DeJoy defends proposed changes amid Postal
Service furor
The postmaster general testified for the first time
since sparking outrage among Democrats, who fear he’s undermining the 2020
election.
By ANDREW
DESIDERIO, MARIANNE LEVINE and DANIEL LIPPMAN
08/21/2020
04:30 AM EDT
Updated:
08/21/2020 02:28 PM EDT
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/08/21/dejoy-postal-service-hearing-399659
Postmaster
General Louis DeJoy on Friday defended his proposed changes to the Postal
Service amid an onslaught of scrutiny from congressional Democrats, warning
that the U.S. Postal Service faces a dire financial situation and is an
operational mess.
In lengthy
prepared remarks before the GOP-led Senate Homeland Security and Governmental
Affairs Committee, DeJoy acknowledged several concerns lawmakers have raised in
recent weeks, including the significant delivery delays because of the Covid-19
pandemic.
DeJoy, who
attributed those delays in part to his reforms, asked Congress for financial
relief and called on lawmakers to urgently address the Postal Service’s fiscal
challenges, including its pension system.
“Without
dramatic change, there is simply no end in sight, and we face an impending
liquidity crisis that threatens our ability to deliver on our mission to the American
public,” DeJoy told senators via video conference.
DeJoy, a
Republican megadonor, also pushed back on the idea that his proposed changes to
the organization are intended to suppress mail-in voting for the upcoming
election, calling it a “false and unfair” narrative and an “outrageous claim”
that undermines public faith in the election. He vowed to prioritize
election-related mail and said Americans should have confidence that their
ballots will be delivered on time.
“Managing
the Postal Service in an efficient and effective manner cannot succeed if
everything is politicized,” DeJoy said, adding that he has never discussed the
Postal Service with President Donald Trump other than during a congratulatory
call when he was appointed earlier this year.
DeJoy
defended his proposed operational changes as necessary for the Postal Service’s
long-term viability. He reiterated that he plans to delay the proposed changes
until after the election, a move intended to placate Democrats who have voiced
strong opposition to the moves.
“I
recognize that it has become impossible to separate the necessary long-term
reform efforts we will need to undertake from the broader political environment
surrounding the election, and I do not want to pursue any immediate efforts
that might be utilized to tarnish the Postal Service brand, particularly as it
relates to our role in the democratic process,” he said.
Notably,
DeJoy did not echo Trump’s false attacks on the integrity of mail-in voting,
pledging that “the Postal Service is ready today to handle whatever volume of
election mail it receives this fall.” DeJoy said he personally votes by mail
and supports the concept.
“I think
the American public should be able to vote by mail,” DeJoy told lawmakers
during the nearly three-hour hearing.
DeJoy has
become an instant villain for Democrats in the Trump era. He was on relatively
friendly terrain Friday, in his first public appearance since coming under
harsh scrutiny for his overhaul of the agency.
Senate Republicans
scheduled the hearing in order to give DeJoy an opportunity to defend himself
before he appears before a Democrat-led House committee on Monday, according to
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), the panel’s chairman. Johnson accused Democrats of
manufacturing false claims about the Postal Service for political benefit.
DeJoy’s
testimony came after senior Democrats expressed alarm about Trump’s attacks on
voting by mail along with a host of operational changes deployed by DeJoy that
they fear could upend the November election. The Postal Service recently sent
letters to 46 states warning that potential delays in mail delivery could leave
ballots uncounted.
DeJoy’s
pledge to delay the operational changes hasn’t appeased Democrats, who are
demanding DeJoy provide further clarification and reverse steps already taken,
including removing sorting machines and limiting overtime wages for employees.
“Was there
a management trigger that things were not going right that you paused it, or
did it take just public outcry to say stop this, especially as we’re heading
toward an election,” asked Sen. Gary Peters of Michigan, the top Democrat on
the committee, in an interview. Peters added he was concerned DeJoy was leaving
some changes in place.
Democrats
have also raised questions about DeJoy’s selection for the role as postmaster
general in the first place.
Democrats
on the House Oversight Committee said Thursday they have evidence that DeJoy
was not among the candidates initially vetted by a firm hired to select the
next postmaster general — which they called a “highly irregular” development.
The lawmakers said DeJoy’s name was proposed by John Barger, a member of the
USPS Board of Governors and a fellow GOP donor.
House
Democrats are set to pass legislation in a rare Saturday session to shore up
the Postal Service with $25 billion and block DeJoy’s moves.
Senate
Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently sent a letter to the Board of
Governors, asking for additional information about DeJoy’s selection. In the
letter, Schumer noted the search firm refused to answer questions from his
staff, citing a nondisclosure agreement.
Johnson defended
selection of DeJoy ahead of the hearing, saying he was “identified by a
professional search firm that was looking for someone who has the managerial
capabilities and skill set to come in and fix an almost unfixable problem
here.”
Before
becoming postmaster general, DeJoy was chief executive of the supply chain
business for XPO Logistics, a logistics company based in Connecticut that does
business with the Postal Service.
But he also
arrived at the job after cultivating deep ties with the Republican Party and
Trump.
The GOP
megadonor started seriously supporting Republicans running for office after he
and his wife Aldona Wos moved to Greensboro, N.C., in the late 1990s from New
York.
Wos, who
was nominated by Trump in February to be ambassador to Canada, also served as
ambassador to Estonia in the George W. Bush administration and later was the
secretary of health and human services for then-North Carolina Gov. Pat
McCrory, a Republican.
McCrory, in
an interview, called DeJoy “the most qualified person to hold that job since
Ben Franklin” was Postmaster General.
DeJoy is
active in North Carolina’s philanthropic circles, holding events for his Roman
Catholic church and universities like Duke and Elon at his 15,000-square-foot
house in Greensboro, which some in his community call “The Castle” and which is
also used for Republican fundraisers, including one attended by Trump in 2017.
“Louis’
thing was these big flashy fundraisers with a lot of high-profile people,” said
one North Carolina Republican operative who knows him. “I always felt like he
wanted to be a big f------ deal. ... His personality is very much like Trump’s.
I can totally see how they get along.”
Friends say
the Brooklyn-born DeJoy admires Trump for being a self-styled disrupter.
“He loves
Trump, loves him to death,” said the operative. “I think he likes somebody who
stands for what he believes in and says it like it is. They’re both ‘say it
like it is’ kind of people.”
The person
recounted one episode in 2018, when DeJoy created something of a scene at a GOP
fundraiser held at the Greensboro Country Club. Attendees were awaiting the
arrival of Vice President Mike Pence, who was late after touring tornado
damage.
“The room is
dead silent. No one is talking and so DeJoy comes storming in, like he’s
getting ready to storm the beaches of Normandy. He uses the ‘Hook ’em horns’
sign in his mouth to whistle and he whistles right into the microphone,” the
person said. “That whistle was ear-piecing.”
K.D.
Kennedy, the finance chair of the North Carolina Republican Party, said DeJoy
“loves Trump, and he admires him as being a very strong businessman and
somebody who cares more about the country at this point in his life than being
an entrepreneur.“
DeJoy
always hit the fundraising numbers that he had promised candidates when
organizing fundraisers, and was “proud of the fact that he maybe was one of
Trump’s best fundraisers,” added Kennedy, who has known him for several years.
Kennedy,
who has been with both Trump and DeJoy together a few times, said that the two
have a “camaraderie” since they have similar operating styles and views on
life.
A White
House official reiterated in a statement that DeJoy was not nominated, but
instead selected by the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors.
Trump
wasn’t DeJoy’s first choice to be the 2016 Republican nominee; DeJoy donated
$2,700 in June 2015 to Jeb Bush and $25,000 that April to Bush’s Super PAC
Right to Rise.
But since
August 2016, he has donated more than $1.2 million to the Trump Victory Fund, a
joint fundraising committee of the Republican National Committee and the Trump
campaign, including a recent donation of $210,600 this past February, Federal
Election Commission records show.
According
to a person familiar with his hiring, DeJoy’s Trump connections and donations
were a negative for some board members, but his logistics experience outweighed
such concerns.
The board
had a “long discussion” about his Trump ties, the person said, because they
knew it was going to be “a lightning rod.”
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