The former rector of Virginia Tech filed a lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA) over her decision to fire him from the college’s board of visitors.
Spanberger ousted John Rocovich, who was appointed to the role by Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R-VA), from the university board in late May, replacing him with board member Ed Baine, who also serves as executive vice president at Dominion Energy, the largest utility provider in the state. Rocovich filed her decision against the Montgomery County Circuit Court on Tuesday, asking it to reinstate him to the board.
In her statement announcing his firing, Spanberger wrote that Rocovich’s “conduct has violated the Code of Conduct for Commonwealth Appointees to Boards, Authorities, & Commissions, the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors’ Code of Ethics, and the governing statutes requiring board members to act in accordance with the best interests of Virginia Tech.” She did not publicly elaborate on what conduct she was referring to, but cited the section of the Virginia code that declares the governor may remove any board member for “malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetence, or gross neglect of duty.”
Rocovich took issue with Spanberger’s lack of stated reasoning in the lawsuit he filed, writing that she did not provide a specific reason “because none exist.”
