Skepticism of the postmaster general looms large in the confirmation hearings for Democrats Ron Stroman and Anton Hajjar and independent Amber McReynolds
President Biden’s three nominees to the U.S. Postal Service’s governing board could fundamentally tilt the balance of power at the beleaguered mail agency and add pressure on Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
If they win Senate confirmation, the nominees — Democrats Ron Stroman and Anton Hajjar, and independent Amber McReynolds — would serve on a board that historically operates by consensus, delivering decisions with unanimity and through scripted public meetings. They also would give Democrats and Biden appointees a one-seat majority and potentially the votes to remove DeJoy, under whose oversight the mail service has recorded sharp declines in mail delivery standards. But the board’s two sitting Democrats, Chairman Ron Bloom and Donald Lee Moak, have publicly supported the postmaster general.
Political divisions among board members — and between the board and Democrats in Congress — have quietly percolated since former president Donald Trump tried to meddle in mail operations by leveraging the Postal Service’s finances, then hamper the agency’s ability to send and collect mail ballots. Continue reading.