Here’s how much it cost to remove the Jefferson Davis statue from Kentucky’s Capitol
Gov. Andy Beshear’s administration is paying a Lexington company $225,000 to remove the controversial Jefferson Davis statue from the Kentucky Capitol and relocate it at a state historic site in Western Kentucky.
The no-bid contract with American Industrial Contractors was recorded by the state Finance and Administration Cabinet on June 12. That was the same day the Historic Properties Advisory Commission voted 11-1 to remove the 5-ton statue of the Confederate president that had stood in the Capitol Rotunda since December 1936.
Work on removing the statue began later that day and it was out of the Capitol the next day.
The contract called for the Lexington company to “disassemble, transport, store, secure, deliver, and reassemble at a location directed by the Department of Facilities and Support Services the approximately 15-foot-tall marble statue of Jefferson Davis and associated pedestal currently located in the Rotunda of the Kentucky State Capitol.”
Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the state Finance and Administration Cabinet, said Thursday the contract “was not practical to bid due to the very specialized nature of the work and the limited number of companies that perform this type of service.”
She said two firms with experience in safely removing statues were identified and contacted.
“Both vendors conducted site visits to assess the scope of the project. Following these site visits, only American Industrial Contractors was able to complete the project and meet the commonwealth’s schedule.”
The contract was to run through June 18.
Tom Bennington, president of the moving company that got the state contract, could not be immediately reached for comment. Records with the Kentucky Registry of Election Finance show that his wife, Jane Bennington, contributed $750 to Beshear’s 2019 primary election campaign for governor.
John Suttles of Paducah, past president of the Kentucky division of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, said Thursday the $225,000 the state spent to remove the statue from the Capitol was “a waste of money.”
“People have lost their jobs due to the coronavirus, many people don’t have food money and this governor wants to spend a lot of money to remove a statute that was just sitting there,” said Suttles. ‘’They had everything set up to get rid of it fast.”
Raoul Cunningham, with the Louisville NAACP, tried for years to remove the statue from the seat of state government. He said it was offensive.
Cunningham said Thursday that the amount the state spent on the removal “definitely was worth the money. It never should have been there in the first place.”
He said it costs money to remove Confederate statues from public places across the nation “but they should be put in their proper places. This movement shows that most people want things changed.”
The properties commission voted to relocate the statue to the Jefferson Davis State Historic Site in Todd County, where the president of the Confederacy during the Civil War was born.
Midkiff, with the Finance Cabinet, said Thursday the statue is currently stored indoors, in a protective frame, and is covered in plastic. The state has not disclosed the location, citing security.
The project to move the statue to Todd County will be coordinated by the Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, she said..
The statue was placed in the Capitol Rotunda in December 1936 at the request of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Beshear said the statue was a divisive symbol because of Davis’ support for slavery. He campaigned against the statue in the Capitol in last year’s race for governor and momentum to remove it accelerated with recent protests in the country and Kentucky against racial injustice.
No decision has yet been made on what will replace the statue in the Capitol Rotunda.
