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S. Hrg. 110–276 

NOMINATION OF ELLEN C. WILLIAMS 

HEARING 

BEFORE THE

COMMITTEE ON 

HOMELAND SECURITY AND 

GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

UNITED STATES SENATE 

ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS 

FIRST SESSION 

ON THE 

NOMINATION OF ELLEN C. WILLIAMS TO BE A GOVERNOR, U.S. POSTAL 

SERVICE 

OCTOBER 18, 2007 

Available via http://www.gpoaccess.gov/congress/index.html 

Printed for the use of the 

Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs 

( 

(II) 

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS 

JOSEPH I. LIEBERMAN, Connecticut, Chairman 

CARL LEVIN, Michigan 

DANIEL K. AKAKA, Hawaii 

THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware 

MARK L. PRYOR, Arkansas 

MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana 

BARACK OBAMA, Illinois 

CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri 

JON TESTER, Montana 

SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine 

TED STEVENS, Alaska 

GEORGE V. VOINOVICH, Ohio 

NORM COLEMAN, Minnesota 

TOM COBURN, Oklahoma 

PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico 

JOHN WARNER, Virginia 

JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire 

MICHAEL L. ALEXANDER, Staff Director 

KRISTINE V. LAM, Research Assistant 

BRANDON L. MILHORN, Minority Staff Director and Chief Counsel 

JENNIFER L. TARR, Minority Associate Counsel 

TRINA DRIESSNACK TYRER, Chief Clerk 

(III) 

C O N T E N T S 

Opening statements: Page 

Senator Carper ................................................................................................. 1 

Senator Akaka .................................................................................................. 4 

WITNESSES 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007 

Hon. Mitch McConnell, A U.S. Senator from the State of Kentucky .................. 1 

Ellen C. Williams, to be a Governor, U.S. Postal Service .................................... 3 

ALPHABETICAL LIST OF WITNESSES

McConnell, Hon. Mitch: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 1 

Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 15 

Williams, Ellen C.: 

Testimony .......................................................................................................... 3 

Biographical and professional information ..................................................... 19 

Letter from U.S. Office of Government Ethics ............................................... 29 

Responses to pre-hearing questions ................................................................ 31 

(1) 

1The prepared statement of Senator McConnell appears in the Appendix on page 15. 

NOMINATION OF ELLEN C. WILLIAMS 

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2007 

U.S. SENATE,

COMMITTEE ON HOMELAND SECURITY

AND GOVERNMENTAL AFFAIRS, 

Washington, DC. 

The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 3:48 p.m., in Room 

SD–342, Dirksen Senate Office Building, Hon. Thomas R. Carper, 

presiding. 

Present: Senators Carper and Akaka. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR CARPER 

Senator CARPER. The hearing will come to order. We welcome 

Ms. Williams. Thank you for joining us. And we welcome our Republican Leader, Senator McConnell. 

My opening statement called for me to defer to you after I had 

made my statement, but I just want to ask you to lead off, Senator 

McConnell, because I know you have a lot going on. 

TESTIMONY OF HON. MITCH McCONNELL,1 A U.S. SENATOR 

FROM THE STATE OF KENTUCKY 

Senator MCCONNELL. Well, thank you, Mr. Chairman. I really 

appreciate that. I have a prepared statement here which I would 

like to ask consent be made part of the record. 

Senator CARPER. Without objection. 

Senator MCCONNELL. And I would rather speak extemporaneously on behalf of my old and dear friend Ellen Williams who 

is superbly qualified to continue as a Governor of the U.S. Postal 

Service. 

I have known Ellen for 20 years. I have watched her in a variety 

of different positions of extraordinary responsibility. She has extraordinary intelligence. She is very personable. She knows how to 

handle people. In short, she is the complete package, and I cannot 

think of anybody the President could have nominated any better 

qualified. Add onto that the fact that she has already been serving 

as one of the governors of the Postal Service, so she is familiar with 

the subject matter and can hit the ground running. And I guess the 

best way to sum it up is I give her my very highest recommendation without any qualification whatsoever and would urge the Committee to speed her through the process and get her confirmed at 

the earliest possible opportunity. 

2 

Senator CARPER. Well, Mr. Leader, we will do our best to see 

that it happens. 

Senator MCCONNELL. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator CARPER. It means a lot to us and I am sure to Ms. Williams that you are here. Thank you. 

I am pleased to serve today as Chairman of our Committee as 

we consider the nomination of Ellen Williams to be a member of 

the Board of Governors of the U.S. Postal Service. As just about everyone here today probably knows, our Postal Service finds itself 

in the midst of a new age of sorts. 

Until very recently, the Postal Service was operating under a 

business model that was created to serve our economy in the 1970s. 

But since the 1970s, we all know our country has grown. The complexity of our economy has grown. The number of postal customers 

has also grown, but so has competition from the private sector from 

companies like FedEx and UPS and from technologies that we did 

not have in the 1970s, like cell phones, fax machines, e-mail, and 

electronic bill paying. 

With this in mind, Senator Collins and I and a number of our 

colleagues in both the House and in the Senate worked for years 

to enact the first major reforms to the Postal Service since 1970 

when Ted Stevens was a freshman Senator from Alaska. 

Our bill will not convince people to give up e-mail—that is not 

our idea, that is not our intent—and return them to written correspondence as their primary means of communication. What it 

will do, though, is shore up the Postal Service’s finances in the long 

run and give postal managers the tools that they need to price and 

market their products like any business would. So we think it is 

important perhaps now more than ever that the Postal Service has 

good leadership. 

Ms. Williams, you have provided some of that leadership in your 

current capacity, and for that we are grateful. I am pleased that 

you have shown an interest in continuing to serve in this position, 

and I look forward to hearing from you today about what your priorities would be as governor and how you would work with your 

colleagues to implement the reform legislation that the President 

has signed and to add value to the products and services that postal employees provide every day. 

Senator McConnell has been good enough to come and to introduce you. We rode over on the subway together, and I caught him 

on the Senate floor and asked if he was going to come over and introduce you. And he said, ‘‘Well, I want to,’’ but he had heard that 

the hearing had been canceled. And I said, ‘‘Oh, no. I am chairing 

it. So believe me, it is not.’’ [Laughter.] 

We rode over on the subway together along with Senator 

Bunning, who asked that we extend his regards to you. And I mentioned to both Senator McConnell and Senator Bunning that Ellen 

Williams was among my very earliest supporters when I ran for 

State Treasurer. And knowing of your affiliation and leadership in 

the other party in the State of Kentucky, they both blanched when 

they heard that. But I hastened to add that it was another Ellen 

Williams, and one who is a good deal older than you. 

I have not done this before, and I have really been looking forward to it, but I have the opportunity to swear this witness in. I 

3 

1The biographical information and pre-hearing questions of Ms. Williams appear in the Appendix on page 19. 

believe, Ms. Williams, that you have filed responses to a biographical and financial questionnaire. I believe you have answered some 

pre-hearing questions that were submitted by our Committee. And 

you have had your financial statements reviewed by the Office of 

Government Ethics.1 I would just ask, without objection, that this 

information be made part of the hearing record, with the exception 

of the financial data, which are on file and available for public inspection in our Committee offices. And since I am the only one 

here, I hear no objection to that request, so we will proceed. 

The Committee Rules require that all witnesses at nomination 

hearings give their testimony under oath, and I am going to ask, 

Ms. Williams, that you stand and raise your right hand, and then 

I will ask you a couple of questions. 

Do you swear that the testimony you are about to give to our 

Committee will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 

truth, so help you, God? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I do. 

Senator CARPER. All right. Please be seated. That was the answer we were looking for. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you. 

Senator CARPER. And I understand there is at least one member 

of your family here today, and I do not know if you would want to 

introduce him or anyone else that is sitting out in the audience. 

But if you do, you are welcome to do that. And we will make your 

whole statement part of the record. If you would like to summarize 

that, you can. You have the next 2 hours to proceed. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. It will be very brief. 

Senator CARPER. Well, maybe we will make that 10 minutes. 

TESTIMONY OF ELLEN C. WILLIAMS, GOVERNOR, U.S. POSTAL 

SERVICE 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I would like to thank Senator McConnell for taking time out of his schedule to come and introduce me today, and 

I would like to thank you very much, Senator Carper, for convening 

this hearing and allowing me to appear before you so I can talk 

about why I would like to have the opportunity to serve for a second term on the Postal Board of Governors. But I do have guests 

today. I have two of my dear friends: Vicki Dixon, with the Department of Interior—she was at my hearing about 15 months ago. 

Senator CARPER. Would Vicki raise her hand? Ms. Dixon, how 

are you? Welcome. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. And Mark Acton—a fellow Kentuckian—on the 

Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), one of the Commissioners. 

Senator CARPER. Nice to see you. Welcome. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. He is here. And my very special guest is my father, retired Lieutenant General John Conaway. My dad is former 

Chief of the National Guard Bureau from 1990 to 1994. He likes 

to say he went into the Pentagon in the 1970s as the youngest general. He came out in 1994 as the oldest general, and by far and 

away the wisest general. And he was Chief during Desert Shield 

and Desert Storm, and his 37-year military career gave rise to the 

4 

modern-day Guard, which we are so proud of, and its importance 

to the total component of our military. So he is our example in my 

family of public service and a hero to us all. So I am really honored 

that he is here today—General Conaway. 

Senator CARPER. At ease, General. Welcome. Has your father 

ever been to Delaware? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, he is a constituent of yours. Did you know 

that, sir? [Laughter.] 

We see you in the parade every year. 

Senator Akaka, how are you, sir? 

Senator AKAKA. Fine. Thank you. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I appear before you today after serving 15 months 

as a Governor of the U.S. Postal Service, and I appear before you 

to seek nomination to a full term. I would like to thank the President for his confidence in me, and I truly appreciate the opportunity to be considered for a full term, and under the new law that 

full term will be 7 years. 

Last week, I met with your staff, and we discussed many of the 

key issues facing the Postal Service, and most specifically, we discussed implementation of the new postal legislation which was enacted. 

The enactment of this new legislation is the main reason I would 

like to have the opportunity to continue my service. I thought long 

and hard about it, and prior to the legislation, I mean, I was interested in the Board; but upon passage of the legislation, I was energized and intrigued by the opportunities that the Board of Governors will be afforded to help guide the Postal Service into its next 

era, if you will. I think that you all did an excellent job in defining 

the roles of the Board of Governors and the roles of the Postal Regulatory Commission. PRC is what Kim Weaver of the Postal Service said I need to stick to because I always get confused. 

Senator CARPER. You are not the only one. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, thanks, but it is exciting, and we stand at 

an exciting time, and I look forward, should I be confirmed to the 

full term, to working closely with my fellow governors, management, the PRC, and all stakeholders as we move this valuable institution forward. 

I will take any questions that you all may have, and I thank you 

for allowing me to be here. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. 

We have been joined by Senator Akaka. I am going to ask Senator Akaka to say whatever is on his mind and maybe ask the first 

question or two. Senator Akaka, thanks for joining us. 

OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR AKAKA 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. I am glad 

to be here with you, and I want to commend you for your oversight 

work over the Postal Service. 

Senator CARPER. My pleasure. Thank you. Thanks for your help. 

Senator AKAKA. I want to add my welcome to Governor Williams. 

Senator CARPER. It has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? ‘‘Governor 

Williams.’’ 

Senator AKAKA. I also want to thank you for your service. I think 

you mentioned that it has been 15 months? 

5 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Fifteen months, yes. 

Senator AKAKA. The Postal Service is in the midst of many 

changes resulting from the passage of the Postal Accountability 

and Enhancement Act at the end of last year by this Committee 

with the leadership of Senator Carper. As you said, this legislation 

has re-energized your passion in your work with the Postal Service. 

Yours is the first nomination to the Board of Governors since the 

law passed, so while your responsibilities have changed and while 

being a governor may be a part-time job, it still requires a full-time 

commitment to every American citizen that is connected with the 

Postal Service. I am pleased that we have before the Committee a 

nominee that is from a rural area, who understands the unique 

challenges and needs of those communities. I hope to ask your 

views about some of these important rural issues. 

Even with the new law enacted, it is up to the Postal Service, 

in large part through the Board of Governors, to ensure that the 

Postal Service is never privatized and that there continues to be a 

commitment to universal service for every American. 

Finally, I want to urge you, if confirmed for this appointment, to 

keep your door open to the Congress and to make it a point to 

share your thoughts and update Members of this Committee regularly. 

So, again, I want to thank you for being here and appearing before us. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you, Senator. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator CARPER. Senator Akaka, thank you, my friend. It is always great to be with you. 

I want to start off, Governor Williams—you do not mind if we 

call you ‘‘Governor Williams,’’ do you? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. No. You can call me ‘‘Ellen,’’ if you would like, but 

‘‘Governor Williams’’ works. [Laughter.] 

Senator CARPER. Let me start our questioning. We ask some fairly standard questions that we ask of all the nominees, and let me 

just ask those, and then we will move on from there. 

First, is there anything you are aware of in your background that 

might present a conflict of interest with the duties of the office to 

which you have been nominated? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. No, sir. 

Senator CARPER. All right. And, second, do you know of anything, 

personal or otherwise, that would in any way prevent you from 

fully and honorably discharging the responsibilities of the office to 

which you have been nominated? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. No. 

Senator CARPER. OK. And do you agree without reservation to respond to any reasonable summons to appear and testify before any 

duly constituted committee of Congress if you are confirmed? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I absolutely do. 

Senator CARPER. Well, why don’t we go on to the other questions 

then. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. OK. 

Senator CARPER. You passed that first test. 

You have now served on the Board of Governors for almost a 

year and a half—I think you alluded to this in your opening stateVerDate Aug 31 2005 08:12 Oct 01, 2008 Jkt 038853 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 P:\DOCS\38853.TXT SAFFAIRS PsN: PAT
6 

ment, but just talk a little bit more about why you would like to 

continue to serve. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, I think that I have been given a good framework in the first 15 months of the term that I just completed, understanding a bit about how it was but not being so entrenched in 

how it was that I do not have the ability to look at the new law 

and begin to move forward. And as I said in my opening remarks, 

I have enjoyed the Postal Board of Governors, but I am energized 

about being on the Board in light of the new legislation that you 

all enacted. I think it gives us great opportunity to move the Postal 

Service into the future. It gives us a lot of opportunity in the competitive market area, with caution. I like the way you have defined 

the way the PRC and the Board of Governors will work together. 

I appreciate their regulatory role and the way it has been defined. 

And so I just think there is a lot of unique opportunities and it 

is an exciting time. 

Senator CARPER. Good. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. And I would like to continue service. 

Senator CARPER. Talk to us a little bit about some of the challenges that you think the Board and postal management are going 

to be facing in the coming years under the new law, and in addition to telling us what you think are some of the challenges, maybe 

what you believe are some of the opportunities. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, the challenges, I mean, first and foremost— 

and you mentioned it in your opening statement—is the decline of 

First-Class mail. And we are not under the illusion that we can increase for the long term First-Class mail due to electronic diversion. But I think there are things that we can do to make the Postal Board more cost-efficient, and we are looking at ways right now 

with the service standards that are mandated in the new legislation, and we just posted the regulations today for comment, so 

there is a 30-day comment period, and we are working with all the 

stakeholders to try to make sure that service standards are doable, 

not too low, not too high, and that once we have something that 

everyone agrees to and comments are accepted, we then can work 

on a facilities plan, which is due, according to the new law, by June 

2008. 

And so I think then we will put some measurements in place, 

too, on these service standards so that we can determine if we are 

achieving them and if we need to modify them as we go forward. 

We work closely with the PRC on that. The PRC has issued draft 

regulations on the way we file a new rate case, and they are pushing us, and we appreciate that. I think Dan Blair and Mark Acton, 

the two specifically that I know of, and the rest of them are doing 

a good job in communicating with us. But the Board of Governors 

and management almost without exception like the draft regulations on the new ratemaking, and it would be our intention that 

we file our rate case under the new law. And I think as a Board 

of Governors that is part of our role, to show leadership in the implementation of this law, to try to help set the tone, to try to work 

through some of the challenges that management is going to be facing as we move forward. 

Senator CARPER. When you think about some of the new pieces 

of business that might be out there for the Postal Service in this 

7 

decade and down the road, what are some that come to mind? This 

is not a trick question, but I think we have a couple of States now 

where folks actually do their voting by mail. I believe that maybe 

Oregon is one of those States. There may be others, but I am aware 

of at least Oregon. I suspect some others are thinking of it. 

I have not thought about that until right now as a possible area 

of growth, a growing area of your business. But it could. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. It could be. There could be a lot of things. What 

we are focused on right now is to try to make sure that we have 

parameters for competitiveness, and the PRC has submitted some 

guidelines. We at the Board of Governors level are redoing our bylaws to be consistent with what the law states we need to do. So 

we have a lot of oversight in the competitive products area. So we 

want to make sure that these bylaws and the standards that the 

PRC submitted allow for a competitive environment to make us 

move forward. 

So as far as actual products, we brainstorm on some, but none 

that I am really comfortable talking about. 

Senator CARPER. How does it work within the Board of Governors? At the Board of Governors, I think, just in terms of brainstorming, given the kind of intellectual fire power you have on the 

Board, you have the ability to come up with some ideas there. I 

presume the folks who run the Postal Service are coming up with 

ideas. Do you hire consultants and others to help you figure out 

how to develop new business opportunities? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I think that remains to be seen, but it is certainly 

something that is on the table as we look to expand products and 

enhance our role, if you will. Jack Potter, the Postmaster General, 

and Pat Donahoe have put together a tremendous staff, and they 

are very innovative. They are aggressive. They have a wonderful 

marketing team and overseas division. We hope that there will be 

a lot of opportunities, and, frankly, we would like to come back and 

talk to you all maybe in the spring or summer and expound on 

some of the competitive opportunities that we are exploring. 

Senator CARPER. All right. I have stated in the past, those of us 

who put together the postal reform bill chose not to pursue the idea 

of privatization. We also chose to preserve postal employees’ collective bargaining rights, as you know. 

A number of my colleagues and I have been concerned about the 

trend in recent months in the Postal Service of contracting out 

work in what appears to be a greater degree than has happened 

in the past. I acknowledge that work has been contracted out for 

years by the Postal Service, but it just appears to be something 

that is being done more often than was the case a year or even 2 

years ago. And that contracting out of mail deliveries has received 

a fair amount of attention, and I am sure it has been brought to 

the Board’s attention. 

Personally, I believe that contracting out has its place, but that 

it should be the exception rather than the rule with respect to the 

Postal Service. 

Let me just ask what your views are on this subject. When is it 

appropriate and when is it not appropriate for the Postal Service 

to be contracting out work that is currently performed by bargaining unit employees? 

8 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thanks for that question. That is one that I think 

we all struggle with. I agree with you; I do not believe the Postal 

Service should be privatized, first of all. 

Second of all, contracting out does have its place, but it is a balancing act, and we have restraints and parameters based on our 

contracts that we have with our workforce. And Jack Potter and 

our management team, I think, are very judicious in trying to 

make the determination when it is OK to contract out and when 

we should not. And it is a balance of cost. Is it cost-saving? Can 

you still get the same efficient work? But there is no hard and fast 

rule on when it is OK to contract out and when it is not. 

I can tell you that our management team has just successfully 

negotiated three of our four contracts with our workforce. 

Senator CARPER. Which ones have you negotiated? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. All but the rurals. I always forget the one that 

we have not done. 

Senator CARPER. All right. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. But there is language that says—there is nothing 

in these contracts that prohibit contracting out, and that was something that both parties agreed on. It is not anything that we want 

to do wholesale. We believe that is an opportunity to save costs. We 

also believe there are a lot of efficiencies that can be identified in 

automation and other things that can help save money, too, and 

keep us in a more profitable or straight line on not losing money. 

Senator CARPER. With the significant increase in contracting out 

that has taken place within the last year or so, at least one of my 

colleagues, with support from a number of other Senate colleagues, 

introduced legislation that sought to preclude the contracting out 

in a number of instances. I think there is an interest in maybe adding it as an amendment to one of our appropriations bills that was 

moving through. We encouraged that not to happen. We felt that 

the authorizing committee should really have jurisdiction over that. 

And what we heard from some of the labor unions was that this 

is a matter that should be resolved at the bargaining table between 

management and labor, and others are actually supportive of the 

legislation. Your thoughts in that regard? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. My thought would be to not do anything legislatively at this juncture, and I would hate to see our hands really 

tied from the standpoint if we need to do contracting out, which the 

Postal Service has been doing since the 1700s, to prohibit it 

through legislation I am not sure is the right approach. I think the 

new law has yet to be determined how it is going to impact the 

Postal Service, and so I would like in a year or two maybe we come 

back, and I know we provide yearly reports to you all, and we are 

redoing our strategic transformation plan to coincide with the new 

law and some of its requirements. So I would not encourage any 

legislative action on contracting out at this time. I agree with letting us take care of it at the table, frankly. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. 

Senator Akaka, I have some more questions, but let me yield to 

you, if I may. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman, for this 

opportunity. 

9 

As I mentioned, I was glad that you have lots of experience with 

the rural areas. In my home State of Hawaii, over the years we 

have sometimes experienced problems with services in the most 

rural areas. For example, a few years ago, there was a shortage of 

post office boxes in a community that did not offer delivery to the 

home. And coming from a rural area yourself, do you think the 

Postal Service is doing everything it can to ensure universal quality mail service? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I do, and I think that the Postal Service is continually addressing how to provide universal service, and we are reviewing our standards right now—and they are out for comment— 

to try to figure out how we can provide universal service regardless 

of where a person lives in this country, which is the backbone of 

the creation of the Postal Service. 

So your staff had indicated they may have some thoughts, and 

we are going to work with the Postal Service on our service standards that are out for comment right now. So I appreciate very 

much mail being delivered in a timely fashion no matter if you are 

in New York City or Elliott County in Kentucky that in some instances in the winter we use a mule to deliver the mail. 

Senator AKAKA. Speaking of timely delivery, as you know, yesterday the Postal Service released their draft modern service standards regulations for comment. One issue of concern I have is the 

disparity between Alaska and Hawaii standards and the Mainland 

standards. For example, a periodical sent on the Mainland to another State would take 1 to 9 days; whereas, a periodical from Hawaii to the Mainland would take from 11 to 17 days, even though 

both periodicals cost the same to send. 

Can you give me your reaction to such disparities? Should the 

Postal Service do more to close this gap? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I cannot speak specifically on how to close the 

gap. I know Pat Donahoe, our Chief Operating Officer, is working 

closely with stakeholders to try to figure out how to close the gap 

on the disparity. I believe that we need to do as much as we can. 

We may not be able to get it to exactly the same time frame as the 

Mainland, but I think if we could shave off some of the days, that 

seems to be a pretty big gap. And I know that they are working 

diligently on it, but I cannot state specifically what will be done to 

do that. But I know they are conscious of it, and it is a problem. 

Senator AKAKA. Governor Williams, in your pre-hearing questions, you stated that as you see it, the Board of Governors should 

act much like a private sector board—— 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Right. 

Senator AKAKA [continuing]. Providing high-level oversight and 

guidance to management. In the brief time that you have spent already with the Board, can you give me any examples of what kind 

of oversight or what kind of guidance you or the Board as a whole 

has provided to management? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. We have pushed management pretty hard on trying to measure the standards and trying to put some system in 

place so that we can understand that if you make this more efficient, what is the dollar savings. And so we are really trying to put 

some more accountability into the standards that we develop. 

10 

Also, I am on the Management and Compensation Committee, 

and in 2008, we are going to have a huge number of retirees in 

management. And so we have pushed hard on that committee and 

have brought in a consultant to help us help them develop some 

succession planning that has parameters and is not based on 

maybe who you may be comfortable with or who you may know, 

but who has the talents and the experience and the capabilities to 

move into the pipeline to start filling some of the management gaps 

that will begin existing. 

We are reaching out to the colleges to try to bring some new college graduates in on a career path for the Postal Service, which is 

a wonderful career. I had no idea until I joined the Board. And so 

there are some of those kinds of things. I am on the Governance 

and Strategic Planning Committee, and we have spent a lot of time 

discussing the new legislation and really pushing on how we start 

thinking in a different way, how we start thinking more like a 

business in the competitive products standpoint. And those are the 

two committees I can specifically speak on the way that the Board 

has tried to give them some backing and point some things out that 

maybe they—because they are not bogged down, but because they 

are dealing with a lot of the day-to-day issues may not have time 

to step back and think about. 

Senator AKAKA. The postal reform bill that we passed last year 

shifted more responsibility to the Postal Regulatory Commission. 

Can you tell me what are some of the changes you have experienced from the Board’s perspective? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I like the changes very much. The Board of Governors are a part-time board, and the PRC is a full-time board. And 

so I think that in and of itself makes sense that there would be 

a shift to some more responsibility, if you will, to the PRC with 

more of a board of directors oversight capacity that the Board of 

Governors now has. A lot of us have functioned that way, but I 

think the legislation has clearly spelled it out and articulated just 

exactly how the two bodies work together. And on a lot of the draft 

regulations that the PRC is sending over, they are helping to provide a framework on how we as a Postal Service will go forward 

on competitive products, on the new rate case. As I said earlier, we 

like what they are doing. We like the direction and the driving 

force that Chairman Blair is showing. 

And so that has been a really good thing, and it has clarified and 

prevented—it has just allowed good cooperation, good communication, which we had before, but I am excited about the opportunities 

that it is going to afford the Postal Service. 

Senator AKAKA. Well, I am glad to hear that about the relationships. Do you think that the relationship between the Board and 

the Commission has been constructive? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Yes, I do. I think it has been very constructive. 

I think that both entities are working hard to provide the leadership on this new legislation and to do what is right for the Postal 

Service. The one thing for certain about the Postal Service right 

now is nothing is for certain. There is a lot of change. 

Senator AKAKA. Yes. Well, I am glad to have you before us. I 

want to wish you well. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you very much. 

11 

Senator AKAKA. And I want to thank the Chairman for his part 

in crafting the bill that was passed and for his leadership in bringing it to fruition to improve the service of the Postal Service. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you. 

Senator AKAKA. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you very much, Senator Akaka. I would 

be happy to extend your time another 10 minutes if you want to 

go on. 

Senator AKAKA. No, thank you. 

Senator CARPER. All right. Thank you. And thank you for being 

a big part of the legislation that Senator Collins and I and others 

worked on. 

Governor Williams, a number of us here in the Senate have been 

concerned for a while, really for a number of years, over the way 

that processing plant consolidations are handled. On the one hand, 

it appears that at times the Postal Service does not have what I 

would call a robust plan for right-sizing its facilities in our network 

and taking advantage of some of the technology in mail processing 

innovations that have made some plants, particularly older ones, 

obsolete. 

On the other hand, when a plant is being considered for closure 

or for consolidation, we always hear concerns from employees, as 

you might understand, that they were not consulted and they have 

no idea what is going on and how they are going to be affected. 

How do you think that these issues ought to be addressed? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, we do not make any of the decisions on closures or changes lightly, and we have encouraged on the Board all 

stakeholders’ views to be heard. The new law will also require that 

by 2008 we have a facilities plan, if you will, which will be, I am 

sure, presented to Congress in our report. But it is not a decision 

that we would ever make lightly, and I can tell you that we have 

something called ‘‘total factor productivity’’ and—— 

Senator CARPER. What does that mean? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. It means that we look at automation, we look at 

our staffing, and through attrition, we have 100,000 less employees 

at the Postal Service today. But our productivity from the standpoint of cost efficiencies and moving the mail out the door and service standards have improved. And so we are really trying to make 

decisions that are good for the Postal Service, good for the communities, and not do anything that has not been totally thought out 

and part of the overall plan, which I think management and the 

folks out in the field have done a good job putting together. 

Senator CARPER. All right. How many people serve on the Postal 

Board of Governors today? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Nine. We have a full Board. 

Senator CARPER. A full Board. Not all of us are born or raised 

with the same skills or gifts or talents, but when you look at the 

folks who serve on the Board and the range of the talents that are 

represented by the membership of the Board, what do you find are 

some of the most important gifts or skills or talents that one needs 

to serve in this brave new postal world? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. The Board is a really unique mixture of strengths, 

and we have a woman that has experience with a large corporation. 

We have a former Congressman and someone who has served on 

12 

a lot of task forces, the base closing task force being one of them, 

so he understands large challenges and the enactment of legislation. We have a small businessman. We have someone from a small 

rural State in myself. We have a former staffer who is pretty intimately knowledgeable about issues and the legislation. 

So I think that the diversity of the Board and all of our backgrounds are what make the give and take and the opportunities for 

discussion good. I know that in the legislation there was some encouragement of 50,000-person organizations, and I think it is good 

to have people like that on there. But I do not know that you would 

want a whole board made up of people who only come from the 

large corporate mentality—particularly in the small States and the 

small communities, you would look at a Postal Service and say, 

well, this one is not profitable, we need to close it. Well, sometimes 

you cannot put a price tag on the benefits to a small community, 

and I think that is where the balance in the membership of the 

Board is really important, and I believe that we have that in this 

Board. 

Senator CARPER. OK. When you think of the other eight members who serve on the Board of Governors and you think about 

their expertise, their abilities, and what they bring to the table— 

I am not going to ask you to go through and name for each person 

what they are, but could you think of for everybody some of their 

foremost talents or skills or expertise? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Absolutely. 

Senator CARPER. And when you think of yourself and what you 

bring to the table, the value-added that you bring, what are some 

of the things that you think are most valuable that you bring as 

a governor? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I think that my experience—I have managed 

large organizations, never any with a union component, but I have 

managed large organizations. I have been in State government. I 

have been in the Federal Government in many capacities. I think 

that coming from a rural State and living in a small town and 

being involved in the political process, frankly, gives me a unique 

perspective as we put all the different stakeholders together and 

try to come to some compromise and solutions on big issues. And 

there has to be give and take in all these solutions that we deal 

with, and I think one of my strengths is absolutely trying to draw 

the best out of a situation and the best out of each side to meld 

together, I think, the optimum solutions. 

Senator CARPER. I have served on boards, and you probably have 

served on other boards, I am sure, where we think, it would be 

great if we had a person who was good at this or maybe good at 

that, but there was not a vacancy and as a result you could not. 

When you look at the Board today, and you think it would be 

nice if we had somebody who is especially good at something else, 

what might that be? Or let me ask that question in another way. 

If you were advising a President, a future President, on what to 

look for in appointing or nominating a person to serve on the Board 

of Governors, what advice would you provide? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I think it would be important—I would not—all 

of us, obviously, if you asked that question on the Board of Governors, would come up with a different answer. 

13 

Senator CARPER. This is just for you. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. My specific answer would be—look at the makeup of the Board and then let’s figure out where the hole is. If we 

do not have anybody from the accounting field—which we do—or 

if we do not have anybody that is versed in business start-ups, I 

think it would be important to have somebody that has been involved with union negotiations and labor unions. We have a good 

management team that has been very helpful on that, and Jack 

Potter serves in that role—our Postmaster General. 

So I do not know that we have any gaps, frankly, right now, but 

there will come a time that, depending on who leaves, I think that 

it will be evident to you all as you go through the next confirmation 

process where the hole would be. 

Senator CARPER. All right. The main feature of our new rate system is the rate cap, as you know. In most cases, the cap will prevent the Postal Service from raising rates above the CPI. Having 

said that, our reform bill does include a provision that would allow 

rate increases above the cap under certain circumstances. There 

has been some debate over the years about what those circumstances might be. In fact, there was a fair amount of debate 

during the time that we were negotiating the legislation about 

that. 

When do you think it would be appropriate for the Postal Service 

to break the cap? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I think it would have to be a truly extraordinary 

circumstance. 

Senator CARPER. Well, can you give us some example? 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Well, God forbid, but a September 11, 2001, or a 

large national or international incident. I do not think that we 

want to use the ability to raise rates—or this caveat in the law as 

something if maybe we did not do as well last year as we thought 

we would, well, then, this is a special circumstance and we want 

to raise rates. It is my opinion that was not the intent of the legislation but the intent was for an anthrax or a September 11, 2001— 

a truly extraordinary situation that I hope we are never faced with, 

but at that point we would sit down and immediately begin work 

on what we needed to do. 

Senator CARPER. OK. Maybe a couple more questions and then 

we will call it a day. I have been an advocate for some time of the 

Postal Service using alternative retail options, such as vending machines or windows in places like grocery stores and pharmacies in 

order to reach its customers. This kind of retail can be used, at 

least in my view, to augment what is already offered or to serve 

as a cheaper alternative in some cases to a full-scale post office 

where that does not make good economic sense. 

Now, the reform bill that we passed included language that requires the Postal Service to come up with a plan for rolling out alternate retail options. And let me just ask what, in your view, 

should the Postal Service be doing in this regard. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I like the alternate retail options. I think with the 

decline of the First-Class mail service, anything that we can do to 

expand our reach and make the post office more user friendly to 

folks is a good thing. We are working on ways to roll that out right 

now, so I do not have specific instances for you, but I think there 

14 

are—like I said, probably by next summer you will see some things 

that we would be prepared to come talk to Congress about that I 

hope will be worthy of good things and expansion and good news 

for the Postal Service. 

Senator CARPER. OK. The last question I have is probably the 

most important question I will ask of all as we look at your nomination going forward, and it is a fairly straightforward question, 

but what does PRC stand for? [Laughter.] 

Ms. WILLIAMS. The Postal Regulatory Commission. 

Senator CARPER. Just the answer we were looking for. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I almost choked. Thank you, sir. [Laughter.] 

Senator CARPER. I think that is all the questions we have for you 

today. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you. 

Senator CARPER. Senator Coburn had indicated that he was 

going to try to come by, but unless he comes in the next few seconds, I am afraid he is going to miss this opportunity. 

So let me thank you for your willingness to serve and for your 

willingness to take a longer view at this opportunity for service and 

maybe give us a few more years. 

There may be some other questions from Members who were not 

able to join us today, and if those questions find their way to you, 

I would just ask that you respond promptly so that we can have 

a full record of the hearing. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. I will do so. Thank you. 

Senator CARPER. With that having been said, we thank you and 

your guests again for joining us today, and with that this hearing 

is concluded. 

Ms. WILLIAMS. Thank you, sir. 

Senator CARPER. Thank you. 

[Whereupon, at 4:32 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.] 

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