Wisconsin Mail Carrier Dumping GOP Mailers - Investigation

UPDATE, March 18, 2015: Neenah mailman loses job for dumping political flyers

A Neenah mail carrier who was accused of throwing nearly 900 political flyers in a dumpster resigned from his job under a plea agreement finalized last week in federal court.

The flyers from the Republican Party of Wisconsin on behalf of two candidates ended up in a dumpster in Neenah instead of people's mailboxes last fall, court records say.

Rickey Krueger, a mail carrier for the Neenah post office, was convicted last week in U.S. District Court in Green Bay of mishandling the mail. After negotiations with prosecutors, Krueger agreed to plead guilty, quit his job and pay a fine of $750.

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UPDATE: Agent: Postal worker who dumped GOP mailers not politically motivated, just lazy

The Neenah mail carrier who dumped hundreds of GOP political mailers in an apartment complex Dumpster wasn’t politically motivated; the postal worker just didn’t feel like delivering the stacks of campaign advertisements, according to preliminary findings from the U.S. Postal Service Office of the Inspector General.

“Based upon our investigation, this was nothing done toward a specific candidate or party. It looks like it was a decision made by the carrier, and it was not a good decision,” to not deliver the campaign advertisements, Robert Rukes, special agent with the inspector general’s office in Chicago, told Wisconsin Reporter Monday.

“A lot of times, what happened in this situation, you have a carrier who felt overwhelmed with the volume of mail so they decided to discard some of the mail without delivering,” Rukes added.

Due to the ongoing investigation, Rukes declined to identify the mail carrier, who, according to the special agent, dumped 879 pieces of political mail Thursday.

Oh, sure. That makes sense, doesn't it?

This mail carrier just happened to be overwhelmed by the REPUBLICAN mailers.

Yeah, I buy that. Nothing to see here.

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M.D. Kittle, Wisconsin Reporter, first reported the story that "multiple former Trek executives and employees" said Mary Burke was fired from Trek for incompetence.

That, of course, shamed the media in the state.

"Vet Mary Burke? Gee, we didn't think of that."

Kittle is back with another story that the mainstream media aren't reporting.

A mail carrier in Neenah is being investigated for dumping GOP political mailers.

Kittle writes:

An investigation has been launched into a Neenah postal carrier who allegedly dumped into a recycling bin hundreds of political advertisement mailers from the campaign of Mike Rorhkaste, Republican candidate for Wisconsin’s 55th Assembly District, Rorhkaste tells Wisconsin Reporter.

Neenah Postmaster Brian Smoot, who was alerted to the incident on Thursday, confirmed that there is an ongoing investigation into the matter, and referred Wisconsin Reporter to the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Postal Service. OIG representatives there did not return several phone calls seeking comment Sunday.

...Rorhkaste, a retired human resources executive, is running against Democrat Mark Westphal, an industrial electrician and president of the Fox Valley Area Labor Council AFL-CIO.

A mail carrier, a U.S. government employee, allegedly chose not to deliver the mail?

That's not good.

Photo of the dumped fliers here.

Does this carrier routinely chuck Republican political mailers?

Is the carrier apolitical but just not that into delivering mail?

...Speaking to Wisconsin Reporter Sunday evening, Rorhkaste said he first learned of the incident last Thursday when a Neenah resident emailed him. The resident, whom Rorhkaste did not identify, had witnessed a postal carrier dumping a bunch of material into a recycling bin at an apartment complex, according to the email.

The resident checked the bin after the postal carrier left and found hundreds of political mailers from the campaigns of Rorhkaste, Glenn Grothman, a Republican state senator running for the open 6th Congressional District seat, as well as political messages from a special interest group in support of former state Rep. Roger Roth, a Republican who is running for Wisconsin 19th Senate District seat.

This is extremely concerning.

At least the Post Office is responding appropriately according to Rorhkaste.

“I’m glad the postal service here took it seriously, and I’m glad we got the pieces mailed,” Rorhkaste said. “If that wasn’t brought to my attention, I never would have known.”

“What I was upset about is, I don’t want this to happen to anybody,” the candidate added. “This is a First Amendment right. It’s one of our nation’s cherished principles.”

I know this is old, but can you imagine what the media's reaction would be if the mailers were for Democrat candidates?

Ed Schultz would probably be on his way to Wisconsin with plans to do his show live from the recycling bin.

If the investigation reveals the mail carrier did, in fact, dump the mailers, that individual should be fired and prosecuted.

18 U.S. Code § 1703 - Delay or destruction of mail or newspapers

a)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, unlawfully secretes, destroys, detains, delays, or opens any letter, postal card, package, bag, or mail entrusted to him or which shall come into his possession, and which was intended to be conveyed by mail, or carried or delivered by any carrier or other employee of the Postal Service, or forwarded through or delivered from any post office or station thereof established by authority of the Postmaster General or the Postal Service, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.

(b)Whoever, being a Postal Service officer or employee, improperly detains, delays, or destroys any newspaper, or permits any other person to detain, delay, or destroy the same, or opens, or permits any other person to open, any mail or package of newspapers not directed to the office where he is employed; or
Whoever, without authority, opens, or destroys any mail or package of newspapers not directed to him, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both.

Once again, the large news outlets in Wisconsin are put to shame by the alternative media.

DON'T TRUST THE LIBERAL MEDIA.