Arkansas Governor 2022

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

[AndyinPA]

[RTH10260]

Completion of audit into Arkansas governor’s $19,000 lectern has been pushed back to April

BY ANDREW DEMILLO
Updated 10:41 PM CEST, March 27, 2024

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A report detailing the audit of a $19,000 lectern purchased for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be completed later than expected after the governor’s office said it needed more time for its response, the state’s legislative auditor told lawmakers on Wednesday.

Legislative Auditor Roger Norman told a legislative committee in an email that a draft report has been completed of the audit requested last year of the lectern — which last fall gained national attention and became the focus of intense scrutiny — would be completed in early April, rather than the end of the month timeline he originally said.

Norman said the governor’s office requested an extension for its “management response,” which is included in reports issued by the Division of Legislative Audit, and that response is due Friday. Legislative Audit conducts more than 1,000 reviews of state agencies, school districts and local governments every year.



https://apnews.com/article/arkansas-lec ... c46ab774f9

[bill_g]

Here - Let me take care of that ...

Investigation Findings:
Lectern $19,000

Executive Summary:
The lectern cost too much.

Recommendation:
Sole source a replacement from Grainger, Home Depot, or Lowe's.

You're welcome.

[sugar magnolia]

Here - Let me take care of that ...

Investigation Findings:
Lectern $19,000

Executive Summary:
The lectern cost too much.

Recommendation:
Sole source a replacement from Grainger, Home Depot, or Lowe's.

You're welcome.

Or commission a local artist to create one. We had a previous gov who commissioned (or required commission of) a ton of stuff like that, including the courtroom doors at the Federal courthouse downtown. He was such a huge arts supporter the 20,000 s/f craft center is named after him.

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

This was a major f*ckup by Sarah Suckabee. Arkansans are waiting to slay her on social media.

[bill_g]

Or commission a local artist to create one. We had a previous gov who commissioned (or required commission of) a ton of stuff like that, including the courtroom doors at the Federal courthouse downtown. He was such a huge arts supporter the 20,000 s/f craft center is named after him.

I agree. If they are going to pay for art, they should get art.

[bill_g]

This was a major f*ckup by Sarah Suckabee. Arkansans are waiting to slay her on social media.

She seems to have the boots that DeSantis wants - the kind that are always tall enough no matter how deep the doodoo gets stacked.

[pipistrelle]

This was a major f*ckup by Sarah Suckabee. Arkansans are waiting to slay her on social media.

There are probably a few who don’t see that much in a year.

[Suranis]

Its a very unforced screw up as well.

[RTH10260]

Arkansas AG claims purchasing laws do not apply to governor, days before release of lectern audit

BY: TESS VRBIN -
APRIL 12, 2024 6:39 PM

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin released an opinion Wednesday, at Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ request, declaring that certain executive branch officials such as the governor are not subject to certain laws that regulate purchases by government entities.

Sanders’ request and Griffin’s response came just days before lawmakers are expected to release the results of Arkansas Legislative Audit’s investigation into the controversial purchase of a $19,000 lectern last year by Sanders’ office.

Lawmakers authorized the audit in October into both the lectern purchase and “all matters… made confidential” by Act 7 of 2023, which exempted records related to the governor’s security from the state Freedom of Information Act.

Arkansas Legislative Audit’s lead auditor, Roger Norman, told lawmakers in February that the probe by the nonpartisan agency that investigates government spending was set to conclude in March.

The decision of when to make the final report public is up to Legislative Joint Auditing Committee co-chairs Sen. David Wallace of Leachville and Rep. Jimmy Gazaway of Paragould, both Republicans. Gazaway told the Associated Press this week that the report should be released by the end of next week.



https://arkansasadvocate.com/2024/04/12 ... ern-audit/

[RTH10260]

#PodiumGate - Grifter Huckabee Sanders asks Arkansas AG to say she's above the law - he obliges

TheCriticalMind, author / Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)
Sunday, April 14, 2024 at 12:52:49a CEST

The Arkansas AG’s letter

To blunt the anticipated fallout from her promiscuous use of the citizens' money to enrich her mates, Sanders asked the Arkansas Attorney General, Tim Griffin, to weigh in on the legality of her actions. Her fellow MAGA obliged. He looked at the state laws covering purchases by the Governor. In a letter to Sanders concluded that the Governor was a ‘constitutional officer’ not covered by the rules that cover state ‘agencies.’ He assured Sanders that she was in no legal peril.

Is he right? I have no idea. His letter was replete with case citations, authoritative opinions, and precedents. Legal opinions range from the water-tight to the baffle them with bullshit strategies favored by criminals and their apologists. Griffin’s letter seems of the bullshit variety — and it focuses solely on whether the law applied to Sanders. That is a conservative SOP. MAGA shysters will beat one point to death, hoping people will forget about the subjects they did not address.

It is like a drunk driver who hits and kills a pedestrian. Then is arrested miles from the location of the event. And tells the cop they were not speeding before the accident. That might be true. But it is not a defense to DUI or fleeing the scene of a fatal accident.

Griffin’s letter is a work of art. The formatting is good. It has the requisite footnotes, citations, and hair-splitting word analysis that legal excuses demand. It purports to check the boxes Sanders needed checked. It will be up to independent legal authorities — if such things exist in Arkansas — to decide if Griffin has legal merit for his conclusion.

The good news is that the report was commissioned by two Republican members of the state legislature, who may well have issues with the imperious Sanders. And are thus motivated to prevent Sander’s malfeasance from being swept away.

Regardless, Griffin’s letter never claims Sanders did not do what she did. It merely says her actions — no matter how reprehensible — were not illegal. This is a standard MAGA out. Trump’s defense does not challenge the facts. It does not deny his anti-democratic excesses or that he took documents from the White House. His stay-out-of-jail claim is that the laws on classified documents and presidential immunity did not make it legal for him to do what he did.



https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/4 ... ign=recent

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

#Lecterngate just heated up in Arkansas with the AG’s opinion. Folks were on pins and needles waiting for the audit which never appeared. At least it’s entertaining.

[raison de arizona]

From her cold, dead, fingers. Whatever. I assumed this was parody, but it does have the little grey government check so

My thoughts on the podium…

It's a lecturn.

The special report: https://arktimes.com/wp-content/uploads ... Report.pdf

[RTH10260]

UPDATE: State auditors refer lecterngate findings to prosecutor’s office

Matt Campbell, Benjamin Hardy & Austin Gelder
April 15, 20244:16 pm

• Editor’s note: Matt Campbell, the lead author of this piece, is also a key player in the unfolding saga. The attorney and blogger behind the Blue Hog Report, Campbell submitted the FOIA request last summer that revealed a mysterious $19K expenditure, as well as a subsequent FOIA request that revealed the expenditure was for the now-infamous lectern.
  
  This story has been significantly updated since it was first published.

After a months-long audit of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ $19,000 lectern purchase from a friend last year, legislative auditors have produced a report documenting seven “areas of potential noncompliance with state law” by the governor’s office and referred those findings to Pulaski County Prosecutor Will Jones to determine whether any criminal charges should be filed.

Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) requested the audit last September following public scrutiny of the governor’s purchase of the pricey lectern from Virginia Beckett, a paid consultant on the governor’s 2022 campaign. Beckett’s company, Beckett Events, does not produce or sell lecterns. The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee authorized the audit on Oct. 13.

A second, related audit request to look into information withdrawn from the public purview in 2023 is still in the “early stages” and will be handled separately from the lectern report, head auditor Roger Norman said Monday. In September, Sanders convened the state Legislature in part to whittle away at the state Freedom of Information Act by hiding records about her travel and security from the public. Hickey asked auditors to look into “all matters involving the governor or the governor’s office” made confidential by recent changes to state law.

Though the report released Monday covers the purchase of the lectern and its aftermath in exhaustive detail — it runs for 68 pages, including multiple appendices and a response from the governor’s office — auditors had trouble getting information from Sanders and her associates.

The New York-based company that manufactured the lectern never responded to them, nor did Virginia Beckett or Beckett’s fellow consultant and business partner, Hannah Salem Stone. Legislative Audit lacks subpoena power to compel out-of-state companies to respond to requests for interviews, and when auditors requested assistance from the governor’s office, they received little help.



https://arktimes.com/arkansas-blog/2024 ... ors-office

[Tiredretiredlawyer]

The prosecutor is Will Bond. He’s bright and ethical and cuter than Richer. He also has a good sense of humor.

[raison de arizona]

Now that's integrity!
https://x.com/HadleySheley/status/1783592553364762639

So while Sarah Huckabee Sanders was telling reporters the Karen McDougal story was ‘fake news’ as WH Press Secretary she was in fact colluding with David Pecker to keep McDougal silent.

Umm. David Pecker testifies that he had a joint call with Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders — taxpayer funded WH officials, at the time — about whether Karen McDougal’s contract should be extended. "Both of them said that they thought it was a good idea," Pecker said.

[Resume18]

Now that's integrity!
https://x.com/HadleySheley/status/1783592553364762639

So while Sarah Huckabee Sanders was telling reporters the Karen McDougal story was ‘fake news’ as WH Press Secretary she was in fact colluding with David Pecker to keep McDougal silent.

Umm. David Pecker testifies that he had a joint call with Hope Hicks and Sarah Huckabee Sanders — taxpayer funded WH officials, at the time — about whether Karen McDougal’s contract should be extended. "Both of them said that they thought it was a good idea," Pecker said.

Indict her.