It's Time for DeJoy to Go

Now that we've passed the Postal Service Reform Act and got the new electric postal truck fleet, it's long past time to fire Louis DeJoy

There’s been a long saga at the top of the Postal Board of Governors since May, 2020, and at the center is Louis DeJoy - the Postmaster General. According to FEC reports, DeJoy had donated nearly $700K to Donald’s reelection in 2020, right before Trump tapped him to head up the USPS just months before America would cast their ballots during a hundred-year pandemic for an election that would rely heavily on mail-in voting.

Further - there were allegations that DeJoy violated campaign finance laws by encouraging former postal employees to donate to the Trump campaign and then reimbursing them through bonuses. He then made several changes to the postal service that caused widespread mail delivery delays, including removing 711 sorting machines from service. By fall, a federal judge had accused DeJoy of tampering with the vote and the postal Inspector General released a scathing report on his performance.

Once Biden won that election, he couldn’t simply fire the Postmaster General because that’s something that only the board of governors can do - and there were still Trump supporters on the board whose terms hadn’t expired.

According to DeJoy, he was determined to rehabilitate his reputation. He helped the Biden Administration pass the bipartisan Postal Service Reform Act in 2022 which guaranteed a union-friendly version of six-day mail service, and stabilized health coverage for the 650,000 USPS employees.

Around the same time, Biden’s “Green Czar” John Podesta began working with DeJoy on a plan to electrify the fleet. The Associated Press reported yesterday that the plan is rolling out now:

Odd appearance aside, the first handful of Next Generation Delivery Vehicles that rolled onto postal routes in August in Athens, Georgia, are getting rave reviews from letter carriers accustomed to cantankerous older vehicles that lack modern safety features and are prone to breaking down — and even catching fire.

Within a few years, the fleet will have expanded to 60,000, most of them electric models, serving as the Postal Service’s primary delivery truck from Maine to Hawaii.

I long thought that the reason Biden hadn’t gotten rid of the Trump ally atop the USPS was because he was working with democrats to get Postal Reform and electric delivery trucks, but it was also true that Biden had not yet finished replacing the Trump allies on the Postal Board.

But in July, Biden nominated Democrat Val Demings and Republican businessman William Zollars to fill the final two slots on the board. Whether to gain more control over mail in ballots ahead of this election, or to possibly remove DeJoy - these two will complete the Biden takeover of the board of governors and ultimately give him more control of the USPS.

The Senate has yet to confirm them.

So now that we have the Postal Reform Act and the electric fleet done, the Senate must confirm Demings and Zollars so Biden can replace DeJoy and ensure a smooth election this November.