Judge dismisses official’s lawsuit against Iowa governor

By DAVID PITT
Associated Press

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — A state court judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former state agency director who claimed Gov. Kim Reynolds fired him after he objected to her diverting federal Medicaid money to pay a member of her staff. Reynolds fired former Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven in June 2019, two years after she appointed him to the job. He filed a lawsuit in June 2021, contending he was fired because he refused to engage in illegal Medicaid fraud. On Wednesday, Judge Sarah Crane, a Reynolds appointee, dismissed his lawsuit. She concluded that as an an appointed officer, he served at the pleasure of the governor. Reynolds has said Foxhoven’s dismissal was partly related to patient deaths at a center for people with severe disabilities.