Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced the he is firing or reassigning 23 top postal executives in a major shakeup of a governmental agency recently shaken by reports of management cuts to overtime, a mounting financial crisis and increasing scrutiny because of the upcoming election, the Washington Post reports.
In a reorganization memo released Friday, a new management tree shows that DeJoy is centralizing power around himself. A major republican funder and supporter of President Trump, DeJoy is uprooting decades of institutional knowledge by removing people in management position.
Thirty-three people will keep their positions or be reassigned to new positions within management, with five others joining management from other roles.
DeJoy and his management of the Constitutionally-created postal service are under increased scrutiny as delays mount up in letter and parcel delivery by the Post Office. Postal workers have shared accounts that they’ve been told to stop working and leave mail undelivered, a practice that would have been frowned on previously.
According to the Post, Rep. Gerald E. Connolly (D-Va.), chair of the House subcommittee responsible for postal oversight, called the reorganization “a deliberate sabotage” to the nation’s mail service and a “Trojan Horse.”
Two key USPS executives are being removed from important positions. David E. Williams, formerly chief operating officer and executive vice president, will take the role of chief logistics and processing operations officer, a step down for a trusted adviser to former postmaster general Megan Brennan and members of the agency’s governing board. Kevin L. McAdams, the vice president of delivery and retail operations and a 40-year USPS veteran, was not listed on the chart, the Post reports.
According to the reorganization memo, the USPS will implement a hiring freeze immediately, which will likely cause more accusations of deliberate undermining the efficiency of the Post Office as the upcoming election is expected to have massive mail-in voting.
Nine Democrats, including Senator Elizabeth Warren, House Oversight Committee Chair Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) and Connolly, sent a letter to the Postal Service Inspector General to urge her to look into potential politicization of the agency.
“Given the ongoing concerns about the adverse impacts of Trump Administration policies on the quality and efficiency of the Postal Service, we ask that you conduct an audit of all operational changes put in place by Mr. DeJoy and other Trump Administration officials in 2020,” the letter states.
The letter also asks the USPS IG to look into the finances of DeJoy and his wife, Aldona Wos, nominated to be the US ambassador to Canada, who own more than $30 million in assets and stocks in businesses that compete with the USPS.