I wrote a letter to our congressman this morning because I was concerned about the new Postmaster - and how rapidly he was approved.
Two hours later, I received the following response:
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Thank you for contacting our office and sharing your concerns. The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service is comparable to a board of directors of a publicly held corporation. The Board normally consists of up to nine governors appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate. The nine governors select the Postmaster General, who becomes a member of the Board, and those 10 select the Deputy Postmaster General, who also serves on the Board.
Currently, the board now has six total members: four appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate, Postmaster General Megan Brennan and Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman. It is highly unlikely for any changes to occur on the board in the foreseeable future with the latest confirmation of DeJoy.
The Congressman will continue to work with his colleague to ensure the Postal Service is able to uphold it's mandate to the people. I am sharing his recent work on postal issues.
He, along other colleagues, sent a letter to Speaker Pelosi and Minority Leader McCarthy requesting strong support for the United States Postal Service in the next package developed to respond to the harms of COVID-19.
He is a co-sponsor of the Protect Our Post Offices Act (H.R. 6425).
He joined with Rep. Kirkpatrick and 56 other members in an effort to provide additional funding and assistance to help USPS maintain its critical services in the short-term and ensure long-term success by ensuring key area mail processing (AMP) facilities like Cherrybell in Tucson, remain open to protect service standards performance. Press release here.
He led 41 Members of Congress in a letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy supporting hazard pay and required workplace protections for essential front line blue-collar workers, including postal workers.
Best,
Sayanna Molina
Legislative Assistant
Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-03)
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The reason that DeJoy got approved so quickly is that 4 of the six members were appointed by Trump. Despite that fact the board is supposed to balanced politically, it you review the bios of the 4 people appointed by Trump, they all appear to be Republicans.
Robert M. Duncan served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee from 2007 to 2009. As RNC Chairman, he raised an unprecedented $428 million and grew the donor base to 1.8 million – more donors than at any time in RNC history. Duncan was also President and CEO of the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity.
John Barger began his career on Wall Street and in the City of London, spending several years at Deutsche Bank/Bankers Trust and Citibank.
Ron Bloom worked for Lazard Freres & Co., a financial advisory and asset management firm
Roman Martinez began his career as an investment banker in 1971 at Kuhn Loeb & Company, which merged with Lehman Brothers in 1977.
https://about.usps.com/who/leadership/board-governors/roman-martinez-iv.htm
Here's more information on the board:
The Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service is comparable to a board of directors of a publicly held corporation. The Board normally consists of up to nine governors appointed by the President of the United States with the advice and consent of the Senate.
The nine governors select the Postmaster General, who becomes a member of the Board, and those 10 select the Deputy Postmaster General, who also serves on the Board. The Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the governors for an indefinite term and the Deputy Postmaster General serves at the pleasure of the governors and the Postmaster General.
In 1970, when the Board was established by the Postal Reorganization Act, the governors of the Postal Service were appointed for terms of nine years. The first nine appointments were for staggered terms of one to nine years. Subsequent appointments were made for the full nine years. On December 20, 2006, President George W. Bush signed the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act, P.L. 109-435, which changed the terms of subsequently appointed governors from nine to seven years. The Act also added professional qualifications for the governors. The governors are chosen to represent the public interest generally and cannot be representatives of special interests. Not more than five of the nine may belong to the same political party. They shall be chosen solely based on their experience in the field of public service, law or accounting. However, at least four of the governors shall be chosen solely based on their demonstrated ability in managing organizations or corporations (in either the public or private sector) that employ at least 50,000 employees.
Appointments are made when vacancies occur or for the remainder of unexpired terms. Each governor’s term expires on December 8 of a given year. Governors may continue to serve following expiration of their term or until a successor is appointed but not for more than one year. No person may serve more than two terms as a governor.
The Board directs the exercise of the powers of the Postal Service, directs and controls its expenditures, reviews its practices, conducts long-range planning, approves officer compensation and sets policies on all postal matters. The Board takes up matters such as service standards and capital investments.
The governors employ a full-time corporate secretary who serves as the primary staff assistant to the Board and supervises other members of the staff of the Office of the Board of Governors. The secretary is generally responsible for coordinating the resources of the Postal Service so that the Board fulfills its statutory duties in the most efficient and informed manner possible. Michael J. Elston is the secretary of the Board.
The Board of Governors meets on a regular basis. Meeting locations are generally in Washington, D.C., but may be scheduled in some other city where the members can see firsthand a Postal Service or large mailer's operation and provide access to the Board to customers from other parts of the country.
All meetings are open to the public unless the Board specifically votes to close all or part of a meeting in line with exemptions permitted by the Government in the Sunshine Act [5 U.S.C. 552b(b)].
Each governor receives $300 per day for not more than 42 days of meetings each year and travel expenses, in addition to an annual salary of $30,000. Five vacancies exist on the Board.