Connections help postal boss DeJoy
During its WASHINGTON — search for a new postmaster general, the U.S. Postal Service Board of Governors was presented with 53 candidates screened by an outside company. Not on the list: Louis DeJoy, who ultimately got the job.
Instead, in what Democrats call a breach of protocol and blatant cronyism, DeJoy’s name was added as a contender by the board member leading the search, JohnBarger. Hewas actingon behalf of the board’s chairman, Robert “Mike” Duncan, a former Republican National Committee chairman who knew DeJoy and his wife through work on a WhiteHouse advisory group. DeJoy, Barger and Duncan were prominent donors to PresidentDonaldTrumpand other Republicans.
How exactly DeJoy was hired is among the questions Congress is trying to unravel as lawmakers scrutinize a series of operational changes at the Postal Service that have resulted in widespread mail delays and fears that the agency will not be able to handle an expected surge in mail-in ballots this fall as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Democrats say they also want to learn more about the role of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, who met with Duncan and other Republicans on the agency’s boardwhile the selection of the new postmaster general was underway.
TheTrumpadministration denies any impropriety in the selection of DeJoy, a formersupply chainCEOwhois the first postmaster general in nearly two decades not to be a career postal employee. Mnuchin has said he had no involvement, though his heightened interest in the PostalServicehasraisedquestions given Trump’s focus on mail-in voting.
The Associated Press reviewed hundreds of pages of records related to DeJoy, revealing a driven businessmanwho turned his father’s trucking company into a national logistics operator, clashed with labor unions and forged political connections that eased his path into lucrative government contracting.
His prolific giving to organizations and GOP candidates, including $1.2 million to Trump, has also drawn a spotlight to the transactional appearance ofsomeof his contributions. His wife, AldonaWos, is a prominent donor aswell, and has been nominatedbyTrumptoserve as ambassador to Canada; her nomination is pending.
The records reviewed by the AP reveal a pattern of DeJoy’s family winning covetedopportunities aftermaking generous contributions.
In one instance, DeJoy’s son, Andrew, secured a slot on Duke University’s tennis team in 2014 while his parents wrote a series of large checks to the school’s athletic department. The team wasranked14thinthenation by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association and drewa host of top national and international prospects. ButAndrew DeJoy was not one of them when he joined as awalk-on freshman months after the season started.
Duke athletic department spokesman Art Chase declined to comment. Arepresentative of the family’s foundation did not respond to a request for comment.
Wos, DeJoy’s wife and a physician who immigrated to the United States from Poland, was appointedPresidentGeorgeW. Bush’sambassador to Estonia after she helped raise over $200,000 for his 2004 campaign. Granting ambassadorships is acommonway presidents reward their top donors. She donatedmore than $35,000 to Trump’s reelection before he announced that hewould nominate her to be his next ambassador to Canada.
Louis DeJoy also saw his federalworkpickupwhilehis wife served as Bush’s envoy to Estonia. Between 2003 and 2009, his companyNew Breed Logisticswas awarded contractsworth $59 million, according to federal data
During the 2012 governor’s election in North Carolina, DeJoy, Wos and more than 60 employees of New Breed from eight different states routed more than $165,000 to the campaign of Republican Pat McCrory.
“They’ve never asked for anything for their involvement,” said McCrory, adding that DeJoy and Wos are also generous philanthropists and “don’t just write checks” and “put their sweat equity behind everything they do.”
Wos was selected in 2013 to serve as the head of North Carolina’s Department of Health andHuman Services under McCrory, where she had a rocky tenureuntil stepping down in 2015.
There are also questions about DeJoy’s relationship with labor while in the private sector, giventhathenow oversees an agency where many of his 650,000 workersareunionized. NewBreed, thecompanyhefounded,was sanctionedmultiple times by federal regulators for violating labor laws.
ThoughDeJoywasaTrump donor, it remains unclear exactly how he emerged as the top contender to lead the Postal Service. Mnuchin has denied that he or otherTreasury Department officials played a role in recruiting or suggesting DeJoy to the Postal Service board of governors, which is comprised of Trump appointees. In an Aug. 21 letter to SenateDemocratic leaderChuck Schumer of New York, Mnuchin that he was “surprised” to learn DeJoy was a finalist.
Still, Mnuchin has been keenly interested in postal operations since at least 2018, when Trump named him to lead a task force to evaluate ways to stem billions of dollars in losses at the agency.
DavidC. Williams, aformer Postal Service inspector generalwho said he resigned as vice chairman of the board of governors in April after it became clear DeJoy would be hired, said Mnuchin was usingamultibillion-dollarline of credit with the Postal Service as leverage to take effective control over labor agreements, prices and contracts withAmazonand other large shippers.
In a “fact sheet” issued in responsetoWilliams’sclaims, the Treasury said it plays an important role overseeing federal loans to the Postal Service. Outstanding loans to the agency stand at $14.4 billion, with $10 billion more in lending authority included in an economic rescue law approved by Congress in March. That loan should be finalized in coming weeks.
DeJoy won unanimous, bipartisan support fromthe board of governorswhen he was hired in May.
DeJoy “should never been hired,” Connolly said. “We don’t need aTrumpdonor at the Postal Service,” saidRep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. “We don’t need a Trump donor at the Postal Service.”