Campaign finance records show suspicious donation patterns from former employees at New Breed Logistics. Several former employees at the High Point-based company described an illegal donation scheme — workers’ political donations to specific candidates would be compensated with bonuses from Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, the chief executive of New Breed at the time.
While it is legal for superiors to encourage employees to make donations, it is a felony to reimburse or financially-incentivize campaign contributions. DeJoy denies that he broke campaign finance law, however he routinely pressured employees to contribute to Republican candidates. He and his employees donated over $200,000 towards Sen. Thom Tillis’ successful campaign to unseat Sen. Kay Hagan in 2014. In 2012, Gov. Pat McCrory received $96,500 from DeJoy and New Breed employees. McCrory won the race for governor that year, and DeJoy's wife, Aldona Wos, was appointed as his state secretary of Health and Human Services. Host Frank Stasio talks with WUNC’s Rusty Jacobs and Jason deBruynabout their deep dive into the numbers and the legality of New Breed’s politically-active workplace. Jacobs is a politics reporter and deBruyn is a data reporter for North Carolina Public Radio.