Gov. Ivey removes state VA commissioner from his position
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Interim commissioner for state VA named
Special to the News
After the State Board of Veterans Affairs failed to remove Kent Davis as commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs during a special meeting Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey used the “supreme executive power of this state” to immediately remove him from his position.
Initially, last Friday, October 18, Ivey called a special meeting of the State Board of Veterans Affairs for Tuesday, October 22, to consider the immediate removal of Davis as commissioner. In addition to notifying the Board members, she sent a letter, along with enclosures, to Admiral Davis.
In her letter from October 18, Ivey explained that Alabama law currently provides that the commissioner of Veterans Affairs is “subject to removal by the board for cause.” She added that she would be asking the Board to remove him for seven causes.
Those stated reasons included general lack of cooperation, mishandling of the ARPA grant program, filing of a frivolous ethics complaint, breach of agreement, manipulation of the Board, failure to comply, and general loss of trust and confidence.
Ivey detailed each of the causes given in the letter, as well. She stated that Davis and his agency failed or appeared to have failed to cooperate with other state executive-branch agencies, state legislators, members of the state’s congressional delegation, and the governor’s office.
Ivey stated that this general lack of cooperation violated his duty under Section 31-5-7(b)(8) to “cooperate” with other government entities to secure additional services or benefits for Alabama veterans and their families, as well as his duty under Section 31-5-7(b)(2) to “cooperate with all other heads of the state departments” in furnishing services to veterans and their families.
Ivey also said in the letter that Davis and his agency mishandled the administration of a federal ARPA grant program by failing to properly consult with other state agencies and by submitting, on a delayed basis, proposed grants that contained problems as set forth in her letter to him dated September 6.
“As previously explained, these actions jeopardized the state’s ability to fulfill its ARPA obligations and further confirmed your failure to cooperate with other state executive-branch agencies,” Ivey’s letter stated.
Ivey’s letter further stated that Davis filed an ethics complaint against a fellow department head and other state officials, which the executive director of the Ethics Commission dismissed as “failing to satisfy the requirements for [his] consideration.” She stated that Davis also disseminated the frivolous ethics complaint to multiple people, resulting in widespread reporting of its content.
“These actions constitute a weaponization of the ethics complaint process and a willful disregard for the professional conduct expected from someone in your position,” Ivey wrote in the letter.
Ivey also stated that she and Davis reached an agreement on or about September 10, under which he was allowed to resign effective at the end of this year in exchange, at least in part, for his commitment to publicly and privately explain that all then-outstanding issues concerning the ARPA grant program had been resolved to the mutual benefit of all parties.
Ivey’s letter explained that Davis broke that promise as evidenced (at a minimum) by his failure to say as much during an October 9 meeting of the State Board of Veterans Affairs’ subcommittee on Veterans Benefits and Services and that he further broke this promise by his failure to clearly put these matters behind them during the October 10 regular meeting of the Board.
“These breaches of our agreement led to needless conflict between the State Board of Veterans Affairs and my office and further eroded trust,” Ivey’s letter read.
Regarding Davis’ manipulation of the Board, Ivey stated that on October 17, the vice chair of the State Board of Veterans Affairs publicly stated that Davis “orchestrated the outcome of [certain SBVA votes clearing Davis’ name] by placing extreme pressure on some [Board members] to do and say things
that went against [their] beliefs and the very principles on which [the SBVA] should stand.”
For the “failure to comply” cause, Ivey’s letter stated that immediately following the October 10 meeting of the SBVA she wrote Davis a letter in which she directed him to “immediately reaffirm, in writing” his commitment to resign effective December 31, as he had previously committed to doing. However, she said as of that date, October 18, he had failed to comply with her instruction.
Regarding general loss of trust and confidence, Ivey wrote in her letter to Davis, “You have lost the general trust and confidence of the Board vice chair and numerous leaders in the Legislature. In addition, you have lost my trust and confidence.”
She concluded the letter, “As I’ve said before, I regret that your service must come to an end in this manner. But I still believe that the best is yet to come for Alabama veterans.”
During Tuesday’s special-called meeting of the Board, members failed to remove Davis from office. As such, Ivey invoked the “supreme executive power of this state” to remove Davis from his position herself.
Ivey issued the following statement following the meeting and her action on Tuesday afternoon, “For weeks now, I have laid out the case publicly for why new leadership at the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs is necessary, and it is unfortunate it came to forcefully removing this agency head. After what I would now deem as a total failure of leadership at the Department and lack of cooperation, I had to use the mantle of the Governor’s Office to make the change. While there is more work to do, I am confident that together as one team, our state government can make Alabama an even better place for veterans to call home.”
Ivey sent a letter to Davis Tuesday following the meeting in which she stated that the Alabama Constitution confers on the governor the “supreme executive power of this state” and that according to the state Supreme Court this means, at a minimum, that a governor may take action to enforce the laws whenever he or she determines that such action is necessary because of “inaction or inadequate action” by a subordinate within the executive branch of government.
Writing to Davis, Ivey stated, “Today, the State Board of Veterans Affairs failed to remove you immediately despite the ample legal causes I have publicly and repeatedly identified as justifying your removal. I therefore determine that your immediate removal is necessary to ensure that, going forward, the laws governing the Department of Veterans Affairs will be properly executed and enforced.”
Ivey’s letter further stated that Davis was hereby removed as commissioner for the Department of Veterans Affairs and that pursuant to the Board’s vote at its October 10 meeting, Jeffrey L. Newton is now interim commissioner of Veterans Affairs.