WASHINGTON — David C. Williams, the previous vice chairman of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors, will testify earlier than Home lawmaker
WASHINGTON — David C. Williams, the previous vice chairman of the U.S. Postal Service’s board of governors, will testify earlier than Home lawmakers on Thursday and is predicted to element what he claims had been efforts by the Trump administration to undermine the company.
Mr. Williams, who beforehand served because the company’s inspector basic, stepped down from his put up as an overseer of the Postal Service with out rationalization in April, shortly after the board chosen Louis DeJoy to function postmaster basic. Mr. DeJoy has since come below fireplace for conflicts of curiosity in addition to instituting a slew of cost-cutting measures to the Postal Service which have slowed down mail service and drawn warnings from voting rights advocates that the integrity of the November election may very well be undermined.
His testimony earlier than the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the place he’s anticipated to share his considerations that the administration is pushing to denationalise the Postal Service, comes a day earlier than Mr. DeJoy begins the primary of two days of testimony on Capitol Hill to reply lawmakers’ questions in regards to the modifications he has applied. He’ll seem earlier than the Senate Homeland Safety and Governmental Affairs Committee on Friday and earlier than the Home Oversight Committee on Monday.
That is what we find out about Mr. Williams.
He oversaw the Postal Service’s board of governors however abruptly resigned in April.
The Postal Service’s Board of Governors features much like the board of administrators of a publicly held company. Made up of 9 governors — not more than 5 of whom could also be from the identical political social gathering — who’re appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, the board can be chargeable for choosing the postmaster basic. Mr. Williams, who was appointed by President Trump and confirmed by the Senate final August, has not publicly mentioned his political beliefs, however members of the board understood him to be certainly one of two Democrats.
Mr. Williams resigned in late April, days earlier than the board introduced its “unanimous choice” of Mr. DeJoy to helm the Postal Service. Whereas his time period had technically expired in December of 2019, governors could serve on the board for an extra yr after their time period ends.
The Board of Governors, Mr. Williams wrote to Congress in 2018 throughout his affirmation course of, “ought to guarantee that the Postal Service is truthful and sincere with all events since it’s held to the excessive requirements of an American authorities entity.”
“This typically disadvantages the Postal Service as a enterprise, however you will need to guarantee that we place our accountability to the residents above our personal pursuits,” he concluded.
A Bronze Star recipient, he has a protracted profession in public service and authorities oversight.
Mr. Williams has spent 4 many years in Washington offering oversight of federal businesses. First appointed because the inspector basic for the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Fee by President George H.W. Bush in 1989, he has since served because the inspector basic for 5 federal businesses, together with the Treasury Division. He served because the inspector basic for the Postal Service for 13 years, till 2016.
A former Military navy intelligence officer who acquired a Bronze Star for his service in Vietnam, Mr. Williams started his civilian federal profession as a particular agent with the U.S. Secret Service. Earlier than working as an inspector basic, he served on President Ronald Reagan’s Fee on Organized Crime and because the first director of the Workplace of Particular Investigations for the Common Accounting Workplace, the predecessor to the Authorities Accountability Workplace.
Haley Fuchs contributed reporting.