Bernstock Gone But Not, Um, Quite Gone

More than two weeks after Robert F. Bernstock left the U.S. Postal Service under a cloud of scandal, a USPS Web site still lists him as a key executive.

Just as the controversy was heating up over Bernstock's awards of sole-source contracts to former business associates, Postmaster General Jack Potter announced last month that Bernstock would be quitting on June 4.

Federal Times' investigations early this year revealed four different occasions where Bernstock awarded a total of $5.8 million in questionable contracts. The USPS Office of Inspector General took up the case shortly before Bernstock's resignation for the euphemistic "to pursue other opportunities in the private sector." (Today's management tip: If you don't want everyone to know that you made someone walk the plank, don't use the "pursue other opportunities" in the resignation announcement.)

Before Bernstock was even out the door, Susan M. Plonkey was named to succeed him. But it's still Bernstock, not Plonkey, who appears on the list of the USPS's 10-person executive committee on a USPS Web page.

One of the controversial sole-source contracts was for "Web site modernization". Perhaps Bernstock's cronies decided that Web site modernization did not include keeping information up to date.

Please see That Was Quick! for an update on this article.