San Diego to Be Site of Inquiry on Post Office : Congress: Hearings have been scheduled for next month to focus on the stress question, as well as the leadership of San Diego’s postmaster.

Calling San Diego County “the hot spot in the country” for postal problems, Rep. Jim Bates (D-San Diego) said Wednesday that a congressional inquiry will be convened in San Diego early next month, and that particular attention will be paid to the leadership of local Postmaster Margaret Sellers.

Bates sent a letter last summer to the General Accounting Office calling for an investigation of the management practices of the U.S. Postal Service. His letter followed the Aug. 10 shooting rampage of John Merlin Taylor, an Escondido postal worker who killed his wife and two co-workers, then himself.

Before that, the July 28 suicide of letter carrier William Camp had been the fourth among county postal workers this year alone.

Bates said the hearing, scheduled for Dec. 11 in the Federal Building downtown, will be chaired by Rep. Frank McCloskey (D-Ind.), chairman of the House subcommittee on postal operations and services. Also in attendance will be Rep. Charles A. Hayes (D-Ill.), chairman of the House subcommittee on postal personnel and modernization. Bates said he and Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-San Diego) have been called to testify, and Postmaster Gen. Anthony Frank may attend the hearings.

“McCloskey wants to focus on the stress question,” Bates said. “He wants to find out why there’s so much stress between postal supervisors and employees, particularly in San Diego. Budget crunches and quotas have been followed by a high number of disciplinary actions, especially here. But were they appropriate, and could any have been handled differently? We’re not saying that anyone has the answers, but the truth is there’s a troubling problem with the Postal Service all across the country, particularly in San Diego.”

Ken Boyd, a spokesman for Sellers, said in a terse statement:

“We always cooperate with the government and look forward to cooperating here. And that’s about it.”

Bates said he hopes the hearings will examine the slayings and suicides “in the context of extreme stress. We don’t want to sensationalize or dramatize unfortunate incidents, but we do want to use them to point to and highlight the incredible stress that postal workers face. What used to be a cushy, soft, public-employment position is suddenly a real pressure cooker of a job.”

Bates said he is concerned about the “inadequate” number of post offices in the county considering its “phenomenal growth.” He cited in particular an Encanto post office that he said handles “a staggering volume” of mail and the rapidly expanding Otay Mesa area, which has no post office, merely a contract station that Bates said “processes an enormous parcel of mail.”

Asked, if Sellers’ job is in danger, Bates said: “I don’t think so. . . . She runs a tight ship, no question, but as to whether her job’s on the line, I don’t think I’d be in a spot to make that call, even if it was.

“I think there are some really serious problems, though, that have to be looked at. San Diego is the hot spot in the country right now for postal problems. . . . That’s why these guys are coming.”