By AUSPL Member Maureen Goldsmith

The second annual Hill Day in Washington, D.C., was held June 11-12, 2014. Maureen Goldsmith and her daughter, Kyra, attended along with dozens of fellow lessors and certain AUSPL board members and staff. Attendees met with Congressional staff to discuss pending postal reform legislation. Maureen shares her experiences below.

Thank you for the opportunity to attend Hill Day for the second time. The entire event was well organized and the social events were a pleasure to attend. The information we received and the discussion meetings were helpful and informative. The appointments with the Senators, Representatives and their staff were well scheduled, and the talking points and handouts we were given helped make the meetings comfortable and productive.

Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
I was accompanied by AUSPL Director of Operations Mark Karolczyk. We met with staff member Denise Braemar. She seemed to be surprised by the extent of private ownership of Postal Facilities. She appreciated the pie chart showing the USPS 2014 Operating Budget, including urban and rural post office rent. She asked for the page in my packet which showed how many leased Post Offices were in each state. She was aware of the specifics of the Postal Bill, and expressed a positive attitude about keeping Post Offices open, and finding ways to reduce costs. I think the people in Senator Boxer’s office would be willing to participate in a positive way to work to ensure the universal mandate. When asked directly what she felt would happen with the bill this year, she said she did not think it was very high on the agenda, or that any Postal Bill would be passed this year.

Representative Darrell Issa (49th district, R-CA)
This is the district that I live in. I was accompanied by Alan Suskey of Capitol Insight and my daughter Kyra. We spoke with Robert M. Riche and Jeffrey Post. Both are thoroughly aware of all aspects of the Postal Service and are also familiar with the work of AUSPL. They have models of cluster boxes in the basement. They were supportive of the idea of utilizing post offices in rural areas in lieu of the new cluster boxes. They both agreed that Representative Issa is extremely determined to get some part of the postal reform legislation passed this year.

Representative Nita Lowey (17th district, D-NY)
I accompanied Kyra on this appointment. Kyra lives in Representative Lowey’s district. Kyra called that morning and made an appointment. We met with Matthew Roland of her staff. He was very familiar with the new postal reform legislation and USPS issues, and the pie chart (USPS 2014 Operating Budget with urban and rural post office rent) was of interest to him. He expressed concern for the jobs of postal workers if five-day delivery or cluster boxes were implemented. He did think the Post Offices boxes could serve as cluster boxes in urban areas. Matthew thought that any Postal bill did not have much chance of passing this year. He did agree with the goal of trying to find ways of reducing costs or earning new revenue and keeping postal facilities open.