BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Months after Gov. Kay Ivey asked him to resign from the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs, Kent Davis is now suing over the row.
Davis, who led the AVA from 2019 until he resigned last September, filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday, arguing that Ivey had no right to remove him from office.
The dispute happened last fall, after Ivey asked Davis to resign over what she alleged was mishandling funds from the American Rescue Plan Act program. Davis eventually agreed to resign, but ended up rescinding it, causing Ivey to dismiss him outright.
“Ivey was not legally afforded the discretion to fire Davis and was in fact prohibited by law from firing him,” the lawsuit stated.
Leading up to the dispute with Ivey, Davis had previously filed an ethics complaint against Alabama Department of Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell, a member of Ivey’s cabinet, claiming she and others worked to keep his department from getting $7 million in ARPA funds, as well as destroy a bill to create a statewide mental health system for veterans, the Alabama Daily News reports.
In a statement to CBS 42, Ivey spokesperson Gina Maiola said she was “extremely confident that Governor Ivey’s necessary actions will stand any court test there may be.”
The case is ongoing.
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