The State Board of Veterans Affairs on Tuesday voted down a request from Gov. Kay Ivey to remove Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis after a 90-minute discussion.
But after the meeting, Ivey’s general counsel presented Davis’ lawyer with a letter saying that she was removing Davis by executive order.
John Saxon, Davis’ lawyer, said they would explore their legal options on how to respond.
The surprising twist came after a special meeting Ivey called to ask for the removal of Davis. The governor said Davis, a retired Navy rear admiral who has led the agency since 2019, broke terms of an agreement he made in September to resign effective Dec. 31.
Davis said he did not violate the agreement and that he intended to resign at the end of the year, as agreed.
It appeared that was what would happen after the vote rejecting the governor’s call for immediate removal. Davis accepted congratulations from veterans who came to the meeting to support him and gave media interviews expressing his thanks for the chance to remain until the year.
Saxon, his lawyer, later returned to the room in the Capitol where the meeting took place and showed the letter, which he said he was handed as he and Davis’ family left the room.
Ivey, who is chair of the board did not attend Tuesday‘s meeting at the Capitol. Casey Rogers, her external affairs director, served as the governor’s proxy at the meeting.
“We are very disappointed in this action,” Saxon said. “The governor called this meeting. She didn’t even have the decency to show up herself to preside at it. The votes didn’t go her way, and it made her mad.
“We will assess all of our legal options, including filing a lawsuit for retaliation under the Alabama ethics act, because I think that’s at the heart of what was going on here. And then I look forward, with great relish, opposing the governor and seeing how she does when she is under oath and unscreened.”
Ivey issued a statement saying the circumstances justified her decision.
The governor issued the following comment:
“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,” Ivey said. “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.”
The meeting was the latest chapter in a dispute that surfaced in early September when Ivey asked for Davis’ resignation effective Sept. 30. Davis initially refused, then reached the end-of-the-year agreement after meeting with the governor’s staff.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
