The government watchdog group known as Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) is calling for the replacement by President Joe Biden of Ron Bloom, who currently serves as the chairperson of the board that oversees the Postal Service. Bloom is up for re-appointment, CREW notes — at present, just three of the board’s nine members are Biden appointees, with the rest (including Bloom) having been nominated by Trump. It’s the responsibility of the board to hire — and fire — postmaster generals, so replacing Louis DeJoy — which CREW also called for — has to go through the board.
Under DeJoy’s leadership, concerns have abounded regarding the Postal Service’s handling of critical items, with clearly documented problems like plummeting rates of on-time delivery. As part of a plan aimed at cutting costs, DeJoy has rolled out a measure to make slower deliveries for certain pieces of mail permanent. Such wouldn’t affect crucial election-related mail, such as absentee ballots, and there didn’t appear to be any systematic problems with the Postal Service’s handling of mail-in ballots during the highly watched 2020 presidential election cycle — but whether such is the case shouldn’t be an open question!
CREW commented, in part, as follows:
‘Ron Bloom, the chair of the USPS Board of Governors—the body with the power to fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy—is up for reappointment. President Biden must replace him. Ron Bloom has defended DeJoy as he’s undermined public trust in the postal service… Despite these serious threats to the Postal Service and mail delivery, Bloom did nothing to intervene and publicly supported DeJoy’s plan… The chair of the USPS Board of Governors is meant to make decisions that will protect the postal service and help it to best serve the American people. Ron Bloom has not done this. To protect the USPS, Biden must replace Ron Bloom, and the USPS Board of Governors must fire Louis DeJoy.’
The Postal Service came under scrutiny once again during the recently concluded elections in Virginia. Amid litigation over their handling of mail-in ballots in the state, the agency pledged to “ensure that completed absentee ballots being returned to county elections officials are properly postmarked and scanned; 2) expedite the delivery of completed absentee ballots; and 3) conduct an “All Clear Certification Process” daily” through the Friday after Election Day, as explained by the voting rights organization Democracy Docket. The Postal Service also agreed to provide daily reports to the Democratic Party of Virginia regarding those daily facility sweeps.
