'Why Biden Can't Fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy': He's Plotting More Moves To Destroy USPS

[appalachiablue]

Last edited Mon Feb 8, 2021, 11:37 PM - Edit history (3)

- 'Why Biden Can’t Fire Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.' Trying to force DeJoy out could lead to constitutional chaos. By Aaron Mak and Mark joseph Stern, Slate, Feb. 8, 2021. - Ed.

During his first weeks in office, President Joe Biden has ousted a number of powerful officials appointed by Trump. One controversial figure from Trump’s presidency, however, remains in office: Louis DeJoy, the notorious postmaster general who almost sabotaged mail voting in the fall and continues to gut the agency, creating catastrophic delays throughout the country. Progressives are furious that DeJoy has kept his post, but Biden’s hands are tied: While the president can fire other high-ranking executive officials at will, federal law bars the president from terminating the postmaster general under any circumstances.

Biden can attempt to oust DeJoy indirectly, but that option is fraught with legal uncertainties, and certain to trigger Republican complaints of norm busting. Unless the president is willing to take a significant legal risk, DeJoy will remain in control for months or years to come. It’s easy to see why progressives want DeJoy gone: He is an unqualified Trump donor who seems to have done everything in his power to ruin the Postal Service. USPS slowdowns have been a recurring issue since the summer, when DeJoy implemented a slew of cost-cutting measures that suddenly and severely degraded delivery services. His policies prohibited delivery trucks from waiting for late mail or making extra trips, dismantled sorting machines, cut overtime, and reduced hours at retail post office locations. Predictably, these changes created massive backlogs and rapidly diminished on-time delivery rates. During the 2020 presidential election, a USPS filing showed major slowdowns in swing states for first-class service, the delivery status assigned to mail ballots. NBC found that between 25,000- 50,000 ballots likely came in too late to be counted due to poor USPS service.

If DeJoy served at the pleasure of the president, Biden surely would’ve fired him on Day One. But he doesn’t. The problem, ironically, originates from Congress’ desire to insulate USPS from politics. For most of American history, the Postal Service played an integral role in the spoils system, and postmaster general was a plum post for an ally of the president. In 1970, Congress overhauled the structure of the Postal Service to end this sordid tradition of patronage by giving the agency substantial independence. To oversee USPS’s activities, Congress established 9-member board of governors who are nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. No more than 5 members of the board may belong to the same political party. Once confirmed to the board, governors can only be removed by the president “for cause”; that means their jobs are safe unless the president can show that they engaged in malfeasance or extreme neglect of duty. The board of governors, in turn, selects the postmaster general, who is not subject to Senate approval. And once appointed, the postmaster general can only be removed by the board, though it need not justify its decision.

This structure, in short, is why Louis DeJoy remains postmaster general under Biden. The board of governors is dominated by Trump appointees; Senate Republicans refused to confirm President Barack Obama’s nominees to the board, leaving vacancies that Trump promptly filled. Today, there are 4 Republicans and 2 Democrats on the board, plus 3 vacancies. One Democrat, Ron Bloom, is serving a holdover term, which means Biden can replace him at any time. Thus, Biden can fill four seats on the board of governors—a move that would flip the board, giving Democrats a 5–4 majority. The new president can then urge the Democratic members to remove DeJoy, which they can do by a majority vote...

More, https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2021/02/biden-cannot-fire-usps-louis-dejoy.html
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* DeJoy Is Plotting More Imminent Moves To Destroy The Postal Service: He Has To Be Stopped
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2021/2/8/2014804/-DeJoy-is-plotting-more-imminent-moves-to-destroy-the-Postal-Service-He-has-to-be-stopped

.. But DeJoy isn't done yet and is about to unveil his vision for the agency, which includes even deeper service cuts, more expensive postage and services, and lower delivery commitments. That means he is still intent on destroying the institution on behalf of the corporate delivery entities in which he has investments—the very ones he's been entering the USPS into service agreements with. Yes, he needs to be ousted and soon, before he can do any more damage.
That and other things are on the agenda in Congress and, hopefully, the White House. Democratic lawmakers are urging President Biden to fill all the vacancies on the Postal Service Board of Governors and have them oust DeJoy. That would be the fastest and most efficient way to Trump-proof the agency, since the existing board members are all cronies of Mitch McConnell and Donald Trump.

Biden appears to have that on his agenda, the White House said in a statement to NBC's Geoff Bennett, with the president preparing to "nominat[e] officials who reflect his commitment to the workers of the US Postal Service—who deliver on the post office's vital universal service obligation." His timeline, however, wasn’t mentioned. The White house points out that only the board of governors can boot DeJoy, but goes on to say that there are "currently three vacancies on the nine member board, with a fourth who is serving a hold-over year. […] As these are Senate confirmed positions, we will work closely with the Senate to move these nominations forward."...

[C_U_L8R]

1. Don't fire him. Prosecute him.

[TomSlick]

4. Exactly!

There is a specific criminal violation of obstructing the mail.

"Whoever knowingly and willfully obstructs or retards the passage of the mail, or any carrier or conveyance carrying the mail, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six months, or both." 18 U.S. Code § 1701

[mr_lebowski]

2. Kinda amazed IQ45 and Moscow Mitch only put 4 repubs on the board

Biden just places Dems in the 3 open spots, then we have a majority.

Then fire Dejoy's ass.

And I hope Joe doesn't give a crap what the Traitor Pukes have to say about it.

Tangeranus didn't give a hoot about getting Dejoy, a big donor to his campaign, put into that job, so ... fuggem.

[dalton99a]

7. +1. And do it posthaste.

[WA-03 Democrat]

3. Steps to fix

1) load the board so Democratic Party has the majority
2) replace DeJoy
3) kill the crazy retirement requirements
4) add the capacity and employment to complete and be like it was in 2016

[AZ8theist]

5. PLUS:

Empower the USPS to engage in community banking.

Destroy the odious "check cashing/title loans" business that is crippling the poor in this country.

[WA-03 Democrat]

8. Great points

Lots of other countries provide these simple but much needed services.

[c-rational]

12. +1 Yes to community banking!

[soryang]

6. an intentionally wrecked US Postal Service is causing untold damage to the economy

it's damaging to commerce, interfering with money flow, and adding unnecessary costs to routine business and financial transactions.

I don't think the extent of the damage is even known at this point. Something needs to be done soon.

[RussBLib]

9. Has Biden ASKED him to leave?

Seems obvious.

If so, fill up the Board.

[Nitram]

10. Impeach him for sabotaging the USPS.

[Corgigal]

11. Sue him,

for destroying expensive sorting machines, that we the people paid for? Can we do a class action suit?

[c-rational]

13. Service is suffering. Today I woke up to a declined charge. My payment mailed on 1-25 had not

been received. That had never happened before. We had come to trust in the Post Office and we should not loose that trust. It is a good component of the glue that holds us together. Per previous posts, I just ordered about $100 of postage supplies. Anything to help. Also, if the powers that be do away with the ridiculous rule regarding funding of their pensions it should help their cash flow. They will need to reinvent as first class postage is down, but community banking could be a boon to them and US.