Postal Workers Unions Urged Sanders to Block Pro-Privatization Board Nominees

[LiberalArkie]

Sunday August 16, 2020 · 9:06 AM CDT

Bernie Sanders blocked postal board nominees in 2015 at the urging of postal unions who wanted to stop the privatization of the postal service and the degradation of mail service. Two of the five nominees were selected by Mitch McConnell and those nominees were so toxic that postal union leaders concluded that they would be better off with no postal board than the board they would get if all 5 nominees were approved. That’s why Bernie blocked the Obama-McConnell nominees.

This story was reported in the Washington Post in 2015. www.washingtonpost.com/...

The board doesn’t have high visibility outside the postal world, but it approves high-dollar capital investments, sets mail prices, long-term strategies and legislative policies and signs union contracts. One nominee, James Miller III, advocated to privatize the Postal Service when he led the Office of Management and Budget during the Reagan administration. The other, Mickey Barnett, is a lobbyist for the payday loan industry. The candidates are anathema to the postal unions, which urged Sanders to block them.
Because of the hold, Congress has not voted on Miller, Barnett and three other nominees to fill expiring terms. As of December, the board will be left with one member and no quorum when two of the last remaining members’ terms expire.

Snip

That’s why I was surprised this morning when I read this post by Markos Moulitsas.

www.dailykos.com/...

The United States Postal Service Board of Governors is all white men, and Republicans. It was a clean slate for Trump and company because Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders blocked appointments by President Barack Obama for reasons that remain uncertain.

Snip

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2020/8/16/1969704/-Postal-Workers-Unions-Urged-Sanders-to-Block-Pro-Privatization-Board-Nominees

[lapucelle]

1. The blank slate for Trump was an unintended consequence...

...but it was a consequence nevertheless.