Oklahoma Veterans Commission executive director to resign

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – The executive director of the Oklahoma Veterans Commission has announced plans to resign.
The commission, which governs the state Department of Veterans Affairs, announced Friday that it has accepted the resignation of Doug Elliott as director and named deputy director Joel Kintsel as his successor.
Elliott’s resignation is effective October 1st and was first reported by The Oklahoman.
Elliott’s resignation comes following two audits of the state VA in the past year, one of which cleared the agency of violating privacy laws by allowing medical aides to research patient records.
The second audit criticized the agency’s leadership for creating “a culture of fear and intimidation” at the Oklahoma City office. Elliott said that auditors in the second audit focused only on negative comments by disgruntled employees and some state lawmakers called the auditors biased.