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Audit says Arkansas governor's office potentially violated laws with $19,000 lectern purchase

apnews.com Audit says Arkansas governor's office potentially violated laws with $19,000 lectern purchase

A long-awaited audit on a $19,000 lectern bought for Republican Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee cites multiples potential violations of state law in the item's purchase.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders ' office potentially violated state laws on purchasing, state property and government records when it purchased a $19,000 lectern for the Republican governor that’s prompted nationwide attention, an audit requested by lawmakers said Monday.

Legislative auditors referred the findings in the long-awaited audit of the lectern to local prosecutors and the attorney general, and lawmakers planned to hold a hearing Tuesday on the report. The report cited several potential legal violations, including paying for the lectern before it was delivered and the handling of records regarding the purchase.

Sanders’ office, which has dismissed questions about the lectern, called the audit’s findings “deeply flawed” and a “waste of taxpayer resources and time.”

44 comments

How the hell did that thing cost $19k? It looks like something you'd get from a 1970s Ikea.

Ohh right... Nepotism and/or money laundering!
- None of the above. It was used to hide improper/illegal expenditures. If I recall correctly it was vacation expenses, or something else that stupid. Basically lecturn cost $1k or $2k, and the rest got funneled back to cover those costs.
  
  That lectern as pictured is a cheap copy worth way less than $1000. The allegation is that she paid her friend for costs of a trip to Paris of which there are social media photos at expensive nightlife locations.
  
  That’s…. Pretty much text book money laundering.
- It's art ok. You wouldn't understand.
  
  It's not just any lectern, it's an advanced lectern. You can put papers on it and stuff, it can even hold a microphone!
- A blue 1970s Ikea idea.
I’d be looking into what company manufactures that $19,000 lectern and then research who owns that company. There is a reason someone shells out that much money on a typically cheap item.

Edit: Here is a link to the profile of the CEO of Beckett Events (company that sold the $19,000 podium). https://www.linkedin.com/in/virginia-beckett-3a940423
- She "bought" the lectern from a friend of hers, then she and the friend took a trip to Paris with the money (is the word on the street in Little Rock).
  
  Hell yeah little rock I got kin there. I aint got anything else polite to say bout little rock.
- Lecterns aren’t inexpensive. A good one will go for 2-5k, easy.
  
  Though they are far from 19k. Iirc, the guy is a friend of the goobenor, and that one goes for line 500 on Amazon.
  
  Though they are far from 19k.
  
  You're leaving out the blue paint. That probably cost at least $10,000. It definitely doesn't look like they got the cheapest color at Walmart.
What if it was a really fancy lectern?
- If you steal a lectern, it doesn't cost $19,000. This was Sarah's mistake.
  
  Steal a $19,000 lectern? Nah, bro.
  
  Steal $19,000 through buying overpriced office equipment with company funds from a friend who takes you on a fine Parisean experience with the profits? Yeah, boy!
  
  The government doesn't want you to know this.
I still can't believe SHS got elected governor. She's a horrible nepo baby whose only qualification was her big national gig telling ridiculous lies on TV every day. Like, what the actual fuck, Arkansas? Then again, Texas's elected officials are at least as bad worse. So, yeah.
- But that's exactly why she got the job. The people who voted for her despise "the media" and live in Trump Reality™ so they love her for her Truth Telling™
- Recognizeable last name means a lot when we never vote out incumbants
  
  Look at all these shows from the 90s talking about future president Chelsea Clinton or how some wanted Michelle Obama to be president. I'm honestly amazed Jeb Bush didn't get elected .. but that came down to a more famous person bullying him I guess
  
  I think an interrobang would have been a game-changer for Jeb's campaign. And yes, name recognition makes a big difference. It's maddening that consent for dynasties seems so easy to manufacture.
They could've at least tried to hide the blatant money laundering with a nicer looking lectern. That thing looks straight out of a church basement from the 1970s.
- Of course, so are their ideas, so I guess it fits.
Its an audit, they know the law was violated. Theyre just not prosecutors.
Turns out financial fraud, really is a crime.
Also, that lectern is ugly as shit.
- Yeah, I mean look at the thing. It feels cheap. No way it’s worth this much
- Something something money can't buy taste?
That lectern isn't even wide enough to effectively hide an awkward boner from the whole room. Not the edges anyway. Poor design
Weird how it looks like a 1k lectern
- Curves like that are always harder than simple angles. There had to be some level of skill involved. Not $17k in skill, though.
  
  It also doesn't match its surroundings in any way, and it just plain tasteless.
  
  It looks like they forgot to remove the blue painter's tape
  
  You can find this exact lectern on ebay for 1000, it's just not painted blue
- Best I can do is $7.50. Act now, and I'll throw in a pack of gum to seal the deal.
"Deeply flawed" and "a waste of taxpayer resources and time" seems to describe her governorship better.
My office, which knows Sanders' office is covering up a different purchase, called the audit's findings "encouraging" and "justice for taxpayers and voters"
Did it come with a Civic?
Let me guess ... they bought it off their son?
Using MY money to Break Laws is MUCH more Preferable then having a Black Man run the state!

-Not Racist Republicans.

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