The White House made it official Monday, sending the nominations of Anton George Hajjar, Amber Faye McReynolds, and Ronald Stroman (a reappointment) to be governors of the United States Postal Service. The nominations were referred to the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, chaired by Gary Peters. Confirmation hearing dates have not yet been scheduled, but Peters has been doggedly pursuing issues in the U.S. Postal Service since Postmaster General Louis DeJoy got the job. He's unlikely to let this languish.
The quickest way to get DeJoy out of that job goes through the Board of Governors. He could be impeached, falling under the category of "all civil Officers of the United States" under Article 2, Section 4 of the Constitution. He probably should be impeached for his efforts to destroy the nation's oldest, most revered institution. He deserves to be impeached for that. But that would take Republican support in the Senate.
Republicans should want to see the backside of him, since it's their rural constituents along with everyone else who are most feeling the effects of a broken post office. But no matter what the evidence against him—including lying to Congress—would make Republicans can him. Hell, they wouldn't even vote to impeach the guy who sicced an armed mob after them in an attempted coup.
The mail is still broken, by the way. It wasn't just an election thing. Well, it kind of was. Isaac Perry Cocke of Towson, Maryland, just received his mail-in ballot for last November's election last week. He did get to vote, by the way. When his ballot didn't show up, he picked one up in person at the Board of Elections. That's one example, but the problems are big. Like for the the Maryland Transportation Authority, which says that the ongoing mail delays "hampering both MDTA efforts for timely delivery of tolling notices and customer efforts to pay notices on time." That's resulting in its website and customer call center being overwhelmed, and it means that the Motor Vehicle Administration isn't getting information it needs about drivers’ unpaid tolls. Neither are the drivers who have the unpaid tolls.
Maryland isn't alone in this by any means. On the Senate floor Tuesday, Sen. Dick Durbin talked about the "chaos" in his home state of Illinois, particularly in Chicago where letter carriers brought in to help deliver back-logged mail, including packages that had been in local post offices for months. He said one mail carrier reported that the post office looked like "an episode of Extreme Hoarders." The chaos, he said "has stretched way beyond Chicago. We hear from all over the state—Springfield, Champaign-Urbana, Belleville, East St. Louis, Quincy, Peoria, the Quad Cities, and Rockford. These days in Illinois and across America, we're seeing real hardship for tens of millions of Americans waiting for mail delivery." Durbin concluded:
"Mr. DeJoy has offered a stream of excuses for the chaos that has befallen the Postal Service since he showed up. He says it's the pandemic, the Christmas holidays, bad weather, racial justice protests, an election. He's got a list as long as your arm. I would remind him in 1864, we held a national election in the middle of a Civil War and 150,000 Union Army troops voted absentee from the field. The Postal Service is as old as America itself. It has proven it can adapt to crises with the right leadership. If Mr. DeJoy cannot or will not provide that leadership, I suggest that he step down."
Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen concurs. "The problems Marylanders are facing with USPS delivery delays are simply unacceptable. These issues stem from the top, and it's why Postmaster General DeJoy has got to go," Van Hollen said in a statement. "I'm glad that President Biden has nominated three highly qualified leaders to the USPS Board of Governors, and once confirmed by the Senate, I hope this new leadership will restore a commitment to service—instead of cutting corners—to the Postal Service. I will not let up on this matter until these problems are resolved," Van Hollen said.
This is all very good. But first, those nominations have to be wrapped up. Biden did his part, now the Senate leadership needs to get those new board members to the floor.
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