An audit commissioned by lawmakers on Monday revealed that Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office may have broken state laws over the purchase of state property, government data, and $19,000 lectern for the Republican governor, which has garnered national notice.
Lawmakers scheduled a hearing on the report on Tuesday after legislative auditors forwarded the long-awaited audit of the lectern’s findings to the attorney general and local prosecutors. The handling of purchase documents and paying for the lectern before it was delivered were two of the possible legal infractions mentioned in the study.
Sanders’ office referred to the audit’s conclusions as “deeply flawed” and a “waste of taxpayer resources and time,” dismissing any concerns raised about the lectern.
Her office stated in a letter included with the report that “no laws were broken.”
Legislators in Arkansas granted the request last year to examine the lectern purchase, which had attracted national attention due to its high price and concerns about the public records pertaining to it.
The lectern, which is blue and wood paneled, was purchased from an events firm in Virginia in June for $19,029.25 using a state credit card. Sanders’ office has described the usage of the state credit card as an accounting error, and on September 14, the Republican Party of Arkansas refunded the state for the purchase. According to Sanders’ office, the lectern arrived in August.
Sanders has not displayed the goods at any of his public events. Soon after the audit’s publication late on Monday afternoon, Sanders uploaded a video to X, the previous Twitter platform, that showed the lectern along with the words “Come and Take It.”
The office of Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones stated that it had received the audit and would evaluate it, but it would not provide any other comments.
In the report, the auditors stated that they were unable to ascertain whether the cost of the lectern was reasonable. According to the study, auditors made many requests for information regarding the lectern, but the three out-of-state vendors involved in its purchase did not reply.
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The governor and other constitutional authorities may not be subject to the purchase and property rules that Sanders’ office and auditors contested. According to the audit, the governor’s office did dispose of state property in accordance with the procedures specified by state legislation for agencies.
In response, Sanders’ office stated that the mentioned property and purchase restrictions only apply to state agencies, not constitutional authorities. The identical claim was made in a nonbinding legal opinion that Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin provided last week in response to a request from Sanders.
The purchase of the lectern came to light last year at the same time that Sanders was pushing lawmakers to severely restrict public access to documents pertaining to her office.
After more conservatives and media organizations reacted negatively to the larger exemptions, Sanders finally signed a bill preventing the release of her travel and security information.
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According to the audit, Sanders’ office may have unlawfully altered public documents when it added the phrase “to be reimbursed” to the lectern’s original invoice after the state GOP had already paid for it in September. The Sanders administration challenged that conclusion, referring to handwritten notes on invoices as “a common bookkeeping practice.”
The audit also claimed that when one of Sanders’ employees destroyed a shipping paperwork associated with the lectern, the office might have broken the law. According to Sanders’ office, the “bill of lading” was unintentionally misplaced and, once found, a replacement was given to the auditors.
The lectern was acquired from Beckett Events LLC, a political consultant and lobbyist Virginia Beckett’s Virginia-based business.
The audit contained a breakdown from Beckett Events that showed that the lectern cost $11,575 in total, along with $2,500 for a “consulting fee” and $2,200 for the road case. Shipping, delivery, and a credit card processing fee were also included in the price.
Comparable lectern models can be found for $7,500 or less on the internet. According to Sanders, the state’s acquisition included extra features like a customized height that raised the price.
According to the audit, the lectern had a light but no microphone or other electrical parts. According to the report, auditors observed and measured the lectern at the state GOP offices.
