State Veterans Affairs Secretary John Scocos was fired Tuesday - just two months after returning from a tour in Iraq - and replaced with an agency official he had recently demoted.

Scocos, secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs since 2003 and a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, returned to work in late September after a year in Iraq, his second tour there.

The Veterans Affairs board has been signaling disapproval of the agency's leadership for months, seeking a wide-ranging legislative audit of its workings and criticizing Scocos for failing to update them on the findings of an inquiry into alleged improper spending at a state veterans home.

After a one-and-a-half hour meeting during which board members sharply criticized Scocos' communication and financial management, the board met briefly in private then voted 5-0 to fire Scocos and replace him with Ken Black, administrator of the agency's Division of Veterans Benefits. Board chairman Marv Freedman was absent, and one unconfirmed board member, David Boetcher, was ineligible to vote.

"I'm a senior executive in my civilian job and I expect to be held accountable for having the right team in place and for ensuring those individuals follow guidelines and rules," board vice-chairwoman Marcia Anderson said afterward.

The agency, which provides benefits to state veterans, has a two-year budget of $285 million and 1,100 employees. Black had served as its acting secretary while Scocos was on overseas duty and then as deputy secretary until he was recently demoted by Scocos to the division administrator job.

In a phone interview after the vote, Scocos said board members had a "political agenda" to hold down his requests for state tax dollars to shore up a dwindling state veterans trust fund. He vowed to bring a lawsuit alleging his rights as a veteran to return to his job.

"That's what I get for serving my country and coming back. Welcome back," said Scocos, adding he'd been given 24 hours to clear out his state office. "They'll be hearing from me in court."

Board Secretary Jackie Guthrie, who deployed for a year in support of the Iraq war effort, said the board would never dismiss anyone because of military service but must ensure that veterans have the best leadership.

Mike Mahoney, executive director of Amvets Department of Wisconsin, said he believed veterans had seen an expansion of their benefits during Scocos' tenure.

"At this point, I'm disappointed to hear that, but I'd like to hear (the board's) reasons," Mahoney said of the firing.

Charges department has been ‘politicized'

During Scocos tenure, lawmakers and Gov. Jim Doyle passed a landmark expansion of the Wisconsin GI Bill to cover 100 percent of the tuition and fees for qualifying veterans at public colleges in the state. The state also took steps to improve the financial health of the veterans trust fund, though Scocos has said more action is needed.

Senate Minority Leader Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, a retired lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve, said Doyle and his appointees on the board had politicized the agency.

"This baseless action demonstrates the politicized force that is driving a rift through the agency at the expense of Wisconsin veterans," Fitzgerald said.

Scocos was appointed after Doyle, a Democrat, took office in 2003 but by a board still controlled by Republican appointees. The board is now controlled by Doyle appointees.

Doyle spokesman Lee Sensenbrenner said the board had made its decision independently of the governor.

A Department of Justice review released earlier this month found that miscommunication and bureaucratic slipups caused the Wisconsin Veterans Home at King to exceed its budget and run up $700,000 in questioned spending, but no one committed a crime.

The review blamed disagreements and miscommunication between King administrators and their bosses at the state Veterans Affairs office in Madison.

New director called for investigation

Anderson said Black brought problems to the board's attention and asked for the Department of Justice to investigate. If he hadn't, she said, board members might not have heard about those problems.

"I hold him in high regard because that must have been a very difficult thing to do," she said of Black.

In August, Black fired the King home's commandant, Bill Crowley, over the spending. Scocos reinstated Crowley last week. Veterans Affairs spokeswoman Kathleen Scholl said Tuesday she was unsure of Crowley's status now.

After the board voted to fire Scocos, Guthrie said "communication was part of the problem" with Scocos but said she didn't need to offer more specific details about the decision. Anderson defended the vote to fire a returning veteran.

"We are very proud that he deployed," Anderson said. "In fact, he is one of the few secretaries - he was one of the few secretaries - of Veterans Affairs that deployed."

Contact Mary Spicuzza at mspicuzza@madison.com or 608-252-6122. Contact Jason Stein at jstein@madison.com or 608-252-6129.

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