Judge: USPS must turn over DeJoy conflicts docs

[sinkingfeeling]

https://www.citizensforethics.org/news/press-releases/judge-usps-must-turn-over-dejoy-conflicts-docs/?link_id=1&can_id=e7d22c4ddf16b61ea95107e48ae83a6e&source=email-general-motors-and-the-insurrection-3&email_referrer=email_1263686&email_subject=a-big-win

A federal judge ruled last night that the US Postal Service must give Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington documents about potential conflicts of interest by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.

Over the past seven years, the USPS has reportedly paid approximately $286 million to XPO Logistics, DeJoy’s ex-employer, and has “ramped up its business” with the company since DeJoy’s appointment as Postmaster General. After his appointment, DeJoy continued to hold financial interests in XPO totaling between $30 and $75 million. DeJoy also held a significant amount of stock in Amazon, a major USPS competitor.

Following the USPS’s failure to turn over documents relating to DeJoy’s potential conflicts of interest in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, CREW sued the agency. U.S. District Judge John D. Bates granted CREW summary judgment in full and “order[ed] USPS to produce the recusal documents as well as any non-exempt portions of the certificate of divestiture documents in a timely manner.” The judge cited a “strong public interest” in information relating to DeJoy’s potential conflicts, which have been the focus of intense scrutiny by Congress and the press.

***********************
CREW press release

[hlthe2b]

1. Gotta love CREW. Keep it up, guys. PLEASE!

[Tanuki]

25. If anyone wants to show their love....

https://actionnetwork.org/fundraising/support-crews-work-2018?source=siteheader

[Champp]

2. Republican grifters being held accountable?

Oh my

[StClone]

19. Hope so

But they appoint the judges, make the laws, and don't enforce them.

Sadly, like the SCOTUS keeps going to the right to the point of falling off a cliff, and we heard so many threats of resetting the number of Suprememos...we hear nothing now. Doubt De Joy will be hurt by anything, as he rolls in his millions on into the sunset.

[ffr]

3. Start the oversight meetings!

Dejoy's only purpose is to destroy the USPS, to privatize the postal system for profit.

[abqtommy]

4. Love you, CREW, for all the good that you do!

[Auggie]

5. How come we haven't drop-kicked DeJoy's ass to Palookaville yet?

[MyOwnPeace]

6. While I 'love' Joe......

I'm kinda' tired of hearing how busy he is. I KNOW he is - but he's got a building full of smart people - and one of them should be out there getting rid of that smarmy, thieving, arrogant SOB!

EDIT: I forgot to add thieving and arrogant - and I'll probably come up with a few more but I'm guessing you get the idea...

[Ocelot II]

10. Joe can't fire Dejoy. Only the USPS board of governors can do that.

I believe he has appointed some new board members, but I don't know whether those appointments are final, or whether/when the new board will act.

[MyOwnPeace]

12. Yep! Know that too......

but the President has the power to control the 'board' and hopefully the 'board' will fall in line with the desires of the President and the majority of citizens counting on the USPS being the 'service' it was meant to be.

[SCantiGOP]

18. Exactly

There is reported to be one of the Democrats on the Commission who doesn’t want to fire him.
President should call him and say, “Fire DeJoy by the end of the week or turn in your resignation.”

[Yoyoyo77]

23. That democrat was appointed by Trump.

And that one democrat can't be removed until his term is up in December. A story recently came out that said that he's got interests in a company doing business in DeJoy's old company. Maybe congress could look into that?

[SCantiGOP]

35. Fire him and the case won't make it to Court before December

Then it will be moot.
Biden could do it if he wanted to.

[soldierant]

43. NO. He could not. Only the Board of Governors can fire him.

That's the law.

I have had more than enough lawbreaking from the last President. I don't want ANY from this one.

[quakerboy]

45. But Biden can fire the usps board

There are three new members. The old members, even the "Democrats" Support Dejoy. Possibly because he invests money in their companies.

But biden could fire them. Or at least insist on replacing the one who is over his term. But apparently its not a priority.

[lagomorph777]

17. DOJ DeJoy

Shouldn't DOJ be doing this job? Why outsource it to a private organization? Much as I respect CREW, DeJoy is a criminal operating in a critically important part of the government. He is too dangerous to be left in place.

[brush]

41. Dejoy's term is up in December. He'll then face a board with more Dems than repubiocans...

some of who were appointed by Biden. This came up last week as DeJoy purchase 305k of bonds from the, Bloom, the head of the board.

Some thought it was no big deal, as Bloom is allegedly a Democrat. IMO though, purchasing bonds from an outside firm of which your boss is a principle, is a glaring conflict of interest. Bloom, btw, was APPOINTED BY TRUMP, the guy who wanted the PO to slow down votes by mail.

[malaise]

7. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeees!

Byebye Desorrow!

[ananda]

8. Thank you, CREW!

Keep it up.

[ProfessorGAC]

9. For The 10th Time

This is bad reporting.
Dejoy NEVER worked for XPO. Never.
He ran New Breed Logistics which was BOUGHT BY XPO for $600+ million (cash) including assumption of debt.
The equity portion was around $300 million & DeJoy had a pinch under 10% of equity. So, he got $29-30 million.
This deal was NOT a stock swap. Strictly a cash deal.
Because of an arcane tax rule, the cash recipient is allowed to buy publicly available shares in the acquiring company with up to 49% of the cash, thereby avoiding capital gains on the purchased shares. So, he holds about $14 million of XPO stock, out of over $9 billion in equity. As a shareholder, he's nobody to XPO.
Upon the takeover, there was no position, no transition role, no emeritus status, no consulting arrangement for DeJoy.
The day XPO took over, it "Louie, here's your cash, see you later.". One second he was a big shot, the next he was nobody. XPO had no interest in his thoughts, opinions, or methods.
They bought New Breed to enlarge their footprint in the southeast, acquire some brick & mortar and get a pipsqueak competitor out of the way.
Last point: USPS has had contracts with XPO for over 25 years, so the new contracts are a continuation of a relationship that long predates DeJoy.
I'm not defending him in any way, shape or form. He's a snake & a crummy businessman.
But, to report XPO as his former employer is simply wrong.

[jimfields33]

11. Great. Now the judge can say nothing to see here.

Other thing is Amazon has been reliving packages long before DeJoy got his position.

[wyn borkins]

13. Appreciations...

And thank you, ProfessorGAC

Now as Glenn Kirschner would(may) have said: "Accuracy Matters!"

[stillcool]

20. thank you Prof...

I really needed that.

[questionseverything]

27. He has money invested in the company and he is giving new business to the company

It is a conflict of interest

At the same time he is illegally slowing the mail

[ProfessorGAC]

31. Was That My Point?

No!
I made ZERO judgment on the potential conflict of interest.
I actually don't think this would stand up in a trial as cause to terminate though.
But, my point was it's shabby reporting because the article specifically refers to XPO as a former employer. That's 100% untrue.
It's also inaccurate in that his holding cannot possibly be worth $30-75 million. His holdings were $14 just 7 years ago. And what kind of reporting is $30 to $75 million. The best they could do was a $45 million guess.
In case you missed it the first time, I'M NOT DEFENDING DeJoy!
But, this whole issue has been rooted in shabby reporting & because of that it's hard to tell just how bad it is or isn't.
Because your outrage is more elevated than mine, I have a couple questions.
Do you feel XPO should be punished by limiting new business with USPS due to a PG being appointed beyond their control? If so, why? What did XPO do wrong?
This new business is a 5 year deal for $120 million, total; and that XPO has revenues of $16.5 billion? (Of course meaning this new business is under 0.15% in revenues.). Do you really think a company would make an unethical deal for 0.15% of revenues?

[Diraven]

28. Still

If he takes actions in his position designed to make XPO stock go up, he can make a lot of money off his $14 million.

[ProfessorGAC]

32. Doubtful

See my post right above your reply.
This deal increases XPO revenues by under 0.15% per year. So, what would DeJoy make? $21,000 a year?
And, why would you punish XPO, who has been working with USPS for decades, over who T***p decided to name PG?
Also, why do people think I'm defending DeJoy?
You're the second person who replied in a way that suggests I'm excusing his behavior. I made it clear, twice that I was criticizing the shabby reporting.

[brush]

42. So what is your position on DeJoy keeping the job? Surely you know he was embedded...

by trump to slow down by-mail voting on 2020 and ultimately to weaken the PO which would give lucrative parcel business to republican clients UPS and FEDEX? With the mid-terms coming up soon enough and covid raging anew, many people will want to vote by mail again.

Don't you think it's best to get DeJoy out?

[ProfessorGAC]

46. I Specifically Said...

...I'm not defending DeJoy.
I don't like him, I don't think he's good at business or operations, and he's not trustworthy in the least degree.
He's got to go, because his plan for "improvement" is 180° in the wrong direction.
But, the article (and others) refers to him as a former XPO employee. They wouldn't give him the time of day (zero influence) & he never worked for them. It's sloppy reporting.
Finally, yes he needs to be launched, but I don't this this will constitute the cause necessary to fire him.
His CURRENT actions seem more cause to me than this. Sabotaging one's own company's performance & customer service seems more than sufficient. Ginning up a conflict of interest that may not even exist, legally, is unnecessary.
My post was still about inaccurate reporting. I stand by that, as it's still inaccurate.

[BumRushDaShow]

37. The issue here is his being a federal employee

which then requires that he either recuse, or may be required to divest in any interests that he might oversee in his daily activities, with respect to what his agency may have regulatory authority over or other dealings with them involving his official position, IF it is determined to be in conflict with his duties. This can include, for example, final sign-offs on high-value contracts (that haven't had a delegation of authority put in place), where he would normally need to recuse from such.

It's irrelevant whether he worked for them or not. When you work for the federal government, you have to complete financial disclosure forms annually and if you have substantial holdings, they will be reviewed to determine whether you have a conflict of interest and would need to recuse from participating in and/or making decisions regarding certain activities that may have a bearing on those financial holdings, or you are told to go ahead and divest of them.

For some "high flyers" in the federal government, they take a pass and leave. Others do like Darth Cheney and throw stuff into a "blind trust". The past 4 years, there seemed to be a thumbing of the nose at the regulations however, but I suppose all of that will come out eventually.

Link from CREW's site to the Judge's opinion - https://www.citizensforethics.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/CREW-v-USPS-Memorandum-Opinion-2021.08.17.pdf (PDF)

(snip)

Federal law and regulations prohibit federal employees from participating on behalf of the government in any matter or decision that would directly bear on their personal financial interests or call into question their impartiality. See 18 U.S.C. § 208; 5 C.F.R. §§ 2635.501–502. Pursuant to 5 C.F.R. § 2635.502, employees may elevate potential conflicts issues to ethics officials to determine whether recusal is required. See OGE Memo DO-99-018 (Apr. 26, 1999), https://www2.oge.gov/web/oge.nsf/0/2BB7EADB68DA97ED852585BA005BEDC1/$FILE/do-99-018.pdf. Ethics officials, in turn, assist with conflict-of-interest compliance “by counseling employees regarding the significance of screening arrangements and recusal obligations.” OGE Memo DO-04-05 at 1 (June 1, 2004), https://www.oge.gov/Web/oge.nsf/Legal%20Docs/F8A7059769DBCC6F852585BA005BED3C/$FILE/04x5.pdf?open.

I know the agency I worked for would send those notifications out every year to complete the forms (during the latter part of my career they were eventually put online into some system that IIRC, belonged to OGE), including I think, a questionnaire regarding whether you had any interests and if so, then you'd have to go that next step of completing the form listing all of them (and value), and if not, then you would state that on the form or indicate there was no change to your status from the prior year.

As a supervisor before retiring, I know I ended up on the phone with my boss and OGE regarding one of my direct reports not fully completing her disclosures and needing continual revisions to get it done.

[malaise]

40. Thanks for this

[Hekate]

14. Hallelujah

[lagomorph777]

15. Toss DeJoy in DeJail

[Auggie]

21. Hey ...

well done!

[BeckyDem]

16. Excellent.

[Bev54]

22. Really hope these documents take DeJoy down and the chairman of the board

whose company he has invested in.

[Evolve Dammit]

24. I'm rapidly losing faith that ANY of 45's cronies will ever be held accountable. Sorry, but

let's see some indictments. Otherwise, it's all legal.

[gab13by13]

26. It gets old doesn't it?

DeJoy needs fired but a member of the board is getting kickbacks from investments in a competitor of the Post Office so nothing can be done. I guarantee you that the GQP would find a way to fire both their asses.

[Evolve Dammit]

34. I grow weary of "our side" being Charlie Brown to Lucy. Over and over and over. And I am really

tired of hearing "no one is above the law" which has been a constant, cruel joke.

[denbot]

29. 100th rec, and a kick. n/t

[Marthe48]

30. Good news

If I were in a leadership position and had the level of criticism directed at me, I'd be mortified. All people with normal psyches would be, wouldn't they? traitor sought and attracted the dregs. dejoy is another with no moral compass.

[calimary]

33. Oh Yeah!!! I want to see DeJoy face the music, BIGTIME!

[Cha]

36. Yeah, most people like their Mail

on Time!

[Blue Owl]

39. Jesus Fucking Christ

What does it take to get rid of this corrupt piece of fecal matter shit into position by tRump?

[dianaredwing]

44. Our country is not just one of laws

but of precedences. The bloated tick screwed up both and unless we want to allow future presidents to do the same we must restore the laws and precedences that he destroyed. Just making more changes in the rules, no matter how much we want them and how righteous they might be opens the door for those who don't have the same good intentions to do so for their own purposes. If we want to change the way that the USPS operates then we should petition our lawmakers to make changes to the law. Otherwise, Biden follows protocol, no matter how grating that might be for us, and I'm sure for him.

[onetexan]

48. Oh Joy!!!