Scandal: Postal Exec Caught Using USPS Budget to Unseat GOP Senator [Tim Hutchinson]

Townhall.com ^ | Nov 3, 2002 | Sean Rushton/Mark Carpenter

[The Raven]

Washington, D.C.) -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today reacted with outrage to reports that a U.S. Postal Service (USPS) executive has been forced to resign amidst allegations that she attempted to manipulate postal service resources to punish a candidate for the U.S. Senate who had been critical of the mismanaged government mail system.

"There has long been much to criticize at the USPS, from financial losses and taxpayer subsidies to regular price increases amidst poor service and low productivity," CCAGW Vice President Leslie Paige said. "But this is a new level of corruption and mismanagement. Taxpayers and their representatives in Congress should be up in arms."

USPS Senior Vice President Deborah Willhite resigned abruptly Friday amid allegations she used the federal mail budget to hurt the re-election chances of Arkansas Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson. According to U.S. News and World Report, Willhite, the postal service's top lobbyist, pushed to have the budget of Arkansas post offices cut--and Hutchinson blamed. The dollars were to be transferred to Georgia's post offices, allowing supporters there to credit Democratic Sen. Max Cleland. The outcome of the Arkansas and Georgia races could tip the balance of power in the Senate.

"Since this spring, CCAGW has been calling for a complete and public audit of USPS books to root out the millions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse we know exists," Paige continued. "We have reiterated that call today with letters to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of both the House Committee on Government Reform and Senate Governmental Affairs. This latest scandal confirms that not only do postal officials lose, misspend and abuse the postal budget with impunity, they may also be using their scarce resources to manipulate elections, which is clearly prohibited by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. It's time for independent third party to get to the bottom of where all our money is going."

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste is the lobbying arm of Citizens Against Government Waste, the nation's largest (one million members and supporters) nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement in government.

[The Raven]

I wonder if Clinton still has resentments agaist the original House impeachment team.

[kcvl]

YES! Hillary has even MORE resentment. That's why she has Gene Lyons and her goons trashing Hutchinson over his divorce. It doesn't matter that she is married to a rapist!

[The Raven]

Bush was in PA yesterday - George Gekas territory - I wonder what's going on there? redrawn districts?

[Oak]

Is anyone really surprised?

I mean, they probably only catch one out of 20 of these Democrats. The federal Gov't is full of Bureauracy lovin'
fools.

[kcvl]

October 30, 2002

Postal layoffs said not political ploy

By Audrey Hudson
THE WASHINGTON TIMES


The Postal Service yesterday said the move to cut 500 jobs in Arkansas is not a politically motivated decision to hurt Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson's re-election campaign.

A Postal Service spokesman said reports that their former top lobbyist ordered the move to embarrass Mr. Hutchinson and help his Democratic rival are false.

"There is not a shred of truth to it," Gerald McKiernan said.

Mr. Hutchinson is tied in the polls with Democratic opponent Mark Pryor in the Arkansas race. The race is especially important given that the winner may tip the balance of power in the closely divided U.S. Senate. Republicans say Deborah Willhite, a known Democratic operative, tried to cut 500 jobs — leaving the incumbent, Mr. Hutchinson, to be blamed for having lost jobs for the state.

Republicans say federal agencies never make major decisions with political implications this close to an election, and question the timing of the lobbyist's resignation last week.

Mr. McKiernan said Miss Willhite, senior vice president of government relations and public policy at the Postal Service, offered her resignation Oct. 21, but that it was not made public until Oct. 25. That is one day after Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, Mississippi Republican, called Postmaster General John E. Potter asking if the job cuts in Arkansas were politically motivated.

Mr. Lott asked for a cost-benefit analysis of how moving resources out of Arkansas would help the agency, said Lott spokesman Ron Bonjean.

Mr. Lott also told Mr. Potter that "anyone who may be involved in playing politics in the Postal Service should not be in the Postal Service," Mr. Bonjean said.

A native of Arkansas, Miss Willhite was the Postal Service's top congressional lobbyist, along with being a contributor to the Democratic Party and a former official at the Democratic National Committee. She was also director of events at President Clinton's swearing-in ceremony in 1993.

During this election cycle, she donated $1,000 to Mr. Hutchinson's opponent and $250 to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, and $500 to Mrs. Clinton's political action committee. In the 2000 cycle, Miss Willhite contributed $1,250 to the Democratic National Committee and $750 to Mrs. Clinton.

Her phone number is unlisted and she could not be reached for comment. However, she told U.S. News & World Report "it's all a plot" to discredit her and that she planned to resign anyway. "It spins a good story."

Mr. Hutchinson's campaign also said the shutdown of the Christmas postal operations in Blytheville is politically motivated.

"When you connect the dots in this picture, it becomes hauntingly clear that it smacks of politics," said Anthony Hulen, spokesman for Mr. Hutchinson.

"All of a sudden she planned to resign — that just paints a picture that is political. The bottom line is we received word from all directions that she has been put under review, that this has not been resolved, and Senator Hutchinson is still fighting to keep these jobs in Blytheville, Arkansas," Mr. Hulen said.

Mr. McKiernan said the Postal Service decided in August of last year to partner with FedEx, and that the work will instead be done out of the company's Memphis, Tenn., hub.

The Postal Service did not notify the state's congressional delegation until last month.

"The Memphis FedEx hub is only 80 miles away from the Arkansas facility, and we just didn't feel it was necessary any longer and decided not to activate this facility this year," Mr. McKiernan said.

Republicans say the closure will hurt the community of Mississippi County, which has an unemployment rate of 15.3 percent. The national average is 5.9 percent.

[kcvl]

Deborah Willhite, who is a former bigwig in the Democratic Party, is the Service's senior V.P. in charge of government relations---and she is now the key person to whom everyone (from senators to average citizens) must turn in order to be heard about what stamp designs finally get issued. Question: where is the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee to figure in this interesting (and horrid) new development?

You want a stamp issued for the 10th anniversary of your favorite tanning salon? See Deborah Willhite. And most especially: see her if you're a Democrat and you shall be heard.

[The Raven]

Good catch !! So the jobs have been lost already? And the Dems did it!! Wow!

[kayak]

There simply is no depth to which they will not stoop, is there?

[kcvl]

PostalMag.com
11/01/2002 | 3:40 PM CST

Coincidence or Conspiracy? It's hard to believe that Deborah Willhite, who recently resigned from her executive position with the USPS, had the audacity or the authority to transfer two postal hubs from Arkansas to Georgia to influence political contests in both states. However, PMG Potter has spent part of this last week trying to convince senior Republican Senators that Willhite's resignation was a coincidence that had nothing to do with trading postal facilities for votes

[timestax]

bump

[kcvl]

Postal Waste
Stamp Prices Up Amid Postal Budget Bloat



W A S H I N G T O N, April 4 — Government auditors have just placed the U.S. Postal Service on its "high-risk" list, meaning that among government departments, they are most susceptible to waste, fraud and abuse.

http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:Ut6qUKvv2ZgC:abcnews.go.com/sections/GMA/GoodMorningAmerica/GMA010404Postal_waste.html+Deborah+Willhite&hl=en&ie=UTF-8


Over the past four years, government auditors have discovered that more than $1.4 billion have been wasted because of mismanagement, abuse and fraud. While the service was raising rates for first-class mail, they discovered, some managers were treating themselves to a variety of perks and bloated benefits.

The USPS Office of Inspector General found that some managers had misused chauffeur-driven cars, hundreds of times, for their personal use.

The Postal Service has not revealed the names of the managers misusing chauffeur-driven cars. Some of them have gone to other positions, but to Willhite's knowledge, none had been fired.

Monuments to Waste
Postal service managers have also received unusually large relocation packages in some cases.

When Richard Porras, the former chief financial officer of the Postal Service, moved from Fairfax, Va., to Vienna, Va. — a distance of 15 miles — he was given $142,000. On top of that he received $25,000 for miscellaneous expenses.

[kcvl]

"John Glenn's return voyage did more than advance our knowledge, it lifted our spirits," said Deborah Willhite, Senior Vice President, Government Relations and Public Policy, who unveiled the stamp. "It also reawakened our interest in space, inspired millions young and old, and cemented John Glenn's place as one of the world's greatest astronauts," she said.

----------------------------------------------------------------

At a special ceremony in Liverpool today, U.S. Postal Service Senior Vice President of Government Relations Deborah Willhite and the Lord Mayor of Liverpool unveiled the new Beatles commemorative U.S. postage stamp. The ceremony was part of a day-long event to celebrate the rerelease of the animated film Yellow Submarine.

----------------------------------------------------------------

USPS Senior Vice President Deborah Willhite, asked by reporters why postal workers had not been tested when the politicians and aides on Capitol Hill were, said her agency had followed the advice of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC, declared Willhite, said that testing would not be necessary "until there was an evidence chain that indicated there was anthrax present in the facility."

That evidence was provided by the deaths of two workers.

--------------------------------------------------------------

USPS Warns It May Cut Back Delivery To Save Money

Universal delivery of mail or six-day delivery may become a thing of the past if the U.S. Postal Service doesn't get more flexibility to adjust prices, a postal official warned.

"This would certainly be one of our last choices," said Deborah Willhite, the agency's senior vice president for public affairs. "But there is a reality that has to be faced - with the continuing growth of delivery points and the inability to respond quickly to other changes in the marketplace - that to remain financially sound, we'll have to look at things above and beyond the actions we are taking."

"The current system has run its course, and our options are not the ones that a good business would use." Willhite declined to be more specific about her comments. Industry insiders questioned whether the statement is a ploy to get public sympathy.

[Southack]

Outrageous, yet not surprising.

How sad that 500 postal workers in Arkansas were fired so that a lobbyist could blame one Senator while "creating" 500 new jobs in another state to credit another Senator.

[The Raven]

Issue follows twisted path

10/31/02
Email this story to a friend

Allegations of wrongdoing and misuse of power within the infrastructure of the U.S. Postal Service have generated a whole basketful of vague information. One fact, however, seems very clear in this pre-election mess—the Blytheville community, and the economic impact of the CNet Christmas mail-sorting operation on this community, was being used as an expendable pawn by someone in some sort of political chess game.

According to a senior GOP leadership aide in Washington, D.C., who asked that his name not appear in print, when the postal service announced its decision to shut down the CNet operation in Blytheville, that decision sparked a number of questions on Capitol Hill.

The Postal Service, he said, never makes a major decision of this sort so close to a major election. When U.S. Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Arkansas, learned of the decision, he placed a hold on supplemental funding for the Postal Service, and asked for assistance from Sen. Ben Nighthorse-Campbell, R-Colorado, Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tennessee, and Sen. Trent Lott, R-Mississippi. Thompson, the ranking Republican on the Senate Government Affairs Committee which oversees the Postal Service, requested a review of the decision by the Postal Service. That request was granted.

On Monday, Oct. 21, Postmaster General John Potter notified members of the Arkansas delegation he was upholding the decision to shut down the Blytheville CNet operation. Hutchinson contacted Thompson, Nighthorse-Campbell and Lott and once again asked for their assistance. On Wednesday, Thompson sent another request to the Postmaster General, asking him to resubmit his decision with a financial cost to benefit breakdown of savings to the postal service by discontinuing the CNet operation in Blytheville. Potter immediately revoked his decision, and agreed to provide the information.

On Thursday, Lott and Nighthorse-Campbell both contacted Potter, indicating their concern over this unconventional election year decision, and stating they intended to investigate the situation further.

That investigation revealed there was a plan among top postal officials to move resources connected with the Blytheville CNet operation to another location outside of Arkansas.

On Friday, Deborah Willhite, senior vice president of government relations and public policy for the Postal Service, abruptly resigned. It was learned by those investigating that Willhite, a former member of the Bill Clinton presidential campaign and political appointee to the Postal Service, was involved in the discussions concerning the moving of those resources from Blytheville.

Willhite's position with the postal service involved acting as an informational liaison between Capitol Hill and the Postal ervice, and as a legislative lobbyist for the Postal Service.

The big question in the GOP leadership's mind, the aide said, is "how is she involved in budget and finance? We don't know. That's our big question."

Willhite could not be reached for comment. However, she told Paul Bedard, a writer for U.S. News and World Report, she planned to resign anyway, and her resignation had nothing to do with the Blytheville CNet operation.

Bedard originally reported the story about the moving of resources from the Blytheville CNet operation Monday in his Washington Whispers feature section. That article can be viewed by visiting the U.S. News and World Web site at www.usnews.com.

That article also indicated the CNet resources were being moved to Georgia, the area represented by Sen. Max Cleland, D-Georgia, and that Willhite had made campaign contributions to both Cleland, and Arkansas Attorney Gen. Mark Pryor, D-Arkansas, who is running against Hutchinson for the Arkansas senate seat. That race is one of the most closely watched in the country, and the outcome could affect the balance of party political power in Washington. The aide said there is no evidence either Pryor or Cleland were involved in the plan to move the resources out of Blytheville. There is also no clear indication where those funds were to be moved, although it is clear they were being moved from this area to another state. Senate Republicans continue to investigate the closing of the Blytheville CNet operations and any possible political connections. A complete review of the decision and the moving of resources is being conducted at this time by the Postal Service, the aide said.

[fire and forget]

We have reason to be encouraged these days. The FBI under Bush is actually investigating cases of vote fraud and other election "irregularities", which oddly enough always seem to benefit the dems. And matters like the subject of this thread are coming to light ... BEFORE elections.

I expect that a lot of Republicans are hyper-vigilant right now, and that when they blow the whistle on acts subverting our true democratic process (our most sacred institution), the State Department, not being owned and controlled by the clintons, is all over it.

That's not to detract from the obviousness of your point that a lot of them will get away with it.

[kcvl]

DEBORAH K. WILLHITE

Needless to say...Hillary Clinton appointed.

[The Raven]

Potter's letter

[kcvl]

During this election cycle, she donated $1,000 to Mr. Hutchinson's opponent and $250 to Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, New York Democrat, and $500 to Mrs. Clinton's political action committee. In the 2000 cycle, Miss Willhite contributed $1,250 to the Democratic National Committee and $750 to Mrs. Clinton.

[Timesink]

Potter's letter

They probably had to FedEx it to get to the magazine in time.

[kcvl]

Playing post office --

The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste, a non-partisan government watchdog group, is reacting angrily to reports that a senior executive of the Postal Service was forced to resign amidst allegations she attempted to punish a candidate for the U.S. Senate who had been critical of the alleged mismanaged government mail system through a redirection of USPS resources. Saying the alleged activity represents "a new level of corruption and mismanagement," CCAGW Vice President Leslie Paige said, "Taxpayers and their representatives in Congress should be up in arms." USPS Senior Vice President Deborah Willhite resigned abruptly Friday amid allegations she used the federal mail budget to hurt the re-election chances of Arkansas Republican Sen. Tim Hutchinson.

"Since this spring, CCAGW has been calling for a complete and public audit of USPS books to root out the millions of dollars of waste, fraud, and abuse we know exists," Paige said. "This latest scandal confirms that not only do postal officials lose, misspend and abuse the postal budget with impunity, they may also be using their scarce resources to manipulate elections, which is clearly prohibited by the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act. It's time for independent third party to get to the bottom of where all our money is going."