DeJoy ally elected as USPS Board chairman: report​

The United States Postal Service (USPS) board has elected an ally of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy as its new chairman, Reuters reports.

On Wednesday, January 12, Roman Martinez IV was unanimously elected to the USPS Board of Governors, according to Reuters. Martinez, a retired banker, was nominated after President Joe Biden refused to renominate Ron Bloom for another term on the board.

According to Government Executive, Martinez has been a strong supporter of DeJoy's leadership, often "defending his controversial decisions, endorsing his 10-year plan to improve postal finances through, among other things, service cuts and price hikes, and calling him the right leader for the Postal Service."

Martinez was previously nominated by former President Donald Trump and has also gone on record praising DeJoy for his work despite past criticism.

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“He did change some things drastically,” Martinez said of DeJoy’s leadership at the postal service. “He made us an independent establishment. He asked us to work as a private-sector company, and he made us be self-sustaining. What that means is that our operating revenues are meant to cover not only our operating expenses but all our capital investments and to repay our debt.”

DeJoy, in turn, applauded Martinez, saying he has “benefited from Martinez’s broad experience and wise counsel throughout my tenure as postmaster general and especially during the development of the Delivering for America plan.”

The vote follows criticism DeJoy faced throughout the 2020 presidential election for incorporating sweeping operational changes that drastically slowed mail delivery. At the time, there was speculation DeJoy had been appointed specifically for the purpose of impacting mail-in voting.

Currently, the USPS Board of Governors consists of five Trump-appointed members and three appointed by President Biden.

“We have demonstrated the speed in which this organization can rectify its operating issues when it applies its competencies with extreme focus,” DeJoy said. “While our 2020 performance was poor and by no means a benchmark, it was a condition, an unacceptable condition, of our operating infrastructure and practices.”

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