Senate inaction causing empty chairs at the USPS Board of Governors. PRC  got next in empty chairs, 2 of 5 chairs vacant with Chairman Ruth Goldway’s term expiring November 22, 2014.

Here is a post that I never finished several months ago after NALC mentioned the five vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors.

The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service is comparable to a board of directors of a private corporation. The Board includes nine governors who are appointed by the president with the advice and consent of the Senate. The nine governors select the postmaster general, who becomes a member of the Board, and those 10 select the deputy postmaster general, who also serves on the Board. The postmaster general serves at the pleasure of the governors for an indefinite term. The deputy postmaster general serves at the pleasure of the governors and the postmaster general.

Currently there are five vacancies on the USPS Board of Governors. By the end of this year it could possibly be EIGHT vacancies (not counting the PMG and DPMG) due to Senate inaction.

The last time there were no vacancies on USPS Board of Governors is when Dennis J. Toner was confirmed by the Senate:
“On September 16, 2010, the Senate unanimously confirmed Dennis J. Toner, of Delaware, to be a Governor of the United States Postal Service for the remainder of the term expiring December 8, 2012. Mr. Toner will complete the unexpired term of Katherine C. Tobin, who resigned.”

However, starting in 2011 :

Governor Alan C. Kessler informed the Board of Governors that he will resign effective July 31,2011. Chairman,Thurgood Marshall, Jr stepped down in 2012, Carol Gallagher’s term expired at the end of 2010 but extended for another year , Dennis Toner’s term expired, James Miller term expired.

That left the current members:

Mickey Barnett, Chairman (R) Appointed by Bush in 2007, term expired in 2013 but extended for another year (2014), James Bilbray, Vice Chairman (D) Appointed and Reappointed by Bush in 2006,Term Expires December 2015, Louis Giuliano (R) Appointed by Bush Term Expires December 2014, Ellen Williams (R) Appointed by Bush, Term Expires December 2014

President Barack Obama has nominated six people to serve on the USPS Board of Governors:

Paul Steven Miller (D) was nominated but on June 8, 2010 the White House announced the withdrawal of the nomination  to the USPS Board of Governors. Miller was nominated for a term expiring December 8, 2016, vice Carolyn L. Gallagher, term expired.”

Katherine C. Tobin (D), James Miller, III (R)  and Stephen Crawford (D) were nominated and senate confirmation hearings were held but no confirmations.

Vickie Kennedy (D) , widow of Senator Ted Kennedy,vice Carolyn L. Gallagher and David Michael Bennett (D) , vice Thurgood Marshall, Jr. No Senate confirmations hearings scheduled.

So what is the problem?

Well, Congress has a big problem in confirming nominees of President Obama. It is not due to their qualifications but merely to keep a thumb in Obama’s eye.

Also please read these interesting excerpts from the confirmation hearing of Katherine C. Tobin, James Miller, III on June 21, 2012. It appears that some Senate members are a little upset with the Board of Governors:

Senator Susan Collins: An effective Postal Board of Governors is essential to provide direction to the management of the second largest non-governmental employer in the country. With more than half a million employees and more retail sites than Wal-Mart and Starbucks combined, the job of governing the Postal Service is not for the faint of heart.

This was true in 2006 when Senator Carper and I authored the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, which established specific qualifications to ensure that future governors had suitable business and management experience, and it is even more true today.

In the 2006 law, we required that governors be selected based solely on their experience in management, accounting, or other relevant fields. Meeting these basic qualifications has never been more important as the Postal Service faces the perfect storm of rising labor costs, shrinking volume, and declining revenue.

The 2006 law required that within 9 years of enactment, a date that we obviously have not yet reached, at least four members of the Board must be selected solely for having managed a large organization of 50,000 or more employees. Now, looking back at that number, I personally have concluded that it is too high.

But even if we set the number too high, the principle is a sound one and it is time for the Administration to start taking active steps to meet this requirement. I am concerned that we have yet to receive a single nominee who even comes close to having that kind of extensive managerial experience.

The nominees before us today are grandfathered, in many senses. They have served previously on the Board, and they were nominated originally before the 2006 law was even enacted. They both possess valuable experience, and I do welcome the opportunity to consider their nominations.

Let me also briefly turn to two other concerns that I have. The first is whether the Postal Board of Governors truly is serving as a check on the decisions made by postal management.

I am concerned that the Postal Board of Governors may not be aggressive enough in questioning decisions that are being made, whether it is signing labor contracts that seem unwise given the need to reduce the workforce in a compassionate way through buy-outs and other incentives that we have included in our bill, or whether it is asking tough questions about whether service cuts are going to lead to revenue declines that cause a spiral of the Postal Service losing more and more customers.

And second, I am extremely disappointed in the intemperate and unhelpful reaction of the Board to our legislation. The fact is, this was a bipartisan bill that passed with overwhelming support, 62 votes. Hardly anything gets 62 votes in the Senate.

Now, some of those provisions adopted on the floor lower those savings, but they still are significant. And the Board’s intemperate and unhelpful comments do not help to advance it. Therefore, I am very disappointed that our two nominees, I am told, have expressed agreement with the Board’s comments, if not in tone, at least in substance, and that gives me great concern about whether they are truly willing to work with this Committee to accomplish the goal of getting postal reform legislation that is absolutely vital to the survival of the Postal Service passed and signed into law this year.

And it is not helpful to have nominees criticizing the one postal bill that has made it through the Senate. So Mr. Chairman, I wanted to put that on the record, and I look forward to hearing the responses of our witnesses. Thank you.

Senator Carper. And I would say, Senator Collins really spoke for both of us when she said that. I am reminded of the old saying, Who are editorial writers? They have been described as people who come onto the battlefield when the shooting is over and shoot the wounded. That is probably an exaggeration here, but I think that captures the way that some of us felt a little bit.

So, the USPS Board Of Governors ” is essential to provide direction to the management of the second largest non-governmental employer in the country,” but yet not important enough to confirm nominees for over 2 years. Is the Senate merely throwing a temper tantrum over  USPS Board Of Governors’ lack of agreement on Postal Reform bill, holding up Obama nominees until after the election or both?

PRC got next in empty chairs–2 of 5 chairs empty:

Current Commissioners Term Expiration Date
Chairman Ruth Y. Goldway (D) Nov. 22, 2014
Vice Chairman Mark Acton (R) Oct. 14, 2016
Commissioner Robert G. Taub (R) Oct. 14, 2016