It’s obvious that it was planned all along.
And undoubtedly Virginia taxes paid for it.
The real question for a guy like Northam is...what right do you have to rule over us? He clearly disagrees with the Constitutional concept of property.
Since when did he get the right to take property for his own purpose? The Supreme Court of Virginia said it was a “free speech right” for the State, which was astonishing to say the least. The First Amendment applies to individuals, not the state. It’s a RESTRAINT on the state, not the other way around.
In other words, he destroyed the property right inherent in the contract by using an absurd argument...which the court bought. Now he went a step further and uses the property for a purpose unrelated to the original contract. He told the court they just didn’t like the implied message. He did NOT tell the court what he actually planned to do. The court SHOULD have said that if he takes down the statue, the land reverts to a trust to be held by the original owners or their descendants.
We are surely in agreement.