At least two members of the State Board of Veterans Affairs will oppose Gov. Kay Ivey’s crusade to remove Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs (ADVA) commissioner Kent Davis at a special-called meeting on Tuesday.
According to Wayne Reynolds, a State Board of Education member and Alabama State president of the Vietnam Veterans of America, two members of his group would support retaining Davis in his current role.
“We have a member on the board of Veterans Affairs who is actually the VVA member and we have another member who is one of our state vice presidents who is on the board. They’re going to both vote in support of Admiral Davis,” Reynolds told 1819 News on Monday morning.
The board has 15 members, including Ivey. Various veterans groups recommend all board members, who are then appointed by the Governor.
Ivey asked for Davis' resignation and removed John Kilpatrick from the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs on Thursday. In the resignation request, Ivey said the agency mishandled an ARPA grant program. Davis has declined to resign and said in a statement on Friday, "I respectfully disagree with the inaccurate claims made against the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs."
Davis filed an ethics complaint against Alabama Department of Mental Health (ADMH) commissioner Kim Boswell in August for allegedly preventing ADVA from obtaining $7 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The Alabama Ethics Commission later dismissed the complaint.
Ivey on Friday called a special meeting of the State Board of Veterans Affairs for Tuesday afternoon to consider Davis' removal as commissioner. Davis, who retired from the Navy with the rank of Rear Admiral, has served as ADVA commissioner since 2019.
“We believe that Admiral Davis acted in good faith at the direction of the Board of Veterans Affairs to try to protect money from ARPA directed towards veterans mental health,” Reynolds said. “His interest was protecting mental health funds because of the special allocation for Alabama. Alabama has a significant problem with veterans' mental health and veteran suicide. We Vietnam Veterans have long advocated better treatment for PTSD and other military-associated mental health issues.”
Reynolds said board members Ken Rollins and Mike Davis had told him they were voting against Ivey’s recommendation to remove ADVA commissioner Davis.
“I know my two members that I mentioned who are the two most active Vietnam veterans were called and I know Ken Rollins was asked directly if he would support the Governor and he said to that (Ivey) representative, ‘No.” That’s what I know he said. Mike Davis has told me that he has looked at all the materials and he’ll vote to retain Admiral Davis,” Reynolds said.
Rollins told 1819 News on Monday afternoon, "Our commissioner fights for the veterans' money. He fights for every nickel. He’s not going to roll over to no department, the finance department or otherwise. If it comes down to the veterans, he’s the man for the veterans."
"Not one penny was lost in this. Not one penny. When you’re the commissioner of the Veterans Affairs like Kent Davis is, he serves at the pleasure of the board. Now the board we’ve met, met and met regarding this particular situation and we have instructed him what to do. He’s following orders. We’ve instructed him that we’re against that…taking veterans money. The Mental Health Department shouldn’t even be involved in it. This is for veterans, but with that said, we support our commissioner because he was only doing what he was told," he added.
Rollins said an Ivey staffer called him asking him how he plans to vote on Tuesday.
"That’s an ethics violation right there. You don’t discuss votes and things outside of a regular meeting. When you call someone and start polling people: ‘Are you going to vote for the governor or not?’ That violates the ethics (act) right there. I intend to bring that up if I get a chance to. I don’t know how many of the board members got calls like that but I sure got one polling me to see how I was going to vote. If I can (bring it up), I will. If I can’t, I may just call the ethics department. I don’t even know the young man’s name, but he was the one calling all the board members. To ask me how I was voting, violates the ethics law. Polling without it being before your fellow board members is wrong. It’s illegal," Rollins said.
State Sen. Greg Albritton (R-Atmore), State Rep. Rex Reynolds (R-Huntsville), State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre) and State Rep. Ed Oliver (R-Dadeville) announced in a statement on Monday they were fully supporting Ivey’s call for Davis to resign.
“As members of the Alabama Legislature, we have proudly passed legislation and allocated resources to advance our state’s support for its veteran men and women. However, we share a lack of confidence in the current Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner’s ability to adequately lead the agency and work collaboratively with other areas of state government. We fully agree with Governor Ivey and join her in calling on Commissioner Kent Davis to do the right thing for the Department and step down from his position. In recent years, we have had growing concerns and frustration, the most recent example being the agency’s mishandling of its proposed ARPA grant program. This would have been a significant problem had it not been caught by the Finance Department. Fortunately, we were able to quickly resolve the issue by working with the governor to authorize $7 million to veterans groups. Taking care of our veterans in Alabama is too important to let anything stand in the way of that mission. We look forward to a new and even stronger chapter at the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs,” the lawmakers said in a statement.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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