DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ousted Iowa Department of Human Services Director Jerry Foxhoven says aides to Gov. Kim Reynolds are lying when they say he never objected to paying the salary of a governor’s staffer out of his budget. Jerry Foxhoven, a 67-year-old legal scholar known for his frequent workplace praise of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, said Thursday he raised the issue more than once and wouldn’t agree to pay most of the salary of the governor’s deputy chief of staff, Paige Thorson, without legal advice.

Foxhoven says he thought it might be illegal because Thorson would no longer be doing significant Medicaid work in the new fiscal year, which began July 1. Foxhoven is filing a legal claim of wrongful termination, alleging he was the victim of whistleblower retaliation. Foxhoven was asked to step down last month. Reynolds and her staff deny he raised concerns about the pay issue.

A spokesman says Reynolds wasn’t immediately available for comment.