America needs a new postmaster
President Biden nominated three people to fill vacant seats on the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors on the same day the incumbent postmaster general inadvertently but definitively made the case for a change in direction of the troubled agency.
The Biden additions should help bring a spine to a ninemember board that has been passive at best during the disastrous tenure of Louis DeJoy, a major donor to former President Donald Trump who has slashed overtime and reduced mail processing capabilities with seemingly no regard for its impact on Americans who depend on mail delivery — particularly during the election and holiday seasons.
Even as the White House was rolling out the announcements of appointments on Wednesday, DeJoy was apologizing for past problems while suggesting future moves to raise prices and slow the mail as part of a longterm strategy to stabilize the Postal Service finances.
Among other issues, DeJoy was pressed on the agency’s intent to eliminate twoday delivery for local mail. He was vague in his response, acknowledging there may be changes and “you need to define local.” He suggested more mail will be transported on the ground rather than a problematic air transportation network — a move that would almost certainly result in delays.
“It sounds like your solution to the problems we’ve identified is just surren
der,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, DMd., told DeJoy.
Biden’s nominees to the board include Anton Hajjar, former general counsel for the American Postal Workers Union; Amber McReynolds, chief executive of the National Vote at Home Institute; and Ron Stroman, a former deputy postmaster general who served on Biden’s transition team. They join a board that Rep. Cori Bush, DMo., said “looks like a millionaire white boys’ club” — all six of whom are older men and all but one is white.
The three new members will give the board a 44 partisan split, with McReynolds as the sole independent.
A Postal Service board committed to its mission of fast and reliable delivery is all the more important in view of the Republican efforts in some states to curtail mailin voting on the unsupported claim — perpetuated by Trump and his surrogates before and after the Nov. 3 election — that it was rife with fraud. There were widespread suspicions, denied by DeJoy, that he was undermining mail delivery to stymie Democrats’ efforts to expand mail voting during a pandemic.
More than 70 House Democrats have called on DeJoy to resign. Some lawmakers have gone further, urging Biden to replace the six sitting governors so the board — which has hiring authority over the postmaster general — can replace him.
DeJoy needs to go, either by resigning or getting fired. Americans deserve a postmaster general who takes seriously his or her vital role in preserving and enhancing mail delivery.