OKLAHOMA CITY — The Oklahoma Veterans Commission fired the embattled head of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs on Friday amid a dispute that has had the two parties at odds for months.
The commission, made up entirely of Gov. Kevin Stitt’s appointees, fired Executive Director Joel Kintsel in a 5-1 vote that could raise legal questions because the legitimacy of some commissioners is in question.
Kintsel, who declined to comment, was not present at the meeting. He has intentionally skipped several recent meetings because he alleges that the commission is meeting illegally because some of the governor’s appointments to the board are not valid.
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Commission Chairman Robert Allen said Kintsel shut the commission out of the agency in every way possible. The commission met at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation building on Friday because Kintsel wouldn’t allow the board into the Department of Veterans Affairs building.
Allen blamed Kintsel for increased costs to complete a new veterans home in Sallisaw, cybersecurity issues at the agency and a growing number of employee complaints. Kintsel has shunned agency oversight, forcing the commission into an “impossible situation,” Allen said.
“He has publicly exhibited absolute insubordination,” Allen said. “In his unhinged efforts to prove that everyone is out to get him, Mr. Kintsel has forced us to do what any reasonable commission should do, and that is to consider terminating his employment, thus perpetuating this false narrative that this was always a foregone conclusion.”
Kintsel, who has served as the agency’s director since 2019, previously warned that any votes taken by the commission could create potential liability for the state and taxpayers.
Attorney General Gentner Drummond last month said Stitt did not follow state law in appointing several of the commissioners.
The governor has since shifted one of those commissioners on the board, leaving the status of two commissioners in doubt.
One of those commissioners was absent Friday. The other sided with the majority of the commission in voting to terminate Kintsel’s employment, although Stitt said he told the two commissioners in doubt to abstain from any votes.
Kintsel has alleged that Stitt intentionally replaced members of the Veterans Commission in an effort to fire him for challenging the governor in last year’s Republican gubernatorial primary. But some of the commissioners have said Kintsel’s oversight of the agency was lacking.
In a 5-0 vote with one abstention, the commission voted to hire former U.S. Navy Under Secretary Greg Slavonic as interim director of the Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs.
Heather McEver was the lone commissioner to oppose firing Kintsel. The vote occurred after a 40-minute executive session that was closed to the public. The commission also fired Deputy Director Sarah Lane.
Commissioners also asked for a comprehensive review of the Sallisaw veterans home project. The commission approved the creation of several committees to review the Department of Veterans Affairs’ finances, survey the workplace environment, and follow up on the recommendations of a 2018 report from the state auditor and inspector.
“You’ve got a rogue agency director that is not showing up,” the governor said, adding he would fire Kintsel if he could.
Stitt previously said he would have fired Kintsel by now if he had the authority to do so. But the governor said he did not direct his appointees to fire Kintsel.
Senate President Pro Tem Greg Treat, R-Oklahoma City, previously called on Kintsel to resign, saying his dispute with the commission had become a hindrance to serving Oklahoma’s veterans.
The dispute between Kintsel and the commission stalled some business at the state agency.
House Speaker Charles McCall, R-Atoka, on Thursday did not weigh in on whether Kintsel should remain employed at the Department of Veterans Affairs.
“The most important thing is that the ODVA be a functional agency,” McCall said.
