Report: Louis DeJoy Used Bonuses to Reimburse Employees for Donations to GOP Campaigns

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For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis, the election, and more, subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter.A bombshell investigation in the Washington Post is shedding new light Trump appointee Louis DeJoy’s rise to prominence as a Republican fundraiser prior to his May 2020 appointment as US Postmaster General. According to the report, DeJoy pressured employees of his former business, New Breed Logistics, to donate to GOP candidates; he then would reimburse contributions using bonuses.
At least seven New Breed employees spoke to the Post, five of whom said they were pressured by DeJoy or his aides to give to Republicans and attend fundraisers. Two others reportedly said that at DeJoy’s direction, bonus payments were “boosted” to offset the cost of the donations. Campaign finance records show his employees gave large amounts of money to candidates, including George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Sen. John McCain, and former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory, according to the investigation:

A Washington Post analysis of federal and state campaign finance records found a pattern of extensive donations by New Breed employees to Republican candidates, with the same amount often given by multiple people on the same day. Between 2000 and 2014, 124 individuals who worked for the company together gave more than $1 million to federal and state GOP candidates. Many had not previously made political donations, and have not made any since leaving the company, public records show. During the same period, nine employees gave a combined $700 to Democrats.
Although it can be permissible to encourage employees to make donations, reimbursing them for those contributions is a violation of North Carolina and federal election laws. Known as a straw-donor scheme, the practice allows donors to evade individual contribution limits and obscures the true source of money used to influence elections.

A DeJoy spokesperson told the Post that the Trump appointee was unaware employees felt pressured to donate, and that DeJoy “believes that he has always followed campaign fundraising laws and regulations.”
Read the full report here.