As Donald Trump’s impeachment trial deux continues, we remember that he tried cheat after cheat to steal the 2020 election. There were the 60-some frivolous lawsuits and attempts to coerce Alabama officials into handing him just under 12,000 votes plucked from the air. None of these worked, but there was one attempt that was particularly egregious.
He installed former Republican National Committee chair Robert “Mike” Duncan as chair of the US Postal Service (USPS) Board of Governors. Duncan, in turn, put Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in charge of dismantling the special rapid mail sorting machines and tossing them out. He overloaded the mail carriers at Christmas time and came up with strange rules that made mail semis travel empty. But there is a new sheriff in town, named President Joe Biden.
Duncan is still on the governing board, but former labor leader and Obama administration official Ron Bloom replaced Duncan. The USPS delivered “tens of millions of mail-in ballots followed by a record holiday volume of more than 1.1 billion letters and packages during the pandemic,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Bloom has a 10-year plan to “revitalize” the USPS, which was born in the 1700s. This is a welcome change, because Republicans have been starving the USPS financially. Bloom said:
‘It will require both ourselves and our stakeholders to come together, openly face our challenges, make necessary choices and do what is right for this great organization and our country.’
Bloom worked on the automobile industry bailout and was also an official with the United Steelworkers Union prior to that:
‘He also has advised the National Association of Letter Carriers on postal issues.’
The board is the only entity that can fire the postmaster general. This was an attempt to keep the agency free of politics. So, Biden cannot fire DeJoy, but he can change the makeup of the governing board. There are currently three vacancies of the board, which will once filled by Biden, give the Democrats the majority of the nine-person panel.
Representative Bill Pascrell Jr. (D-NJ) urged the new president to fire the whole USPS board of governors for “dereliction of duty.”
President of the National Association of Letter Carriers, Fredric Rolando, said that the pandemic showed postal carriers’ dedication:
‘Letter carriers have helped tens of millions of Americans shelter safely at home and even vote from home. Perhaps never in its 245 years has the public post office been more indispensable.’
Under DeJoy’s realm, over a third of the first-class mail was late. He said:
‘[W]e threw everything we had at it. For too many years, postal employees have been asked to do more with less, forced to employ antiquated systems, utilize outmoded equipment and drive outdated vehicles.’
Featured image is a screenshot via YouTube.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
