DeJoy's former company made $286 million in Postal Service contracts, $14 million since he took over

Daily Kos Staff

Thursday September 03, 2020 · 12:45 PM PDT

2020/09/03 · 12:45

WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 21: In this screenshot from U.S. Senate's livestream, U.S. Postal Service Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is sworn in for a virtual Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on U.S. Postal Service operations during Covid-19 pandemic August 21, 2020 in Washington, DC. The USPS is under financial and operational scrutiny ahead of the upcoming November presidential elections, where mail-in voting is set to play a large role given the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by U.S. Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee via Getty Images)

The company which Postmaster General Louis DeJoy used to work, and in which he still holds an at least $30 million stake, has made $286 million off of the post office in the last 7 years. That includes $14 million paid out just in the last 10 weeks, since DeJoy has been in his new U.S. Postal Service job. The company, XPO Logistics, has seen a huge increase in business from the USPS this year The New York Times found through a public records request. It made just $3.4 million in the same time frame during 2019 and $4.7 million in 2018.

The company has had about 100 contracts with the USPS, the Times discovered, with annual payments since 2014 ranging from $33.7 million to $45.2 million. It has assisted the USPS in "managing transportation and providing support during peak times." Since DeJoy took over on June 15, XPO has raked in the cash. According to a company spokesperson, that was the result of a contract amended all the way back in December, long before DeJoy was even considered for the job. It just happened ever so conveniently to really kick in after June, apparently.

A USPS spokesperson, David Partenheimer, said DeJoy had nothing to do with the contracts and had recused himself from anything to do with XPO. Except the part where as its former chief executive for its supply chain arm, and a board member, he still holds a stake in it somewhere between $30 and $75 million. Oh, and he brokered a leasing agreement for it when he was there that netted him $1.86 million in rent in 2019.

In response to calls from congressional Democrats, the Office of Inspector General for the USPS has opened an inquiry into both his personal finances and the decision-making behind the operational changes he's made that have resulted in chaos in the service. The House Oversight Committee has also subpoenaed DeJoy for much of this information.

His ongoing ties with XPO were examined briefly in last week's hearing in the House Oversight Committee. Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Maryland Democrat, brought it up at the end of his round of questions, eliciting a combative response from DeJoy, who said XPO is "a very, very small part of the postal service business I have nothing to do with, and I comply with all ethical requirements." A "very, very small part" that saw its part increase triple-fold since DeJoy got there.

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also hinted at a potential hangup for DeJoy, asking "Have you taken any meetings with XPO Logistics since becoming Postmaster General?" and "Have you emailed, texted, called, video conferenced, or communicated with your former company, XPO Logistics?" DeJoy said he hadn't had any meetings, but "I have many friends at the company, and I've spoken to him casually over those several months. Yes, I probably would have spoken to him." Ocasio-Cortez then asked that he provide his calendar to the committee.

That request for his calendar was included in the House subpoena, along with "The complete, unredacted contract files and contracting histories of XPO Logistics and New Breed Logistics [which was purchased by XPO in 2014] with the Postal Service and all documents referring or relating to the companies’ performance under their contracts with the Postal Service."

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