Democrats Call for Investigation into Changes at U.S. Postal Service Amid Latest Organizational Upheaval

Democrats are calling out the head of the U.S. Postal Service, who is a donor to the Trump Campaign and chair of the finance committee for the GOP convention, even as he continues to barrel forward with a series of changes that have been majorly slowing down mail ahead of the 2020 elections.

Nine Congressional Democrats wrote to Postal Service Inspector General Tammy L. Whitcomb on Friday to demand an investigation into new policies put in place by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and how the delivery delays they are causing may impact November’s elections, reports the Washington Post.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) also met with Dejoy earlier this week to share their concern about recent operational decisions he made to reduce overtime for postal workers, restrict extra mail transportation trips, and reduce the number of processing equipment at mail processing plants–all in the midst of a pandemic.

But on Friday Dejoy instituted another surprise change at the USPS by announcing an organizational restructuring that displaces a number of veteran postal workers from their roles in positions of leaders.

From the Washington Post:

Twenty-three postal executives were reassigned or displaced, the new organizational chart shows. Analysts say the structure centralizes power around DeJoy, a former logistics executive and major ally of President Trump, and de-emphasizes decades of institutional postal knowledge. All told, 33 staffers included in the old postal hierarchy either kept their jobs or were reassigned in the restructuring, with five more staffers joining the leadership from other roles.

Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chair of the House subcommittee responsible for postal oversight, called the reorganization “a deliberate sabotage” to the nation’s mail service and a “Trojan Horse.”

Dejoy said the changes are about establishing “clear lines of authority and accountability” in his work to provide greater focus to the USPS as a business, echoing sentiments from the President himself who has called for the USPS to increase its delivery prices.

Dejoy also has a background in delivery in the private sector. He and his wife Aldona Wos, who the Trump Administration has nominated to be America’s ambassador to Canada, declared millions of dollars in assets in USPS competitors and contractors earlier this year.

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