Richmond, Va. (Newsradiowrva.com) - The Augusta Commonwealth's Attorney, an elected Republican, says the investigation into the awarding of the contract to remove Richmond's Confederate Monuments found no wrongdoing. Commonwealth's Attorney Timothy Martin says the decision may be unpopular in some circles, but it is based on the best effort to investigate the matter.
A donor to Mayor Levar Stoney recieved the nearly two million contract to take down the statues. Martin says the investigation found the city reached out to several contractors, all of who refused the job because of the nature of it. He says a different employee, not Stoney, suggested the donor's company.
Martin says he was not tasked with looking into the actual decision to bring down the monuments. However, he also says doing so would have been a waste of resources, as the city had control of them, and at worst, the monuments were removed a few weeks earlier than otherwise would have happened.
Martin also says he has never met Stoney, and has no bias towards him. He says he wants the public to have confidence this decision was based in law.