Democratic Congressman Bill Pascrell, Jr. of New Jersey on Monday urged President Joe Biden to terminate all six sitting members of the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors for their "silence and complicity" in the face of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and former President Donald Trump's full-scale assault on the beloved government mail agency.
"I am calling on President Biden to fire the entire Postal Board of Governors for their silence and complicity in Trump and DeJoy's attempts to subvert the election and destroy the Post Office."
"Through the devastating arson of the Trump regime, the USPS Board of Governors sat silent," Pascrell wrote in a letter to Biden. "Their dereliction cannot now be forgotten. Therefore, I urge you to fire the entire Board of Governors and nominate a new slate of leaders to begin the hard work of rebuilding our Postal Service for the next century."
While the president does not have the authority under current law to fire DeJoy—a Republican megadonor to Trump who was unanimously appointed by the USPS Board of Governors last May—Biden does have the power to remove postal governors "for cause." At present, the board consists entirely of Trump appointees—two Democrats and four Republicans.
Pascrell argued Monday that "the board members' refusal to oppose the worst destruction ever inflicted on the Postal Service was a betrayal of their duties and unquestionably constitutes good cause for their removal."
Far from opposing DeJoy's sweeping operational changes—which resulted in massively disruptive, nationwide mail delays that persisted through the November election and holiday season—USPS governors publicly praised the postmaster general, with one Republican board member gushing in September that "the board is tickled pink, every single board member, with the impact" DeJoy was having on the agency.
That glowing assessment of DeJoy's performance during his first several months on the job did not comport with the experiences of postal workers—who in some cases resisted DeJoy's policies—or the agency's own internal evaluations, which showed that widespread delays followed the postmaster general's changes.
DeJoy put his damaging policy moves on hold in August amid nationwide outrage and accusations that he was working to disrupt the election for Trump's benefit. With the presidential election now in the past, DeJoy has recently signaled he plans to push ahead with his agenda.
In his letter to Biden, Pascrell wrote that the "continued challenges in preserving our Postal Service to survive and endure are gargantuan, and so demand bold solutions to meet them."
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"To begin that work," Pascrell added, "we must have a governing body that can be trusted to represent the public interest."
Today I am calling on President Biden to fire the entire Postal Board of Governors for their silence and complicity in trump and dejoy’s attempts to subvert the election and destroy the Post Office. pic.twitter.com/VGaXM8MyXT — Bill Pascrell, Jr. (@BillPascrell) January 25, 2021
There are currently four vacancies in top leadership positions at USPS, including three governor spots and the deputy postmaster general role. If Biden fills the remaining vacancies—USPS governors must be confirmed by the Senate—Democrats will have a majority on the board and potentially the votes needed to remove DeJoy from office.
"Trump confessed he was wrecking USPS to rig the election. His toady Postmaster General DeJoy carried out that arson. It's time to clean house," Pascrell tweeted Monday. "DeJoy should be fired but also prosecuted."
Asked about Pascrell's demand during a briefing on Monday, White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said, "It's an interesting question."
"We all love the mailman and mailwoman," said Psaki. "I don't have anything for you on it. I'm happy to check with our team on it and see if we have any specifics. I'm not aware of anything, but we'll circle back with you."
kram_02 on January 25th, 2021 at 19:18 UTC »
I feel like not enough people are/were talking about this. This was 100% provable election tampering. No different than going to a blue county and trying to break the doors so they don't open and people can't get in to vote.
TribalCheff on January 25th, 2021 at 19:04 UTC »
ftr: i'm just now getting mail that was postmarked in the first week of december. my neighbors the same.
regardless of political situations the post office appears to have fallen off a cliff under dejoy.
peter-doubt on January 25th, 2021 at 18:55 UTC »
Do to them what the AG department did to its staff... Give them 3 weeks to relocate across the country... Don't wanna? Good riddance.
Then do it again.
The military lives like this