Gov. Sarah Sanders lashes at claims of lectern bought with tax funds

• Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been accused of using taxpayer funds to buy a nearly $20,000 lectern in June 2023
• An audit requested into her revealed there were book keeping errors
• But the governor has dismissed all such claims and posted a video featuring the lectern with the messages ‘My Name Is Podium’ and ‘Come and Take It’

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office has denied claims of violating state laws after purchasing a nearly $20,000 lectern using taxpayer funds.

An audit requested by lawmakers, which was released yesterday, cited several potential legal violations, including the payment of the lectern before it was delivered and the handling of records regarding the purchase.

But Sanders has dismissed all such questions about the lectern. Her office called the audit’s findings ‘deeply flawed’ and a ‘waste of taxpayer resources and time.’

‘No laws were broken,’ they said in a response filed with the report.

Sanders also posted a video on X featuring the lectern with the messages ‘My Name Is Podium’ and ‘Come and Take It’ shortly after the audit’s release.

The blue and wood paneled lectern was bought in June with a state credit card for $19,029.25 from Beckett Events LLC, a Virginia-based company run by political consultant and lobbyist Virginia Beckett.

The blue and wood paneled lectern was bought in June with a state credit card for $19,029.25 from Beckett Events LLC, a Virginia-based company run by political consultant and lobbyist Virginia Beckett

Sanders also posted a video on X featuring the lectern with the messages ‘Come and Take It’ shortly after the audit’s release

According to a breakdown from Beckett Events that was included in the audit, the total cost included $11,575 for the lectern, $2,500 for a ‘consulting fee,’ and $2,200 for the road case.

The cost also included shipping, delivery and a credit card processing fee.

The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state for the purchase on September 14, and Sanders’ office has called the use of the state credit card an accounting error.

Her office said it received the lectern in August. The item has not been seen at Sanders’ public events.

Arkansas lawmakers last year approved the request to review the purchase of the lectern, which had been the focus of nationwide scrutiny, including over its cost.

The lectern for Sanders, who served as press secretary for former President Donald Trump and has been widely viewed as a potential candidate to be his running mate, has drawn attention ranging from late night host Jimmy Kimmel to The New York Times.

Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones’ office said it had received the audit and would review it, but said it wouldn’t comment further.

Auditors said in the report they were unable to determine whether the lectern’s cost was reasonable.

The report said the three out-of-state vendors involved in its purchase did not respond to numerous requests by auditors for information about the lectern.

Sanders’ office and auditors disputed whether the governor and other constitutional officers are subject to the purchasing and property rules she’s accused of violating.

The audit said the governor’s office did not follow the steps laid out in state law for agencies to dispose of state property.

‘(Arkansas legislative audit) maintains that the podium and road case remain state property,’ the audit said.

The short video also featured a message that read: ‘My Name Is Podium’

But Sanders’ office refuted that the laws on purchasing and property cited only apply to state agencies, not constitutional officers.

A nonbinding legal opinion issued by Republican Attorney General Tim Griffin requested by Sanders and issued last week made the same argument.

‘I am perplexed to see that a significant portion of Legislative Audit’s analysis rests on the mistaken conclusion that the governor’s office is a ‘state agency’ for the purposes of certain statutes,’ Griffin said Monday in a written statement.

The lectern’s purchase emerged last year just as Sanders was urging lawmakers to broadly limit the public’s access to records about her administration.

The purchase was initially uncovered by Matt Campbell, a lawyer and blogger who has a long history of open records requests that have uncovered questionable spending and other misdeeds by elected officials.

The audit said Sanders’ office potentially illegally tampered with public records when the words ‘to be reimbursed’ were added to the original invoice for the lectern only after the state GOP paid for it in September.

But Sanders’ office disputed that finding, calling handwritten notes on invoices ‘a common bookkeeping practice.’

The audit further said the office potentially violated the law when a shipping document related to the lectern was shredded by a member of Sanders’ staff. Sanders’ office said the document, the ‘bill of lading,’ was inadvertently misplaced and that a replacement was provided to auditors when that was discovered.

The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state for the purchase on September 14, and Sanders’ office has called the use of the state credit card an accounting error

Auditors said in the report they were unable to determine whether the lectern’s cost was reasonable

The audit said Sanders’ office potentially illegally tampered with public records when the words ‘to be reimbursed’ were added to the original invoice for the lectern only after the state GOP paid for it in September

House Minority Leader Tippi McCullough, a Democrat from Little Rock who sits on the audit committee, said she wants more answers from the governor’s office on the findings.

‘We need to get to the bottom of it, and we need to make sure that people are held accountable and things are right going forward,’ McCullough said.

Republican Senate President Bart Hester said he wasn’t concerned about the audit’s findings, and said the legislative audit was wrong in applying the purchasing and property laws to the governor’s office. Hester said ‘there could have been a cleaner process’ on handling records.

‘More importantly, it shows there wasn’t some bombshell,’ Hester said.

The audit was issued days after lawmakers began a legislative session focused on the state’s budget.

The audit is the first of two that Hickey requested that lawmakers approved last year.

The committee also approved another audit looking at the travel and security records that Sanders retroactively shielded from public release under the changes to the state’s open records law.

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