Lavish lectern: Audit finds Sarah Huckabee Sanders may have violated Arkansas law with pricey purchase

An Arkansas audit found that Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R-AR) may have violated state law with the purchase of a $19,000 lectern.

The audit found multiple issues with Sanders’s compliance with the law, including classifying the lectern as an “operating expense,” improperly keeping records, and shredding the bill for the lectern.

The audit suggests that the office of the governor needs to establish better internal protocol to ensure original bills and documents are kept intact. The audit also said that the governor’s office needs to ensure they are in compliance with the Freedom of Information Act for open records requests. Sanders tried to weaken FOIA laws as it applies to the governor’s office prior to the audit.

Sanders’s office pushed back on the audit report in a statement to the Washington Examiner, pointing to findings that showed her office did nothing wrong.

“The facts outlined in the report demonstrate what the governor’s office said all along: we followed the law, and the state was fully reimbursed with private funds for the podium, at no cost to the taxpayers,” Sanders said.

The governor’s office also responded to the audit, laying out how officials welcomed the investigation and cooperated with all requests.

“The [governor’s office] welcomed this audit, encouraged the General Assembly to complete it quickly, and was cooperative and accommodating to ALA’s requests,” it wrote. “It was a waste of taxpayer resources and time that resulted in exactly what the GO said: the office lawfully purchased a podium and travel case. It was later determined that RPA should lawfully purchase it. No laws were broken. No fraud was committed.”

Sanders also posted a video highlighting her purchase Monday, saying, “come and take it.”

My thoughts on the podium… pic.twitter.com/d57R1aw7r8 — Sarah Huckabee Sanders (@SarahHuckabee) April 15, 2024

Last June, the lectern was purchased on a state credit card and reimbursed in September by the Republican Party of Arkansas. It was purchased from a Virginia-based events company run by lobbyist Virginia Beckett.

The reimbursement, however, came several days after records were requested under the FOIA. Later that month, a whistleblower from the state said Sanders altered and withheld public records related to the purchase.

The audit found that before records were requested, there was no intention from the governor’s office to request a reimbursement. The report found that records had been altered to include “to be reimbursed” to seem as though that was intended.

According to the audit, $11,575 was for the podium and additional expenses included $2,500 for a consulting fee, $2,200 for the road case, $1,225 for freight shipping and hand delivery of the podium, $975 for freight shipping of the road case, and $554 for a 3% credit card processing fee.

“It should be noted that similar non-customized falcon style podiums can be purchased from online vendors starting at approximately $7,000, as opposed to the $11,575 amount allocated to the custom falcon podium,” the report said.

Purchasing the pricey lectern was met with criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike with social media frenzy surrounding “podiumgate.”

Findings from the audit have been sent to the 6th Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones and the state’s attorney general.

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“Prosecutors will review the audit, which is standard operating procedure. It’s important to note, that this review is no different than any other file review sent by an investigating authority to the Prosecuting Attorney,” Jones said.

Last week, state Attorney General Tim Griffin said the state’s accounting law only applies to state agencies, not the office of the governor.