Postmaster’s Farewell Parties Cost $82,508

When Postmaster General Marvin T. Runyon left in May, the U.S. Postal Service threw two farewell parties in his honor. The first, an invitation-only fete at Union Station, featured a band, cocktails and dinner with two entrees and wine. The second was an intimate reception for lawmakers on Capitol Hill.

Their cost: $82,508.09.

“Clearly, Marvin Runyon made significant changes in the six years that he was postmaster general and the [postal] board wanted to recognize the contributions that he made,” spokesman Frank Brennan said.

Runyon was given high praise at the dinner for putting the agency on the path to profitability and keeping stamp prices stable. The agency this week agreed to postpone a 1-cent increase for a first-class letter, citing congressional concerns over its four years of $1 billion-plus profits.

Officials initially declined to provide cost figures for the May 4 Runyon dinner. Thursday, several weeks after a Freedom of Information request was filed with the agency, Brennan provided an estimate of the cost of the parties.

Brennan said the parties were similar to functions that the agency sponsored in 1992 for the departure of former postmaster general Anthony M. Frank. But he conceded that the cost of the Union Station event was high and blamed it on the train station’s management.

The dinner for the head of the Postal Service, an independent federal agency, contrasted sharply to retirement parties given two members of President Clinton’s Cabinet.

Last week, when Federico Pena left, employees from the departments of Energy and Transportation, both of which he had headed, threw a farewell party at the Organization of American States. Cost: $4,183, all paid by government employees.

When Jesse Brown left the Department of Veterans Affairs last summer, the VA gave him a party on Vermont Avenue outside his office. Veterans organizations picked up the tab for the cookies and punch and the VA’s senior political staff bought his Cabinet chair from the White House as a going-away gift.