The little-seen, $19,000 lectern at the center of a controversy in Arkansas Gov.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office was made available for viewing on Tuesday night — after a monthslong audit into how the lectern was procured and paid for found that Sanders’ staff potentially violated several state laws.
The governor’s office responded by characterizing the investigation as “a waste of taxpayer resources and time” and called the audit report “deeply flawed.”
Sanders herself didn’t participate in the audit, nor did the lectern’s vendors Neither Sanders, who previously said she welcomed the audit, nor the lectern vendors cooperated with the probe, according to the audit report.
Beckett and Stone were previously hired by Sanders’ office to help with advance planning on her gubernatorial inauguration and the 2023 GOP response to the State of the Union address.
Auditors recruited Sanders’ office for help reaching out to the vendors during their investigation.
Chief legal counsel for the governor’s office told lawmakers Tuesday she sent two emails to Beckett Events.
One Arkansas vendor contacted and quoted a far lower lectern price Staffers in Sanders’ office told auditors they “could not recall any other quotes being obtained” for the lectern.
The $19,000 lectern, rarely seen, at the heart of the controversy in Arkansas Gov. After a months-long investigation into the procurement and payment of the lectern revealed that Sanders’ staff may have broken multiple state laws, Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office was opened for public viewing on Tuesday night.
In response, the governor’s office labeled the audit report “deeply flawed” and described the investigation as “a waste of taxpayer resources and time.”. “.
“The report’s facts confirm what the governor’s office has always stated: we followed the law and the state was fully reimbursed with private funds for the podium, at no expense to the taxpayers,” a statement from Sanders’ representative, Alexa Henning, stated.
Following the lectern’s high price tag, which drew attention from around the country and included a jab from late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, a Republican state senator had requested the investigation last year.
Only after Sanders’ office used a state-issued credit card to pay $19,029.25 to Beckett Events, a boutique event planning company whose owners are close to the governor, in June 2023—as revealed by progressive blogger and attorney Matt Campbell of Little Rock—did the purchase become public.
After the report was sent to prosecuting attorneys on Monday, lawmakers questioned Sanders’ staff on Tuesday during a nearly three-hour hearing at the state Capitol regarding the audit’s findings.
“I genuinely hoped that the lectern would have been brought today so we could view it,” state representative for the Republican party said. At the hearing, Julie Mayberry stated. Let’s all agree that a product costing $19,000 was purchased, but nobody has actually seen it. “.
Judd Deere, Sanders’ deputy chief of staff, informed lawmakers that she intended to use the lectern now that the audit was finished, despite her prior desire for it to remain a non-distraction.
Deere continued, “nor should they be,” adding that no members of the governor’s staff had been disciplined for their actions, even though the audit report had found seven “areas of noncompliance” where the governor’s office might have broken state laws pertaining to purchasing, state property, and government records.
So what happens to the controversy that goes by the name LecternGate?
With his statement last week that state purchasing laws only apply to state agencies and do not apply to the governor or other executive branch officials, Republican attorney general Tim Griffin of Arkansas angered critics by signaling he will not press charges.
This implies that Little Rock’s 6th Judicial District prosecutor, Will Jones, would probably be the one to pursue any criminal charges.
According to Jones, his staff is evaluating the audit and their “review is no different than any other file review” that has been submitted to them.
Sanders, the daughter of a former governor of Arkansas, was a Trump White House official. Within the Republican Party, Mike Huckabee is regarded as a rising star.
She disregarded the results with defiance, sharing a 20-second clip of the lectern on social media this week with the caption, “COME AND TAKE IT.”. “.”.
The audit’s main conclusions are outlined here.
Manipulating public records is one possible violation.
The governor’s office was found to have seven “areas of potential noncompliance with state law” by auditors. One such instance involved a staff member destroying the bill of lading for the lectern, which was attached to the delivery crate and contained information about the shipment, possibly in violation of document retention laws.
Interviews with them revealed that the shredding was unintentional.
Auditors also revealed that after blogger Campbell requested documents related to the purchase of the lectern through a Freedom of Information Act request, an executive assistant had added handwritten notes with the words “to be reimbursed” on two invoices at the governor’s deputy chief of staff’s direction. After Campbell brought the lectern’s cost to their attention, state Republicans eventually reimbursed the vendor.
Additional possible infractions of accounting and budgeting laws, according to the audit, include the lectern’s payment in advance of delivery and the purchase being applied to operating expenses, even though state law forbids the expense of equipment that needs to be capitalized.
In addition, on the day of the purchase, the governor’s office neglected to prepare a business expense justification statement and neglected to notify a state agency about the delivery of the lectern as required.
Sanders has previously insisted that the purchase of the lectern “went through standard protocol in our office.”. “.
Despite its advertised special features, the lectern is devoid of electronic components.
Amidst criticism last autumn regarding the lectern’s cost in comparison to other furniture and equipment of that kind, Sanders informed reporters that the lectern was built specifically for her stature, that it was intended “to obtain the best sound quality,” and that it had parts that let several media outlets connect simultaneously.
The lectern does not have a microphone or any other electrical components, according to auditors.
They claimed that it does have a light.
The total cost was broken down in the report as follows: $11,575 for the lectern, $2,500 for consulting, $2,200 for a travel case, $1,225 for lectern freight shipping, $975 for travel case freight shipping, and $554 for credit card processing.
Along with a detail from the report indicating that the governor’s office was thinking of returning the lectern soon after it was delivered because its height did not comply with order specifications, the $2,500 consulting fee—which had not been disclosed before—attracted attention on social media.
The $19,000 total cost of the podium is significantly more than what could be bought at a regular store. A previous online post from a retailer stated that their lecterns retail for approximately $7,000. And according to two political sources who are not affiliated with Sanders’ office and have knowledge of the expenses involved in creating podiums, $19,029.25 is more than what they would have charged or spent on the purchase, they told ABC News.
Neither Sanders nor the vendors of the lectern took part in the audit.
The audit report states that neither Sanders, who had earlier stated she was happy with the audit, nor the lectern suppliers assisted with the investigation.
According to the audit, neither Miller’s Presentation Furniture, located in New York, nor Virginia Beckett and Hannah Stone of Beckett Events responded to repeated attempts by auditors to reach them by phone, certified mail, or email. Miller’s Presentation Furniture made the lectern.
Earlier, Sanders’ office hired Beckett and Stone to assist with advance planning for her inauguration as governor and the GOP response to the State of the Union in 2023. The same month that the lectern was bought, they were also present at the Paris Air Show, which Sanders also attended.
During their investigation, the auditors enlisted Sanders’ office to assist in contacting the vendors. The governor’s office’s chief legal counsel informed lawmakers on Tuesday that she had written two emails to Beckett Events.
Going forward, the governor’s assistant stated on Tuesday that she has no intention of using the vendors once more.
ABC News reached out to both vendors for comment, but neither of them replied right away.
No proof that the state party intended to reimburse the state prior to the FOIA request.
The state Republican Party only reimbursed Campbell for the $5,000 purchase after he requested more information about it using tax dollars. Prior to Campbell’s requests, auditors noted that “there was no indication the governor’s office was seeking reimbursement for the cost of the podium and the road case.”.
The use of a state credit card for the purchase was described as “an accounting error” by a representative for Sanders last autumn. “.
On Tuesday, the deputy chief of staff for the governor informed lawmakers that a later decision had determined that it would be “preferable” for the lectern to be paid for with private funds through the state Republican Party.
“This body appropriated funds that we could have used to make purchases. Subsequently, we concluded that using the governor’s raised private funds to reimburse the state was the better option,” stated Deere. “This item was not paid for by any taxpayer. Therefore, we do not consider it to be an error. “.”.
Interestingly, the governor’s office had not allowed the Arkansas Republican Party to make the purchase of the lectern; instead, it had requested permission to raise the spending limit on the state credit card prior to the purchase.
In an interview with ABC News, Campbell praised the auditors’ work, stating that it “proved what we already knew: that the lectern purchase was illegal and done in the shadiest way imaginable.”. ****.
Additionally, the audit found that the lectern is state property of Arkansas due to improper protocol compliance.
A vendor from Arkansas got in touch and offered a significantly cheaper lectern price.
For the lectern, Sanders’ office staff members “could not recall any other quotes being obtained,” they said to auditors.
Auditors discovered, however, that in March 2023, a staff member got quotes for podiums up to $1,500, lighting systems up to $1,000, and sound systems up to $3,000 from an audio and visual equipment dealer located in Arkansas.
Even though the auditors claimed that “custom specifications,” “lack of vendor responses,” and “lack of documentation” prevented them from determining whether the podium’s cost was reasonable in the end, they did allude to the podium’s high cost in comparison to other lecterns available on the market.
The report stated, “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.”.
Lawmakers in Arkansas, representing both parties, have voiced skepticism regarding the lectern’s usefulness.
“I don’t believe the lectern is worth $19,000 or $11,500,” state senator for the Republican party said. stated John Payton on Tuesday. “However, if we could just acknowledge that it was carelessness and poor judgment, I believe the lesson could be worth much more. “.
