American Politics Journal -- The Insider: They'd Kill For Their Receivables

American Politics Journal

The Insider
They'd Kill For Their Receivables
The credit card lobby works the Hill -- and endangers the lives of postal workers and the public
by Morrie Friendly

Oct. 26, 2001 -- WASHINGTON (APJP) -- Did lobbyists put the lives of postal workers, congressional staffers and the general public in peril?

That is the question that has been asked over the last couple days in certain Washington circles -- and is generating enormous anger this Friday among labor advocates on Capitol Hill and representatives of US Postal Service rank-and-file employees.

Immediately after reports of an NBC employee having contracted cutaneous anthrax hit the cable news channels, a handful of administration insiders, federal law enforcement officials and some members of Congress felt precautionary action should be taken to isolate the routes the bio-weaponized mail had taken. When the news hit that anthrax had turned up in Senate offices, according to congressional sources, the leadership of both houses of Congress, Justice Department officials and senior officials of the Postal Service were prepared to declare a partial or even full shutdown of mail sorting, processing and shipping facilities in order to locate and isolate other tainted letters, decontaminate anthrax "hot spots" that could prove a danger to postal workers, and install devices to detect pathogens and sterilize mail.

Congressional sources have told this writer that lobbyists for and representatives of banks and businesses with a large financial stake in the credit card business pressured the Bush Administration and Congress to prevent any extensive shutdown of postal facilities. They were chiefly concerned that the flow of those all-important outstanding balance statements not be interrupted -- even for a few days.

One source singled out lobbyists with ties to Bank of America for their efforts to stop any possible mail slowdowns -- but added that pressure was also being exerted by lobbyists for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who fear that holiday season catalogues mailings and orders may be strongly impacted.

Will there be a sacrificial lamb in this massive debacle? If the increasing coverage of postal worker anger continues, Postmaster General Jack Potter may be the man to take the hit.

"Did you catch his asinine comments on CNN [Wednesday morning]? If I had half a chance to clock Potter, I damn well would," said one of our Democrat sources. "'No guarantees there is no anthrax' -- but he doesn't see need for at least a partial shutdown? And 'life is filled with risks'? Doesn't he realize that there were [postal] carriers and customers watching his pathetic appearance that he is putting at risk? The lunatic made Dan Burton look smart by comparison....[Potter is] too busy being a good soldier for the big businesses that keep the Postal Service treading water... after those comments, he'll be the fall guy for the whole mess. Count on it."

As we go to press, a second postal facility in Washington has been shut down -- and postal workers in New York have gone to court in an attempt to temporarily shut down a Manhattan postal processing plant after traces of anthrax were found on four sorting machines.

Both stories served to punctuate the stunning gaffe on the part of the Bush Administration, Congress and the US Postal Service in not taking immediate action to check and protect postal workers, carriers and customers.

And lest you assume that the current anthrax debacle is limited to what you're seeing and hearing about on your favorite cable news outlet, there's this tidbit from a friend who is well connected in Florida political circles: more than a couple recently deceased citizens of Palm Beach County have been "iced, bagged, and shipped to Atlanta for a look-see by the CDC [Centers for Disease Control]."

Could it be something they received in the mail?

Morrie Friendly is a retired political consultant with close ties to top players in both the Democratic and Republican parties. He lives in Georgetown.