Kay Ivey demands that Veterans Service Commissioner Kent Davis resign

On Thursday, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) has removed a member from the Alabama State Board of Veterans Affairs and is demanding the resignation of Commissioner of the state Department of Veterans Affairs W. Kent Davis.

Ivey's removal of John Kilpatrick from the board was effective immediately.

Ivey has demanded that Davis resign by the end of the day on Thursday.

The Governor claimed in her letter that there was, "Ample cause exists for your removal as Commissioner. For example, your agency mishandled an ARPA grant program by, among other things, proposing - on a substantially delayed basis - uses of grant funds that would be ineligible under U.S. Treasury rules and regulations and/or state law or policy. This put in jeopardy the State of Alabama's ability to fulfill its obligations under ARPA and your agency's ability to most effectively serve veterans. It thus calls into question your ability to secure 'additional services' for Alabama veterans and to 'cooperate with all other heads of thestate departments' as are your duties under state law."

"Of, course bases for your removal may also exist," the Governor wrote. "I specifically reserve the right to argue that you failed to consult with the Office of the Governor as required by Executive Order No. 726."

"I regret that your service must come to an end in this manner but I believe that a change in leadership is necessary to make progress in serving Alabama veterans," Ivey concluded.

Retired Rear Admiral W. Kent Davis has served as the seventh Commissioner of the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs since February 19, 2019.

The Commissioner is tasked with managing the agency's operations, coordinating mission execution, and overseeing the work of approximately 1,200 state and contractor employees in 70 facilities throughout Alabama. He also manages an annual agency budget of over $190 million as well as state benefits and services for approximately 400,000 Alabama Veterans and their families.

Davis is the son of a combat-wounded World War II U.S. Army Veteran. Davis was born in Montgomery and also grew up in Atlanta and New Orleans. He was a National Merit Scholar, graduated from LSU on an academic scholarship with a degree in business administration. He enlisted in the Navy Reserve while attending college. Upon graduation from LSU, he was commissioned as an active duty Navy officer, and was assigned to the battleship USS Missouri (BB-63). He was deployed to the Persian Gulf during the Iran-Iraq War (for Operation Earnest Will). He served as both an Assistant Supply Officer and a Gun Director Officer for the 5- and 16-inch guns aboard the battleship. He was later stationed at Naval Air Station Atlanta and aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) in Alameda, California. Aboard the carries he deployed to the Persian Gulf for Operation Southern Watch in the wake of Operation Desert Storm and to Somalia in the wake of the Black Hawk Down incident in 1993.

Commissioner Davis left the active duty Navy in 1994 to attend law school on the GI Bill.

He attended Georgia State University Law School in Atlanta where he served as Editor-in Chief of the school's law review. He also studied one semester abroad at Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, where he received a certificate in Dispute Resolution in 1996. He stayed in the Navy Reserve throughout law school.

Once receiving his law degree, went back on active military duty with the U.S. Army Judge Advocate General's Corps, where he served as a trial counsel and ethics attorney at Fort McPherson, Georgia, in the rank of Major. After two years with the Army, he left active duty again, rejoined the Navy Reserve, and worked for two years full-time at the large law firm of King & Spalding in Atlanta. While serving in the Navy Reserve, he was assigned to such commands as U.S. Central Command, U.S. Joint Forces Command, the U.S. Sixth Fleet, and the Navy Office of Information at the Pentagon.

After the 9/11 attacks, Commissioner Davis joined the new U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in his civilian career and stayed with that department for 14 years, first assigned to the office of Secretary Tom Ridge in D.C. as one of his staff attorneys. From there, he practiced and taught law at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) in Brunswick, Georgia. In 2006, he was transferred to the Center for Domestic Preparedness (CDP) in Anniston, Alabama and served as Senior Legal Counsel and then Deputy Superintendent at that large Homeland Security training facility. While working in Anniston, he was recalled to active duty twice by the Navy, for ground deployments in conjunction with Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2006 and then to Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan in 2012. In 2013, he was promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral (Lower Half) and completed numerous periods of active duty at the Pentagon in his role as Vice Chief of Information for the Navy.

In 2016, Commissioner Davis retired from the military after almost 31 years in uniform and also became the Director of Economic Development and then City Manager of Anniston for almost two years. In late 2017, he was hired as the (civilian) Director of Communication and Outreach at Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base and moved back to his hometown of Montgomery.