MADISON - The Wisconsin Veterans Affairs Board on Tuesday fired Department Secretary John Scocos two months after he returned from serving in Iraq, blaming him for a host of financial and communications problems at the agency.

The board voted 5-0 to fire Scocos during a special meeting at the agency's Madison headquarters after spending 90 minutes berating him for keeping them in the dark about key decisions and other missteps. The board, which had long feuded with Scocos, immediately named department administrator Ken Black the next secretary.

Scocos, who held the secretary's job since 2003, told reporters he was given the option of resigning but declined. He said his firing was unfair and he would take legal action against the board and its members alleging they violated a federal law that protects the job rights of returning military members.

Scocos served two tours of duty in Iraq as a colonel with the U.S. Army Reserve, most recently returning from one year deployment in September. He said his working conditions changed while he was gone and he has been harassed by the board since his return.

"There's been an agenda from day one when I got back and it hasn't quit," Scocos said. "The threats and intimidation ... personalities, political agendas."

Scocos was appointed in 2003 by a board consisting of Republican political appointees. All the current board members were appointed by Democratic Gov. Jim Doyle, who is not close with Scocos.

The department runs benefits programs for the state's estimated 430,000 veterans, nursing homes in King and Union Grove and a veterans museum. The board sets policy for the department, which has more than 1,100 employees and a two-year budget of $285 million, and hires and fires the secretary.

Board members blasted Scocos for increasing rates at the Union Grove home without their knowledge this month and lobbying lawmakers for additional funding without informing them. They also questioned Scocos about budget, accounting and communications problems exposed by a recent Department of Justice investigation into overspending at the King home.

"My biggest concern is the board has not been notified on major things that happened until well after the fact," Board Member Rodney Moen told reporters after the firing. "The time has come to put a new captain in charge of the ship."

Acting Board Chair Marcia Anderson praised Scocos for serving in Iraq but said concerns about his performance occurred before and after his deployment. She said Scocos is free to file a lawsuit, but said state law gives the board the power to hire and fire the department secretary.

Anderson said board members privately expressed their concerns to Scocos during a closed meeting last month in Brookfield and he "assured us things would change."

"I'm just disappointed they did not," she said. "We have an obligation to the veterans to ensure the department is managed in an effective manner and that if changes need to be made, they are made promptly."

The firing was expected to anger some Republican politicians and leaders of veterans groups such as AMVETS and the American Legion who backed Scocos.

State Sen. Scott Fitzgerald, R-Juneau, said the firing was outrageous and motivated by partisan politics. After serving two tours in Iraq and lobbying for veterans benefits, "this action is a slap in the face to Scocos," he said.

Black, who served as acting secretary while Scocos was in Iraq, said he was humbled by the promotion to secretary and pledged to work closely with the board. He said he would begin meeting immediately "to move forward in turning the organization around and getting it moving in the right direction."

Earlier this month, Scocos had demoted Black from deputy secretary to administrator in charge of veterans benefits.

Black in July had asked for the investigation into roughly $700,000 in overspending at the King home. A special prosecutor's report this month found no criminal wrongdoing but found "a series of inadequate or absent communications, miscommunications and assumptions made at every level within the agency."

After requesting the investigation, Black fired the administrator in charge of the home, Bill Crowley. Last week, Scocos reinstated Crowley, saying he had been unjustly fired.

Within minutes of Scocos' firing on Tuesday, a building employee was changing the locks to his office.