ATLANTA — The description that accompanied an executive order by Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia this month was a mundane one: “authorizing the relocation of a statue.”

But Mr. Deal’s understated edict did not affect just any statue. Rather, the governor ordered workers to move a 12-foot bronze monument to the populist firebrand and white supremacist Thomas E. Watson that has towered over the grounds of the State Capitol here for more than 80 years.

Georgia officials said the plan to move the statue of Watson, a political power broker and journalist whose legacy includes a role in instigating the infamous 1915 lynching of Leo Frank, was not connected to the inflammatory stances that defined him late in his career.

“This is just part of an ongoing project to renovate the steps around the State Capitol,” said Paul Melvin, a Georgia Building Authority spokesman. “We’re moving the statue because of the construction. To move it back would be a prohibitive cost that’s not in the budget.”