Louis DeJoy, a Republican donor who was relatively recently appointed as Postmaster General, led what some have decried as a “Friday Night Massacre” this week. On Friday, the news dropped that DeJoy was leading a major reorganization at the Postal Service, with a total of a staggering twenty-three reassignments or displacements among top executives, according to The Washington Post. The major shake-up to the Postal Service’s organizational structure came amidst serious concerns about whether policy changes that have been implemented under DeJoy’s leadership would negatively impact mail-in voting in the upcoming general election. In the wake of policy updates like limits on overtime work, at least some mail delivery has seemed to be slowed down.
As The Washington Post explains:
‘The shake-up came as congressional Democrats called for an investigation of DeJoy and the cost-cutting measures that have slowed mail delivery and ensnared ballots in recent primary elections. Twenty-three postal executives were reassigned or displaced, the new organizational chart shows… 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.’
An official statement from the Postal Service pointed to a focus on “core business operations” as justification for the overhaul of the agency’s leadership structure. The statement said:
‘The new organization will align functions based on core business operations and will provide more clarity and focus on what the Postal Service does best; collect, process, move and deliver mail and packages.’
DeJoy was appointed by the Board of Governors overseeing the Postal Service, a board that is currently controlled by Republicans. He has donated around $360,000 to a pro-Trump super PAC, thereby making his political affiliation clear, and it’s long been a Republican priority to undercut the Postal Service. Lately, Trump has even specifically been ranting against mail-in ballots, claiming, baselessly, that they’re rife with fraud and would undercut election integrity if used on a widespread scale. Recently, seven Democratic members of Congress sent a letter to the inspector general overseeing the Postal Service, asking for an investigation into policy changes that could “pose a potential threat to mail-in ballots and the 2020 general election.”
