In the wake of newly-appointed Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s “Friday Night Massacre” at the United States Postal Service (USPS), Congressman Peter A. DeFazio (OR-04) and Congresswoman Alma S. Adams (NC-12) are calling on him to resign or be removed immediately.
“Since taking office, President Trump has been trying to sabotage the United States Postal Service. He hand-picked the new Postmaster General—one of his most loyal campaign donors, who has no previous experience working at USPS— to do his bidding,” said DeFazio. “DeJoy’s baseless operational changes have already crippled a beloved and essential agency, delaying mail, critical prescription drug shipments for veterans and seniors and other essential goods. Now, DeJoy’s secret removal of the senior officials who run the day-to-day operations at the USPS lays bare his mission to centralize power, dismantle the agency and degrade service in order to thwart vote-by-mail across the nation to aid Trump’s reelection efforts. This November, an historic number of citizens will vote by mail in order to protect their health and safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. DeJoy’s nefarious collective efforts will suppress millions of mail-in ballots and threaten the voting rights of millions of Americans, setting the stage for breach of our Constitution. It is imperative that we remove him from his post and immediately replace him with an experienced leader who is committed to sustaining a critical service for all Americans.”
“The United States Postal Service was established by our Constitution, and this year it will play an unprecedented role in guaranteeing our right to vote,” said Congresswoman Adams. “However, Postmaster General Louis DeJoy continues his unconstitutional sabotage of our Postal Service with complete disregard for the institution’s promise of the ‘safe and speedy transit of the mail’ and the ‘prompt delivery of its contents.’ My friend Maya Angelou used to say, ‘when someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.’ The Postmaster General has shown us on multiple occasions he is working to dismantle a fundamental institution of our democracy. He needs to resign or be removed, now.”
Last night, a “Friday Night Massacre” reminiscent of the Nixon Administration took place at the United States Postal Service. The Washington Post reports : “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.”
Background:
- The power vested in Congress by the Constitution authorizes “the carriage of the mail, and all measures necessary to secure its safe and speedy transit, and the prompt delivery of its contents.”
- According to news reports, the Postal Service “is reeling from mail delays and financial problems as record numbers of ballots are expected in the November presidential election.”
- “Major operational changes” that “slow down mail delivery” are at the behest of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a major Trump donor.
- “It appears that the 108-year-old credo [“Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds”] may have met its match in new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy,”reports Fortune Magazine.
- This week, Reps. Adams and DeFazio led a letter with 130 of their colleagues requesting strong support for USPS in federal COVID-19 relief legislation.
- Afterwards, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) sent a letter to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy calling for the reversal of recently instituted operational changes made within the Postal Service.