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With slower mail and election concerns, Trump's postmaster general is in the hot seat - L.A. Focus Newspaper

DeJoy's administration has slowed delivery, removed high-speed letter sorters from commission and issued a stark warning to election officials that mail-in ballots will no longer automatically be moved as priority mail. On top of that, the USPS has started reducing post office operating hours across several states, cut overtime for postal workers and removed some of their iconic blue letter collection boxes. In the wake of what DeJoy is calling a "restructuring," the agency's inspector general is now reviewing these policy changes. Democrats are amping up demands that DeJoy rescind his changes and get the agency ready for the flood of mail-in ballots necessitated by the pandemic. Former President Barack Obama characterized the administration's approach to the postal service as "a knee-capping" -- sabotage by an executive who dislikes mail-in balloting and also has power over the agency that makes it possible. Charged with securely shepherding millions of Americans' votes, the USPS is shouldering a growing sense of mistrust from all sides. Each day a bill payment is marked overdue or a birthday card arrives later than expected is another day for voters to wonder: Will the Post Office be up to the task this election? DeJoy appears sanguine amid the furor, acknowledging to employees this week that the slowdown is a direct result of his policies. In a memo to postal service staff and workers, he allowed there had been "unintended consequences" but promised that the changes will eventually mean "transformation into a financially stable organization" -- a longtime conservative goal for the fiscally-challenged agency. Election experts may be worried about the post office role in a free and fair election, but DeJoy revealed that he, like Trump, is focused on the bottom line. For the two months of his tenure, postal workers and election observers have been watching DeJoy closely and wondering to what extent he'll serve Trump's interests during the 2020 elections. The week's events served to highlight just how in sync with his boss he may be. "He's a fantastic man," Trump said when asked Saturday evening during his news conference at his club in Bedminster, New Jersey, if he backs DeJoy's changes at the agency. "He wants to make the Post Office great again." A new kind of postmaster A successful businessman and Republican donor, DeJoy is known among friends for his take-no-BS attitude. His wife, the Polish-born Aldona Wos, was the US ambassador to Estonia under George W. Bush and is currently awaiting confirmation as ambassador to Canada. Relatively unknown outside of GOP circles in North Carolina, DeJoy became a part of the President's large circle of unofficial advisers in his role as a prolific fundraiser for Trump. DeJoy had been tapped as the finance chair for the 2020 Republican National Convention in Charlotte, a high-profile position generally reserved for confidants or financial bundlers. DeJoy was Trump's preferred pick when the agency's board of governors t