Practical Politics
In the run-up to the 2020 presidential election, one very frenzied topic was the new appointment of Louis Dejoy, a known major Republican Party fund-raiser and Trump loyalist, as the head of the nation's Post Office. He was variously expected to crash the mail-in voting option widely available to Americans, make policies that would interfere with votes being properly counted, and otherwise become a major help to Trump's attempt at being re-elected in 2020.
Clearly, Trump did not win, so it was automatically assumed that Dejoy would be summarily dumped as head of the U.S. Postal Services by the Biden administration as soon as possible. Yet, here Dejoy sits today, still in that job.
What the hell happened?
Louis DeJoy is the 75th Postmaster General of the United States (Benjamin Franklin was the first Post Master General of the U.S.) and Chief Executive Officer of the U.S. Postal Service. He was appointed by the organization’s Board of Governors, with a Trump-Republican majority, and began his tenure in June 2020. As the Postmaster General, DeJoy also serves as a member of the Board of Governors.
On May 12, 2024, the U.S. Senate, by voice vote, confirmed the nominations of two new members of the Board of Governors of the U.S. Post Office, Daniel Tangherlini and Derek Kan. These two members were nominated by the Biden administration, and their inclusion meant there would now be 4 Democratic Party board members, and 3 Republican-appointed members, excluding Dejoy himself. With their confirmations, the Board of Governors of the Post Office will now almost be at full strength, with eight presidentially nominated members. This is the first time in over a decade that the Postal Service will almost have a full governing board. So, four of the nine Board members are nominees of President Joseph Biden. Confusingly, however, the partisan composition of the Board is now four Democrats, four Republicans (Dejoy himself, as the Postmaster, is a member of the Board of Governors), and one neutral member unaffiliated with any political party.
Then, last week, President Biden nominated one more person, former Labor Department Secretary Marty Walsh, to serve on the U.S. Postal Service board of governors, potentially finally providing the administration with the majority vote on that board. The Senate approved Mr. Walsh's nomination.
But even that does not mean Mr. Dejoy will immediately be shown the door. Apparently, the Biden administration and the Trump-appointed Postmaster have reached a working relationship, particularly because Dejoy and the Biden team share the same goal of modernizing the new postal delivery system with all-new electrical vehicles as soon as possible. Besides, the threatened mail-in voting interference expected during 2020's presidential election actually did not occur, and there seems little belief today that it will occur during the 2024 vote either.
That's a big bet, though. We shall see, particularly given that in recent months, the mail delivery rate in the U.S. has slowed to its worst performance in three years, according to experts who watch that section of government. Dejoy calls it part of his complete overhaul of how the post office does business.
For the average citizen, this sounds like trouble on the immediate horizon. The Democrats don't need more trouble in the immediate future, they need far less.
The drama continues.
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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