The FBI is investigating Louis DeJoy. So maybe it’s time for him to go.

The FBI is investigating Louis DeJoy. So maybe it’s time for him to go.

Washington Post

Opinion by 

Paul Waldman

Columnist

June 4, 2021 at 4:36 a.m. GMT+9

Louis DeJoy, postmaster general of the U.S. Postal Service, listens during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in Washington on Aug. 24, 2020. (Tom Williams/Bloomberg)

Image without a caption

Every new administration finds itself saddled with some holdovers from the previous administration, often political appointees who were transferred into civil service positions, a practice known as “burrowing.” But it usually involves mid-level officials, not the kind who wind up on the news.

There is, however, one extremely high-profile Trump-era appointee still in his job despite the fact that Joe Biden is president: Louis DeJoy, the controversial postmaster general.

From the moment he was appointed by the U.S. Postal Service governing board — dominated at the time by Republicans — Democrats were appalled by everything about DeJoy. His only apparent qualification was a history as a GOP megadonor. His reforms to the USPS, by some interpretations, were designed to slow postal delivery. His personality has proved almost comically belligerent.

Story continues below advertisement

The FBI is investigating Postmaster General Louis DeJoy in connection with campaign fundraising activity involving his former business, according to people familiar with the matter and a spokesman for DeJoy.

FBI agents in recent weeks interviewed current and former employees of DeJoy and the business, asking questions about political contributions and company activities, these people said. Prosecutors also issued a subpoena to DeJoy himself for information, one of the people said.

This stems from some extraordinary investigative reporting done last year by The Post, in which former employees of DeJoy’s companies said he pressured them into giving contributions to Republican candidates, promising to reimburse them later with bonuses. That’s referred to as the use of “straw donors,” and people go to jail for it.

Those individuals’ stories were supported by official contribution records that showed some of them had never made a political contribution before the ones they said were at DeJoy’s behest — and they made no contributions after he left the company.

In a follow-up, the New York Times also reported that campaign finance records show that more than a dozen employees at the management level at DeJoy’s company "would routinely donate to the same candidate on the same day, often writing checks for an identical amount of money.”

Story continues below advertisement

There are ways that could be perfectly legal — if, for instance, all these employees just so happened to be similarly stirred to open their checkbooks by the tantalizing possibility that a particular Republican senator might be reelected — but it would certainly point investigators to where they might want to ask questions.

It’s far too early to know what the outcome of this investigation will be. The five-year statute of limitations on the potential crimes revealed by the first Post scoop has expired. But a related Federal Election Commission complaint was filed by the Campaign Legal Center regarding contributions made by DeJoy’s employees and family members between 2015 and 2018, so if wrongdoing is found there, he could still be on the hook.

DeJoy and his spokespeople insist he never did anything wrong. Which might be true. But hasn’t the atmosphere gotten unfriendly enough that he might consider moving on to the next stage of his career?

Story continues below advertisement

President Biden can’t fire DeJoy; the postmaster general can only be removed by the Postal Service’s board of governors, whose members are appointed by the president but include both Democrats and Republicans. But Biden had the opportunity to appoint three members to that board, and their recent Senate confirmation has given it a 5-to-4 Democratic majority.

It’s up to the board whether to remove DeJoy — and even before news of this FBI investigation they had plenty of justification for doing so. From the outset, his tenure has been marked by turmoil, mail slowdowns and controversy. He appears determined to stay as long as possible, if for no other reason than to stick it to his enemies. At a congressional hearing in February, DeJoy was asked how long he intended to stay in his job. “A long time,” he responded. “Get used to me.”

If the investigation turns up provable wrongdoing, board members should fire DeJoy immediately. But they ought to do so anyway, because more than anything else, the Postal Service needs to be led by someone who understands it for what it is: not a business, not even a government agency like any other, but a national treasure.

Story continues below advertisement

Because that’s what it is. The USPS connects us as a nation, no matter how far away we are from one another. It gives every American the same quality service at the same absurdly low price. And it has provided a pathway to the middle class for hundreds of thousands of American families — especially families of color — with union jobs with fair pay and good benefits that you don’t need a college degree to get.

There are few more profoundly, gloriously American institutions than the Postal Service. It ought to be led by someone who acts like that’s what they believe.

Read more: