Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday that she was using the “supreme executive power of this state” to fire the head of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs after the agency board rejected her request to do so.
Ivey sent a letter to Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner W. Kent Davis saying she was using her authority to immediately remove him from the position. Ivey’s office hand-delivered the letter to Davis’ lawyer soon after the State Board of Veterans Affairs, in a 3-2 vote, rejected Ivey’s request to remove Davis. Davis had already agreed to vacate the post at the end of the year.
The governor had accused Davis of failing to cooperate with her office and other agency heads and of mishandling an American Rescue Plan grant program. Davis’ supporters said no funds were mishandled. His attorney said the governor is retaliating after Davis filed an ethics complaint against the state mental health commissioner during the grant dispute. The complaint was later dismissed.
Ivey wrote in the letter that the Alabama Constitution gives the governor the power to take action to enforce laws whenever needed because of inaction or inadequate action by a subordinate within the executive branch of government.
“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,” Ivey said in a statement.
John Saxon, an attorney representing Davis, questioned if Ivey has the authority to remove the commissioner and said they will look at that as they consider their next steps.
“Second, we will look seriously at whether we file a lawsuit under the anti-retaliation provision of the state ethics act. If we do, then I look forward with relish to taking the governor’s deposition and seeing how she does under oath when she’s unscripted,” Saxon said.
Saxon said the governor was upset over the ethics complaint and that the board did not agree to dismiss Davis. “When the governor gets mad, she gets even,” Saxon said.
Ivey in an Oct. 18 letter to Davis said the ethics complaint was frivolous and a weaponization of the dispute process.
The dispute between Davis and Ivey began earlier this year. It appeared to be settled when Davis agreed to resign at the end of 2024. However, the dispute resurfaced when Ivey accused Davis of trying to manipulate board members. The governor called a special board meeting to vote on his immediate removal.
The board narrowly rejected Ivey’s request to remove Davis after a 90-minute discussion. Two members abstained from the 3-2 vote.
Davis, who at the time appeared to have beaten back the governor’s effort to remove him, said that he was thankful to have the opportunity to answer questions.
“It hurt deeply to be accused of things,” Davis told reporters. “So, I’m very grateful today we got to clear the air about some things.”
