Richmond Commonwealth's Attorney says she won't investigate shady $1.8M contract for statue removal, citing donations from the company to her husband's political campaign
https://richmond.com/news/local/citing-donations-to-her-husbands-political-campaign-richmond-prosecutor-says-she-wont-investigate-statue-removal/article_3ae209db-ef07-56e3-b032-b9cccd1bad69.html
Richmond Commonwealth’s Attorney Collette McEachin said Friday she will not investigate Mayor Levar Stoney’s handling of a $1.8 million contract for the removal of the city’s Confederate monuments.
In response to Councilwoman Kimberly Gray’s request for the probe earlier this month, McEachin said she thinks there could be a perceived conflict of interest because the business executive tied to the shell company the city hired to take down the statues donated to her husband’s state Senate campaign in 2011.
“Although the amount of money donated over nine years ago may not be significant and my husband is no longer in that elective position, it is incumbent upon me to maintain the public trust in this office and to avoid even the appearance of impropriety because of any actions taken by my office,” McEachin wrote in a letter to Gray.
McEachin, who is married to U.S. Rep. Donald McEachin, D-4th, also said state code allows only the governor, attorney general or a grand jury to order a criminal investigation of a local elected official.
Gray, who is running for mayor, asked for the investigation this month after details emerged about the city’s authorization of the contract with NAH LLC, a shell company created 10 days before work to remove the statues began last month. The company is linked to Team Henry Enterprises, a Newport News-based contracting firm owned by Devon Henry.
Henry, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, donated $250 to Rep. McEachin’s state senate campaign in 2011. He has also donated $4,000 to Stoney’s political campaigns since 2016.
Gray said she still plans to speak out, and that the details about the payment and no-bid contract raise suspicion. “I think that the people have a right to have full understanding of how this contract went out,” she said. “I’ve never seen anything this egregious.”
Gray said her mayoral campaign has nothing to do with her request.
Earlier this month, Lincoln Saunders, Stoney’s chief of staff, said Henry’s firm was chosen for the job after the city reached out to six local contractors and “many others” in the Mid-Atlantic. All turned it down, Saunders said.
A Stoney spokesman has said political donations did not influence the mayor’s decision to award Henry’s firm the contract.
The mayor ordered the crews to begin removing the statues on July 1, against advice from Richmond’s interim city attorney, Haskell Brown, and without approval from the City Council.
The City Council has since voted to permanently remove the statues, which have been held in storage at the city’s wastewater treatment plant since last month. The council could vote on relocation plans for the statues as early as next month.