Recent developments have been made in the past week in the ongoing feud between Governor Kevin Stitt and former members of the Veterans Commission that began in April of 2022.

In a press release1, Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond said on Thursday, Feb. 9 that Governor Stitt illegally appointed members to the Oklahoma Veterans Commission. State law requires state the commission consists of nine members, including a representative from each of the six specified veterans’ groups including the American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), Disabled American Veterans, Paralyzed Veterans of America, the Military Order of the Purple Heart, and the National Guard Association of Oklahoma. It is also required that at least one member must be a veteran of the Vietnam War2. Former commission members have raised concerns about a lack of Vietnam representation on the current board.

The AG’s press release went on to say that the Governor was not following the law and had made claims the veterans groups were ineligible to submit nominees because they had not complied with an audit requirement. Additionally, the statute indicates an audit is only required every three years, upon or in anticipation of, the expiration of a member’s term. The AG’s statement also clarified that as a member was removed a year prior to the statutory expiration of his or her term, then the nominee must be selected from lists provided by the affected veterans’ organization.

The embers of this feud began with the firing of two members of the commission: retired Master Chief Larry Van Schuyver and retired General Paul D. Costilow. Both men were appointed to three-year terms by Gov. Stitt and their terms were not set to expire until July 1, 2022. They sued Gov. Stitt for what they described as a violation of their First Amendment rights for supporting Executive Director of the Oklahoma Department of Veteran’s Affairs Joel Kintsel, Stitt’s opponent, in the Republican primary held on June 28.

Both Van Schuyver and Costilow claim in the lawsuit that they were informed of their removal from the Veterans Commission on or around June 30, 2022. This occurred about two days after the primary election where Gov. Stitt won his primary campaign against Kintsel.

One of the points of contention between the commissioner and Kintsel were claims that the Governor planned to privatize veteran’s homes in the state. Kintsel3 has previously described these meetings taking place in 2019, and that the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic left everyone too busy to move forward with these plans.

The Governor’s office4 has denied any claims that he was looking into privatizing the home, and that the argument was a “smoke screen.”

Van Schuyver and Costilow’s lawsuit was thrown out in September of 2022 by Oklahoma County District Judge Anthony Bonner, who ruled the plaintiffs lacked standing to bring the lawsuit.

Bonner also wrote that only the general attorney, district attorney or a contestant for the office would have standing in this case.

“The lawsuit took a step back, a strategical error since [we] did not go through the AG,” said Van Schuyver.

Governor Stitt terminated another four members of the commission on Tuesday, Jan 10, meaning that the Governor had replaced the entire nine member board over the last 18 months, a move that former commissioners believe was done in order to fire Kintsel.

In recent news, legislation has been introduced to limit the Governor’s appointments to the Oklahoma Veterans Commission from all nine to only two.

HB 1080 by Rep. Jay Steagall (R-Yukon) passed the House Government Modernization and Technology Committee on a 9-0 vote on Tuesday, Feb. 7. The bill will now move onto the House floor for consideration where it is expected to pass.

The bill would change who appoints certain members of the Oklahoma Veterans Commission, requiring the list of qualified person to serve as commission member to be submitted to the appointing authority. The members will serve at the pleasure of their appointing authority and may be removed or replaced without cause.

The bill would also prevent members from voting on any issue in which they have a direct financial interest. Present members would also continue in office to the completion of their terms.

The amended appointments are as followed:

• The Governor will name one member from the National Guard Association of Oklahoma and one at-large member • The Lieutenant Governor will name one member from the Paralyzed Veterans of America

• The Attorney General will name one member from the Veterans of Foreign Wars

• The Labor Commissioner will name one member from the Disabled American Veterans

• The Speaker of the House will name one member from the Military Order of the Purple Heart and one at-large member

• The President Pro Tempore of the Senate will name one member of the American Legion and one at-large member.

On Wednesday, Feb. 15, the Oklahoma Veterans Commission held a special meeting at the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. One of the agenda items was to convene into executive session to discuss the employee performance and conduct of Joel Kintsel.

The group was to have a meeting on Friday, Feb. 10, but the deadline to post the agenda had past. The Open Meetings Act requires that agendas be published 24 hours before a meeting begins, and historically, an Oklahoma Department of Veterans Affairs staff member would file the notice with the secretary of state. In emails5 obtained by KOCO 5, Kintsel has directed his staff not to participate in scheduled meeting last week.

Sources:

1. https://www.oag.ok.gov/articles/drummond-says-veteranspanel- appointments-not-allowed-law-optimistic-legislaturewill 2. https://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument. asp?CiteID=88938 3. https://www.enidnews.com/news/politics/stitt-saysno- plans-to-privatize-state-veterans-home-system/ article_21df1566-1dae-11ed-a635-171d93faaf7d.html 4. https://www.poncacitynews.com/index.php/news/governorsoffice- releases-statement-veterans-suit

5. https://www.koco.com/article/oklahoma-veteranscommission- chair-kintsel-canceled-meeting/42830075