On Tuesday of this week, the USPS finally released calendar records concealing who Postmaster General Louis DeJoy worked with when developing and implementing his controversial changes to the Postal Service.
This move comes after a lawsuit in federal court and months of being pressed by Democratic lawmakers, like AOC, to hand over these documents.
If the USPS is surprised we are issuing a subpoena, it’s because they weren’t listening.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) September 2, 2020
I said directly in the hearing that if DeJoy didn’t quickly hand over documents, we should issue a subpoena.
They knew the consequences of stalling. Now, where‘s his unaltered calendar? https://t.co/raNrSytmz6
Unfortunately, these records were heavily redacted and seem to be completely useless.
From June 15 to Nov. 7, DeJoy held more than 450 meetings and conference calls, his electronic calendar says. But the agency’s Freedom of Information Act office blacked out nearly every word beyond references to dates and times, writes Huff Post.
Yeaaaah that’s not gonna work https://t.co/miubKlNDZy
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) December 16, 2020
According to Common Dreams, the Postal Service released DeJoy’s calendar in response to a public records lawsuit filed in September by watchdog group American Oversight, which was not at all amused by what it finally received from the agency.
“Shrouding his calendar in secrecy likely violates the letter of the law, and certainly violates its spirit,” says Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight.
In response to our #FOIA lawsuit, USPS sent us Postmaster General Louis Dejoy’s calendar—but it’s almost entirely redacted. https://t.co/mqp2cg8bUL pic.twitter.com/qKEasg1ebu
— American Oversight (@weareoversight) December 16, 2020
USPS had previously claimed that DeJoy’s calendar was a personal record and exempt from release under the Freedom of Information Act but later agreed to process and release non-exempt portions, reports American Oversight.
Unlike with many other Trump appointees, President-elect Joe Biden will not have the authority to remove DeJoy as Postmaster General. So it is important to turn attention back to his postal service sabotage.
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