Pascrell Calls on Biden to Fire Entire USPS Board of Governors
Postal governing body sat complicit to Trump and DeJoy’s spree of sabotage and subversion
U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today wrote to President Joe Biden calling on him to fire the entire United States Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors for their silence and complicity in Donald Trump and Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s deliberate campaign to subvert vote-by-mail elections and destroy the Post Office.“After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service is teetering on the brink of collapse. Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent. Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century,” Pascrell writes President Biden.
As DeJoy’s efforts to dismantle mail sorting machines, cut overtime, restrict deliveries, and remove mailboxes slowed mail nationally, Donald Trump himself openly admitted that his administration was withholding funding for the Postal Service to make it harder to process mail-in ballots. Through it all, the Board of Governors did nothing to protect USPS.
Pursuant to Title 39, the USPS Board of Governors’ central responsibility is to “represent the public interest” and its members may be removed by the President “for cause.” Today, Pascrell urges President Biden to exercise that legal authority and fire all six sitting members of the Board of Governors for their dereliction and betrayal.
Since this crisis began, Rep. Pascrell has aggressively demanded accountability from USPS. On May 21, 2020, Pascrell wrote to USPS Inspector General Tammy Whitcomb demanding an investigation of turmoil at the USPS, stemming from a pattern of interference engineered by the Trump administration in its efforts to destabilize the post office.
On September 30, 2020 Pascrell led members of the New Jersey Congressional Delegation in a letter to Postmaster General DeJoy demanding an emergency visit to the Dominic Daniels mail sorting center in Kearny and requesting information on USPS’s ability to carry out New Jersey’s all vote-by-mail general election. In October, Pascrell made a surprise appearance at the Daniels Facility and demanded access.
On August 14, 2020 Pascrell became the first member of Congress to call for DeJoy and Trump to be investigated by a state criminal grand jury for their arsoning the Post Office, making a criminal referral to New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal alleging Trump and DeJoy subverted state elections.
The text of Rep. Pascrell’s letter is provided below.
January 25, 2021
President Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Biden:
After several years of unprecedented sabotage, the United States Postal Service (USPS) is teetering on the brink of collapse. Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent. Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century.
According to a report by the USPS Office of Inspector General[1], operational changes imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy “negatively impacted the quality and timeliness of mail service nationally” and were “implemented quickly and communicated primarily orally,” resulting in confusion and inconsistent application across the country. As DeJoy’s efforts to dismantle mail sorting machines, cut overtime, restrict deliveries, and remove mailboxes slowed mail nationally[2], Donald Trump himself openly admitted that his administration was withholding funding for the Postal Service in order to make it harder to process mail-in ballots[3].
Things became so bad that on August 14, 2020, I filed a complaint with our state’s Attorney General calling on him to seek indictments against your predecessor and the Postmaster General for election subversion.[4] Postal operations have continued to severely lag benchmark levels under DeJoy and this slate of Governors. This holiday season, USPS reported an unprecedented level of mail disruption, with only 64 percent of first-class mail delivered on time in late December.[5] Through it all, the Governors were either silent or in support of DeJoy’s havoc.
The members of the USPS Board of Governors have but one central responsibility: “represent[ing] the public interest.”[6] Members may be removed by the President “only for cause.” The board members’ refusal to oppose the worst destruction ever inflicted on the Postal Service was a betrayal of their duties and unquestionably constitutes good cause for their removal.
As America’s perhaps most enduringly trusted institution, a central economic and social engine for every community in America, and a vital vanguard of the democratic tradition, the Post Office must play an essential role in our national life for generations to come.[7] The continued challenges in preserving our Postal Service to survive and endure are gargantuan, and so demand bold solutions to meet them. To begin that work, we must have a governing body that can be trusted to represent the public interest. Thank you for your continued dedication to saving our Post Office.
Sincerely,
Bill Pascrell, Jr.
Member of Congress
[1] https://www.uspsoig.gov/document/operational-changes-mail-delivery
[2] See https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-08-20/usps-cutbacks-post-office-chaos
[4] https://pascrell.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=4428
[5] See https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/19/upshot/postal-service-survived-election-but-crushed-by-holidays.html
[6] 39 U.S.C. § 202(a)(1).
[7] See https://washingtonmonthly.com/magazine/april-may-june-2019/congress-is-sabotaging-your-post-office/
Source: Pascrell Calls on Biden to Fire Entire USPS Board of Governors | U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell
note: Currently, the board comprises of 5 Republicans, 2 Democrats. Ron Bloom’s term expired December 8, 2020, John McLeod Barger’s term expires December 8, 2021:
| Name | Title | Political party | Term begin | Term expiration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louis DeJoy | Postmaster General | Republican | June 15, 2020 | No term limit | 75th United States postmaster general |
| Robert M. Duncan | Governor, Chairman | Republican | August 2018 | December 8, 2025 | Re-elected as chairman in November 2019 |
| Ron A. Bloom | Governor | Democratic | August 20, 2019 | December 8, 2020 | Chair of Strategy and Innovation Committee |
| Roman Martinez IV | Governor | Republican | August 1, 2019 | December 8, 2024 | Chair of Audit and Finance Committee |
| John McLeod Barger | Governor | Republican | August 1, 2019 | December 8, 2021 | Chair of Compensation and Governance Committee |
| Donald L. Moak | Governor | Democratic | June 18, 2020 | December 8, 2022 | Replacing Alan C. Kessler |
| William D. Zollars | Governor | Republican] | June 18, 2020 | December 8, 2022 | Replacing James H. Bilbray |
How could someone say nothing that has happened with the new P.M. has hurt the service of our customers? I, and many other Postal customers never received mail, or had the mail delivered very late. And the man that bought his job from MR. Idiot did what he could to slow down the movement of the mail.I have read many times that people are having their bills paid on the internet, not by mail. And people are avoiding sending parcels through the Postal Service. So the Postal service has lost customers! So nothing the new P.M. has hurt service?
Go ahead, but it’s not gonna matter much. The place will easily lose between 9.5 and 10 billion dollars this year no matter who the PMG or the Governor’s are. But hey, if it makes you feel better do it!
I would agree with this congressman that many of the men, and woman. That service
the people of America are a asset on a daily basis. The place that we may disagree is
that USPS has been in a state economic loss longer than since 2006. As many have
stated in the lawsuit of the 130000 workers that where cut from their employment
in the EEOC final ruling of 2018. I personally do not agree with him that the most
serious loses even happened in his time frame.
The politicians need to stick to what they know. The Postal service has been ran into the ground for the past 15 years. Nothing that has happened with the new PMG has hurt the service of our customers.