Local officials, consumers and postal union representatives spoke in opposition to a U.S. Postal Service proposal to close its 2300 Redondo Ave. processing facility (also known as the “Steve Horn Post Office”) at a Dec. 16 USPS-conducted public meeting at LBCC.
USPS says the proposed closure, part of a nationwide plan to reduce costs in the face of declining consumer usage, will likely mean a letter sent by first-class mail would take 2-3 days to reach its destination.
Among those speaking was a Long Beach resident Martine Etchepare, who identified himself as a retired Postal Manager.
Read full article via LBReport.com
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I smell bacon
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-San Diego, who graduated this year from ranking minority member to chairman of one of the most powerful watchdog committees in Congress. His House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has broad powers to investigate government and industry, as well as the power to issue subpoenas.
As our colleagues at The Watchdog Institute recently reported, Issa has asked companies, nonprofits and industry associations for guidance in an examination of how the federal government regulates industry. He has also built a team of committee staffers with close connections to industries that could benefit from his investigations.
Brooke Williams and Matt Pearce of the Watchdog Institute pored over a the list of 62 Republican staffers on the committee. For the most part, they were experienced Hill staffers who had worked on other Congressional committees. But also:
Two staff members on the oversight committee formerly lobbied Congress on behalf of computer, Internet and manufacturing industries.
One of Issa’s staff attorneys is the son of a current lobbyist — who is pushing for changes in federal regulations on behalf of dozens of big corporations.
Another previously worked for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an organization Issa recently reached out to for input on government regulations.
Another was an associate in legal reform at the Koch foundation, run by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, conservative political activists who made a fortune in the oil and chemical businesses
At least three more have ties to the Mercatus Center, a think tank, funded by the Kochs, which pushes for reduced industry regulation.
“I only have a short comment for you on this subject,” Frederick Hill, spokesman for Issa and the oversight committee, told Williams and Pearce in an e-mail. “The Committee makes all hiring decisions based on the ability of individuals to help the committee do its job.”
Dave Levinthal, spokesman for the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that analyzes campaign finance and lobbying data, stressed the need for openness from the committee.
“If there is even a whiff of conflict of interest, it’s important for them to be transparent and upfront about any interests that the committee or its staffers might have,” he told Williams and Pearce. “One would hope that they’re not making recommendations or working in their government capacity to benefit a former employer or former client.”
As a follow-up Matt Pearce of The Watchdog Institute pointed out yesterday that engineering giant Fluor Corp., which has a huge base in Aliso Viejo, and lobbying giant Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld just held a fundraiser for Issa that appeared to trade on his leadership position on the committee–$2,500 for a “host” ticket according to a copy of the invitation posted by the Sunlight Foundation.
Gary Bass, a regulatory expert who has been monitoring government transparency and spending for nearly three decades as founder of the nonprofit OMB Watch, told The Watchdog Institute that industry influence on the oversight committee is of great worry to the public because “literally, almost every walk of our life, every step of our life, can be in one way or another can be traced back to some kind of federal protection.”
He pointed, for example, to occupational regulations that promote safety in the workplace and air pollution regulations that address asthma in children. Bass said many laws mentioned in industry responses to Issa “are oldies but goodies” that companies have been trying “kill for many years.”
“Now,” he said, “they’re back on the list.”
D. Issa? is he that guy who wont go on the Ed Schultz show.
Your right in or near Darrell Issa’s district. If you don’t know what to do about it nobody else can help you.
Seems like Mr. Etchepare must have been the last USPS manager with any common sense or half a brain! Say goodbye the the U S Postal Service!!!!
we normally write the term “Congress” with a capital “c”.
But Things Aint Normal… with wongrees up on the hill.
Someone in managements ranks will get a big fat bonus check throught the Ideas Program for supposedly saving the USPS money with the closures.
@david ( and david like others) this is not a writing competition!, this is lives and service we are talking here. He has to deliver his message that is it. and effective message is worth thousand books well written,formate, edited, printed, published and well advertised!..
Too bad this alleged former postal manager never mastered rudimentary writing skills. Perhaps he could be taken more seriously if his comments seemed to have been written by an adult; instead of some airhead Valley Girl. In the United States, for example, we normally write the term “Congress” with a capital “c”. We also occasionally insert periods in the middle of our rants, so that the reader can gasp for air before moving on to the next completely separate thought stream.
Since when is Anaheim closing? Another bonehead manager who as usual doesn’t even know what is happening around him/her.
Combinding mail operations to the Los Angeles plant?
What happened to our deal? i was going to be the postmaster and move operations to DisneyLand… good ole boys… can’t trust’em these days, im going to write to my congressman Issa.
Too many chiefs, and we are talking Forrest Gump mentality.
When a major earthquake hits Los Angeles, they would not have mail service. It only takes a few of the overpasses on the numerous freeways to collapse and traffic will grind to a crawl if that. Civic unrest in Los Angeles around Florence and Normandy during the LA riots resulted in a lot fewer employees reporting to work at the GMF.