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Following Gov. Kay Ivey’s ouster of Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis, Brigadier General Jeffrey Newton has been appointed as the department’s new interim commissioner. Newton previously served as ADVA’s assistant commissioner for operations and chief of staff.
Newton, a graduate of both Samford University and Auburn University, has led a 41-year career in the military with the United States Air Force and the Alabama Air National Guard. Newton served overseas in Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Noble Eagle.
Over the course of his career, Newton has been awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Air Force and Army Commendation Medals, and the Alabama Distinguished Service Medal.
Newton left his position as director of the joint staff of the Alabama National Guard in February 2021 to join the ADVA.
“[ADVA] provides the highest quality of care and services to those who have served our country, and we will continue to build on that mission and vision,” Newton said in a statement following his appointment. “We will recommit ourselves to the idea of teamwork throughout state government in an effort to keep the legacies of Alabama’s Veterans at the forefronts of our minds. I look forward to continue working with Governor Kay Ivey to, as she said, make Alabama an even better place for Veterans to call home.”
Gov. Ivey used her executive authority on Tuesday to forcibly remove the department’s former commissioner Kent Davis after the Alabama Board of Veterans Affairs failed to do so in a special meeting called by Ivey.
The governor’s feud with Davis seemed to originate earlier this year, when Davis filed an ethics complaint against Alabama Department of Mental Health Commissioner Kim Boswell, a member of Ivey’s cabinet.
At Tuesday’s board meeting, Davis argued that he had simply been following through with his duty to pass on potential ethics violations after three of his board members raised concerns about the ADMH colluding with state officials to obstruct the ADVA from getting $7 million in funding from the American Rescue Plan Act. Meanwhile, Ivey alleged that Davis had mishandled departmental affairs.
According to an ADVA press release, the board had selected Brigadier General Newton as a candidate for interim commissioner amidst the battle between Ivey and Davis during an Oct. 10 board meeting.
