Whitmire: The Long Silly Saga of Nuclear War by Kay Ivey

This is an opinion column.

On Tuesday, Gov. Kay Ivey fired the man.

Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis did not resign to spend more time with his family. He was not transferred to work in the pantry, where he received a salary until he found something else.

After handing the letter to a room full of supporters, Davis was fired — even though it was unclear whether Ivey even had the authority to do so.

It’s the latest development in a long, messy fight between government agencies that has so far resulted in:

(1) One agency director, Davis, accuses a cabinet member of ethics crimes, and the same cabinet member is cleared of those crimes,

(2) Davis agreed to resign and then followed through on that promise,

(3) The Veterans Affairs Board defies Ivey by insisting that Davis stay,

(4) And, finally, a minor constitutional crisis.

Yes, that’s a lot.

But it’s an important story to understand because there’s a lot at stake, including how much power the governor of Alabama has.

And is Ivy fit for it.

Food fight near the pig trough

Like other great wars, this one began with a petty dispute.

Earlier this year, the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs supported a bill to distribute $7 million in federal stimulus funds to several nonprofit organizations across the state.

The Alabama Department of Mental Health, which was supposed to help distribute the money, panicked. Officials questioned the authority of some non-profit organizations

That ignited a war between the Veterans Affairs and mental health services that escalated until Davis, the veterans commissioner, filed a complaint accusing Kim Boswell, the commissioner of mental health, her department staff and some lobbyists of ethical misconduct. crimes

I read the complaint in veterans affairs. While I’m generally in favor of such accountability, the complaint is vague, alleges “conspiracy” and reads like a product of the “My Pillow” school of law, where the complaint and offense are prima facie evidence of wrongdoing.

In addition, some of the alleged facts in the complaint — such as the appearance of one aggrieved party at a public meeting — were not actually facts. This was not and was the video of the meeting was denied.

The Alabama Commission on Ethics saw things the same way and took the unusual step of publicly dismissing the complaint and acquitting the accused.

After being cleared by the mental health commissioner, Ivey demanded Davis’ resignation.

And here everything becomes difficult.

Ivy could say, “Mr. Davis filed a false ethics complaint accusing one of my cabinet members of crimes she didn’t commit, and I want his head for it.”

However, she did not do this.

Instead, she unleashed a litany of ludicrous accusations, accusing Davis of mismanaging his department.

But none of that has happened recently, which begs the question: why fire him now? It seems more likely that she really wanted him gone for filing an ethics complaint. She just doesn’t want to say it.

And here everything becomes even more complicated.

Ivey did not appoint Davis. The VA Board does this. She should know this because she is also a member of this council. The council can fire him if there are votes.

And Ivy never had the votes.

In a game of political chicken, Ivey called a board meeting in September to fire Davis. Hours before that meeting began, Davis agreed to step down at the end of the year, and Ivey agreed to leave it at that.

It might have been a peaceful end to a stupid fight, but it wasn’t over.

The Virginia board still looked into Ivey’s allegations against Davis and found them to be lacking. Ivey then called another meeting to fire Davis — one she didn’t attend, even though it was down the hall from her office in the capital — but the board voted 3-2 to keep Davis.

Minutes after that meeting, the governor’s legal staff delivered a letter to Davis saying the governor had reversed the board’s decision and fired him anyway.

“Higher Executive Power”

How did Ivy fire him when it’s the board’s job?

Turning to the so-called “supreme executive power”.

Like many other state constitutions, Alabama’s constitution grants “supreme executive power” to the governor, and does little to define what “supreme executive power” means.

Most governors seemed to leave it alone until about 20 years ago when then-Alabama Attorney General Troy King decided he was no longer going to prosecute gambling in Alabama. Then-governor Bob Riley appointed a gambling task force to do the job, which King refused, and the whole affair led to confusion in the Alabama Supreme Court.

The court ruled that the Alabama Constitution gives the governor “supreme executive authority” to take responsibility when other state officials fail to do their jobs.

In her letter to Davis, Ivey said the board failed by not firing him.

And now she’s using this nuclear option to get rid of him.

But the problem with nuclear options is how often they end in mutually assured destruction.

Is anyone home?

Three weeks ago, Kay Ivey spoke to the Kiwanis Club in Birmingham, and soon after that I started getting calls from events like that.

She was not answering questions, they said. She only spoke for a few minutes. She looked very tired, and when she finished, the staff quickly ushered her out of the room.

And they posed the question that has dogged Ivey for much of her administration: Is anyone home?

John Saxon was also at the meeting.

“She should have at least answered a few questions,” he told me this week.

Saxon is an employment lawyer and now Davis’ attorney.

He is threatening to sue the governor under Alabama’s ethics law for retaliation.

“If we do file a lawsuit, I’m looking forward to taking the governor’s deposition and seeing how she reacts when it’s under oath and not signed,” Saxon said Tuesday, minutes after the office the governor delivered a letter to Davis.

When I spoke with Saxon later that day, he again said that he was looking forward to hearing Ivey’s testimony and that he would invite as many people as he could fit in the room to watch it.

There are legal hurdles that the governor’s staff is likely to get in the way.

But I have known Saxon for many years. I saw him work in court. I read the other testimony he took. And I’ll say this with confidence: If Saxon does unseat Ivey, it will make Joe Biden’s debate performance look like Ken Jennings’ Jeopardy winning streak.

“Higher executive power” may sound like the highest power, but it is far from it. This is the last desperate measure. It’s the button behind the glass that you press when nothing else works.

And that’s what happened here – nothing else worked.

Nothing else worked because Ivey’s staff didn’t count the votes before she demanded Davis’ resignation.

Nothing else worked because they couldn’t convince the board that Davis should be fired.

Nothing else worked, as Ivy now accuses the community board of failing to do its job when it was Ivy who failed to show up for the meeting.

Nothing else worked, so they pressed the button, not knowing what might happen next.

Even mutually assured destruction.