis DeJoy out of the U.S. Postal Service.
Seriously, what is it going to take for DeJoy’s ouster? We know logistically what it’s going to take—Ron Bloom, the chairman of the board of governors for the USPS, has to either be ousted by Biden so that a new board can boot DeJoy, or he has to be convinced that It has to happen. But, like, what’s it going to take to make that happen? Another lawsuit? Well, we’ve got that.
Twenty state attorneys general filed a complaint last week over DeJoy’s plan to make mail delivery both slower and more expensive for this holiday season. The suit against the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) argues that the Postal Service didn’t fully vet DeJoy’s 10-year plan. “The Plan will transform virtually every aspect of the Postal Service… rework how the Postal Service transports mail and other products; overhaul its processing and logistics network; enact slower service standards for First-Class Mail and Periodicals and First-Class Packages Services; reconfigure the location of places where customers can obtain postal products and services; and adjust rates,” the attorneys general said in a joint statement.
“Postmaster General DeJoy’s plan to transform the Postal Service will impact mail delivery for everyone in Pennsylvania and across the nation,” said Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro. “This plan is being enacted without any meaningful oversight and review, and the Postal Regulatory Commission, states, experts, and the public deserve to have their voices heard.”
DeJoy’s “radical” plan could “destroy the timely mail service that people depend on for medications, bill payments, and business operations in rural parts of the state,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a separate statement.
The complaint charges that the DeJoy plan “reflects multiple unprecedented changes in the Postal Service’s operations and service, at a time when reliance on the mail remains at historic levels, and states across the country are grappling with a resurgence of COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant.” The AGs argue that “[t]o date, the Postal Service has only submitted two requests for an advisory opinion to the Commission on important but narrow changes that represent only a small portion of the Plan’s scope.”
“Implementing the full breadth of these changes without adhering to the process set forth in section 3661(b) deprives users of the mail of their statutory rights, and undermines public accountability,” the complaint asserts. “In addition, failing to seek the Commission’s expert review on such a transformational change upsets the statutory balance established by the [Postal Regulatory Act], deprives the Postal Service of the Commission’s expert recommendations, risks significant errors in the Postal Service’s decision-making, and ultimately harms all who rely on the Postal Service for timely and efficient mail.”
This suit follows a polite request from the state AGs to the PRC to reject the proposal last summer. The AGs wrote back in June that the plan reflects a “flawed philosophy that would prioritize the services it offers in competitive markets over those that it alone provides and on which countless Americans depend.” They argued that purposely delaying mail delivery would violate the USPS’s statutory duty to provide “regular and effective” access to postal services for everyone, mainly rural areas, and pointed out that the mail delays and USPS crisis experienced last year were found to be unlawful by four different federal judges.
DeJoy himself remains the subject of an FBI investigation for alleged illegal campaign finance activity. In September 2020, the Washington Post reported on DeJoy’s former company, New Breed, and what looked to be an unlawful straw donor scheme to pump more than $1 million to Republican candidates from 2000-14. During that period, DeJoy became a major donor to the GOP in North Carolina and nationally. Those irregularities continued when New Breed was purchased by XPO Logistics, with DeJoy remaining on the board of directors.
DeJoy might not be under investigation for another extremely stinky deal, but he should be. He has retained financial ties to XPO Logistics even while at the USPS. XPO Logistics obtained a five-year, $120 million contract from the Postal Service this year. DeJoy could realize as much as $23.7 million from the company in the next decade through this contract and the leases to XPO Logistics for four office buildings his family businesses own.
Everything about DeJoy stinks, as does his plan to tear down the U.S. Postal Service, the oldest American government institution pre-dating the Revolution. Biden could save the post office and save Christmas by giving him the boot.
Seriously, what is it going to take for DeJoy’s ouster? We know logistically what it’s going to take—Ron Bloom, the chairman of the board of governors for the USPS, has to either be ousted by Biden so that a new board can boot DeJoy, or he has to be convinced that It has to happen. But, like, what’s it going to take to make that happen? Another lawsuit? Well, we’ve got that.
Twenty state attorneys general filed a complaint last week over DeJoy’s plan to make mail delivery both slower and more expensive for this holiday season. The suit against the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC) argues that the Postal Service didn’t fully vet DeJoy’s 10-year plan. “The Plan will transform virtually every aspect of the Postal Service… rework how the Postal Service transports mail and other products; overhaul its processing and logistics network; enact slower service standards for First-Class Mail and Periodicals and First-Class Packages Services; reconfigure the location of places where customers can obtain postal products and services; and adjust rates,” the attorneys general said in a joint statement.
“Postmaster General DeJoy’s plan to transform the Postal Service will impact mail delivery for everyone in Pennsylvania and across the nation,” said Pennsylvania AG Josh Shapiro. “This plan is being enacted without any meaningful oversight and review, and the Postal Regulatory Commission, states, experts, and the public deserve to have their voices heard.”
DeJoy’s “radical” plan could “destroy the timely mail service that people depend on for medications, bill payments, and business operations in rural parts of the state,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said in a separate statement.
The complaint charges that the DeJoy plan “reflects multiple unprecedented changes in the Postal Service’s operations and service, at a time when reliance on the mail remains at historic levels, and states across the country are grappling with a resurgence of COVID-19 cases caused by the Delta variant.” The AGs argue that “[t]o date, the Postal Service has only submitted two requests for an advisory opinion to the Commission on important but narrow changes that represent only a small portion of the Plan’s scope.”
“Implementing the full breadth of these changes without adhering to the process set forth in section 3661(b) deprives users of the mail of their statutory rights, and undermines public accountability,” the complaint asserts. “In addition, failing to seek the Commission’s expert review on such a transformational change upsets the statutory balance established by the [Postal Regulatory Act], deprives the Postal Service of the Commission’s expert recommendations, risks significant errors in the Postal Service’s decision-making, and ultimately harms all who rely on the Postal Service for timely and efficient mail.”
This suit follows a polite request from the state AGs to the PRC to reject the proposal last summer. The AGs wrote back in June that the plan reflects a “flawed philosophy that would prioritize the services it offers in competitive markets over those that it alone provides and on which countless Americans depend.” They argued that purposely delaying mail delivery would violate the USPS’s statutory duty to provide “regular and effective” access to postal services for everyone, mainly rural areas, and pointed out that the mail delays and USPS crisis experienced last year were found to be unlawful by four different federal judges.
DeJoy himself remains the subject of an FBI investigation for alleged illegal campaign finance activity. In September 2020, the Washington Post reported on DeJoy’s former company, New Breed, and what looked to be an unlawful straw donor scheme to pump more than $1 million to Republican candidates from 2000-14. During that period, DeJoy became a major donor to the GOP in North Carolina and nationally. Those irregularities continued when New Breed was purchased by XPO Logistics, with DeJoy remaining on the board of directors.
DeJoy might not be under investigation for another extremely stinky deal, but he should be. He has retained financial ties to XPO Logistics even while at the USPS. XPO Logistics obtained a five-year, $120 million contract from the Postal Service this year. DeJoy could realize as much as $23.7 million from the company in the next decade through this contract and the leases to XPO Logistics for four office buildings his family businesses own.
Everything about DeJoy stinks, as does his plan to tear down the U.S. Postal Service, the oldest American government institution pre-dating the Revolution. Biden could save the post office and save Christmas by giving him the boot.