“Time for a full, public audit of Post Office books,” says Leslie Paige.

(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 a nonpartisan, nonprofit lobbying organization dedicated to eliminating waste, fraud, mismanagement and abuse in government.