USPS broke law in allowing mailers to canvass for hillary, investigation finds

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Timm Kopp is a letter carrier from Marshfield and a whistle-blower who will take center stage Wednesday in Washington, D.C., at a hearing on political campaigning by postal workers.

Kopp's complained that certain postal workers were taking leave without pay to work for union political campaigns and that the absences caused operational problems. That prompted an investigation by the U.S Office of Special Counsel.

The counsel concluded that the U.S. Postal Service was in violation of the Hatch Act, which restricts political activity of federal employees while on the job. The investigation found that the Postal Service did not take political sides but sought to maintain good relations with the union.

"I didn't expect it to get to this point," Kopp told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. "All I wanted was an explanation on a few things. This needs to be fixed and needs to be taken care of so the Post Office does not look biased."

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The counsel's investigation found the Postal Service and National Association of Letter Carriers had a long-standing practice of letting workers take "union official" leave without pay.

The union provided to a USPS labor relations official lists of letter carriers to participate in the AFL-CIO's Labor 2016 program. That program sought to "elect Hillary Clinton and pro-worker candidates across the country."

The lists were sent to USPS middle managers, who interpreted them as directives, the investigation found. Despite objections by some local postal supervisors, the mid-level managers instructed those on the lists be allowed to take a leave.

Ninety-seven carriers participated in the program, mainly in six states, Wisconsin, Florida, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Letter carriers were reimbursed for the leave by the union's political action committee.

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