Going thru Congressional investigation, Postmaster Customary DeJoy hires a consulting and PR firm with deep Trump administration ties

• Postmaster Customary Louis DeJoy hired a consulting firm with ties to President Trump to indicate him after the Dwelling Oversight Committee launched an investigation into his non-public commerce.
• The investigation follows a Washington Post chronicle that the longtime Republican fundraiser may perchance even dangle violated campaign fundraising law.
• Patomak Global Companions used to be primarily based by Paul Atkins, a oldschool SEC government who has told Trump on monetary deregulation and served on his commerce council.
• A USPS spokesperson said the work conducted by DeJoy’s personal companies, Patomak and RLF Communications, doesn’t present to his tasks as Postmaster Customary or its well-known PR company, Weber Shandwick.
• Discuss over with Enterprise Insider’s homepage for added reports.

US Postmaster Customary Louis DeJoy hired a consulting and PR firm with deep ties to the Trump administration as he faces allegations that he violated campaign fundraising criminal guidelines as a non-public businessman and Republican fundraiser, Enterprise Insider has learned.

Since his nomination to lead the US Postal Carrier as Postmaster Customary used to be announced in May perchance, DeJoy has been embroiled in political controversies referring to the feature USPS will play within the arriving election and his monetary pursuits as a non-public businessman who invested in companies that compete at the moment with USPS.

On September 6, The Washington Post reported claims that workers of DeJoy’s oldschool transport firm, North Carolina’s Contemporary Breed Logistics, had been compelled to donate to Republican candidates and compensated with bonuses, in violation of pronounce and federal law. 

Two days later, Uncover. Carolyn Maloney of Contemporary York, who chairs the Dwelling Committee on Oversight and Reform, announced that she would compare the chronicle. A Committee spokeswoman did now not present an update on the draw of that investigation.

Spokesman Edward McFadden said the PR and consulting firm, DC-primarily primarily based Patomak Global Companions, now handles all queries referring to DeJoy’s personal commerce. These can also involve the Washington Post article and DeJoy’s multimillion-greenback holdings in USPS opponents love UPS and XPO Logistics, which bought Contemporary Breed in 2014.

DeJoy beforehand passe North Carolina-primarily primarily based PR firm RLF Communications on matters from the fundraising allegations to Democrats’ claims that DeJoy’s appointment used to be a reward for raising money for Trump. RLF CEO Monty Hagler declined to claim if he gathered represents DeJoy in any ability and referred extra queries to Patomak.

Patomak’s founder is an consultant to President Trump who specializes in monetary deregulation

The Wall Avenue Journal describes Patomak Global Companions as a “within the assist of-the-scenes consulting commerce” primarily based by Paul Atkins, a oldschool criminal legitimate and regulatory expert appointed to the SEC by George W. Bush in 2002. It specializes in serving to companies navigate and carve assist authorities regulations. 

After the 2016 election, Trump named Atkins, who has reportedly criticized labor unions, LGBTQ rights groups, and others for encouraging shareholder activism, to a key feature on his transition group overseeing regulatory agencies as the incoming administration looked to roll assist the 2010 Dodd-Frank monetary reform law.

Atkins later joined Trump’s commerce advisory dialogue board alongside with the CEOs of companies love Disney, Blackrock, and Walmart and continued to whisper on behalf of the administration as a top consultant advocating for monetary deregulation.

Patomak is now not a registered lobbying firm so it doesn’t must divulge its clients, nonetheless they reportedly encompass authorities entities love the US Chamber of Commerce as smartly as non-public equity, funding, and Chinese language accounting companies seeking assist in disputes with US authorities regulators. 

As DeJoy battles personal controversy, PR giant Weber Shandwick works to counter messaging efforts from the White Dwelling

A USPS spokesman said Patomak doesn’t produce work connected to DeJoy’s tasks as Postmaster Customary and that USPS refers all queries about his commerce dealings to his personal representatives. The USPS’s PR company of chronicle is IPG’s Weber Shandwick, which said it doesn’t signify any USPS workers, including DeJoy.

CNN reported that Weber is moreover handling crisis communications to counter the White Dwelling’s have anti-election-mail messaging and promote the USPS, whose board is Trump-appointed and which is high-tail by DeJoy, a Trump donor, after he testified to Congress that he took actions that slowed mail transport.

It’s unclear precisely what Weber does for the USPS since the USPS wouldn’t initiate its unredacted $4 million contract in response to a Enterprise Insider FOIA achieve a question to. It has, on the replace hand, promoted a PSA-model ad campaign promoting balloting as safe.

The USPS rejected an enchantment by Enterprise Insider to initiate the fat contract, arguing that the redactions dangle been the fabricated from contract negotiations between USPS and Weber Shandwick and may perchance now not be disclosed “below lovely commerce whisper” because they would weaken USPS’ capacity to negotiate future deals with other distributors.

Got extra knowledge about this story or every other ad industry tip? Contact Patrick Espresso on Signal at (347) 563-7289, e-mail at [email protected] or [email protected], or via Twitter DM @PatrickCoffee.

You may perchance also moreover contact Enterprise Insider securely via SecureDrop.