DeJoy donated more than $685K to Republican National Convention

Postmaster General Louis DeJoy donated more than $685,000 to the committee that ran the Republican National Convention, according to new filings with the Federal Election Commission (FEC). 

The new FEC filings show DeJoy, who was a prominent North Carolina businessman and Republican donor before taking the helm of the U.S. Postal Service, gave a total of $685,230 to the Charlotte Host Committee in four donations between late December 2018 and late March 2020.

DeJoy’s relationship with President Trump and the Republican Party has been thrust into the national spotlight over controversial changes he sought to make to Postal Service operations, leading to accusations from Democrats that he was trying to tip the electoral scales Trump’s way in a year when the number of mail-in ballots is expected to spike.

Convention host committees often plan for the quadrennial confabs for years in advance of the actual events and rely on donations to support the extravagant gatherings. The Charlotte committee in total garnered $44 million and spent more than $38 million.

But the conventions this year for both Republicans and Democrats were upended by the coronavirus pandemic. Trump gave his acceptance speech at the White House instead of in North Carolina, and Democrats relied instead on a mostly virtual affair.

The donations from DeJoy are likely to fuel further criticism from congressional Democrats who have hammered his leadership of the Postal Service. The rebukes have largely focused on a string of controversial changes, such as adjusting delivery policies and reassigning or displacing nearly two dozen postal executives, including the pair of officials in charge of day-to-day operations.

DeJoy has also faced questions over reports that he’s retained at least a $30 million equity stake in his former company, which is a Postal Service contractor, and that he recently bought stocks in Amazon, a top Postal Service competitor. 

The House Oversight and Reform Committee announced in September that it is launching an investigation into DeJoy over reports he reimbursed employees for donations to GOP candidates.