A $19,000 lectern for Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders sparks call for legislative audit

Sarah Huckabee Sanders rose to national prominence in part during her time at the lectern as White House press secretary, but the purchase of a $19,000 lectern for the Arkansas governor is undergoing scrutiny and prompting claims that records about it have been altered.

A legislative panel next week will take up a lawmaker’s request for an audit to review the purchase of the lectern, which was bought in June for $19,029.25 with a state credit card. The Arkansas Republican Party reimbursed the state last month for the wood-paneled and blue lectern, which the state received in August.

“From my experience, where we’re at with this particular thing is we need to allow legislative audit go in,” Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey, who requested the audit, said. “Everyone knows them, they do their work, they’re very thorough and then they produce a detailed report that comes to the Legislature through an open committee.”

IHeartBadCode, (edited )
IHeartBadCode avatar

Man they got fucking robbed. Amazon has it for only $944 The Amazon review though...

If you are concerned about wasteful spending I highly recommend going with this price from Amazon

EDIT: Yes, I'm pretty sure they paid $1,000 for it and then reported $19,000 pocketing the difference. As someone who has lived their whole life in Tennessee (and has worked for a period of time in State Government), that's Southern politics 101. Days where they aren't fleecing the taxpayer are few and far between here in the Southeastern US.

Tigbitties,
Tigbitties avatar

Wow... fucking blatant corruption. Just gross.

Delusional,

Yeah straight up corruption, lying and stealing. And will she ever be punished for her blatant abuse of power? Nope. Obviously this should ban her from ever being anywhere near public office but that won’t ever happen and they’ll continue to do it until there are consequences. I feel like I repeat that a lot nowadays but people get away with too much ridiculous shit these days and are never punished for it. George Santos anybody? How the fuck is he still in office? We need some fucking standards otherwise the country will continue to go to shit.

Peaty,

They didn’t pocket the difference. Gov Sanders used state money to go on vacation and this is the cover.

Stabbitha,

That’s what “pocketing the difference” is. She took the state money she said was used for the lectern and used it for personal purposes.

Peaty,

She went on the trip first and then bought the lectern when people started asking questions. Pocketing the difference doesn’t apply because the theft happened first.

enki,

You’re being very pedantic about something very unimportant. Sometimes it’s best to just let it go.

Peaty,

If it is unimportant why are you replying? I disagree that it is unimportant because the crime is different than what was explained by that comment.

Cryophilia,
  1. “Pocketing the difference” is not a legal term
  2. you’re pedantic AND WRONG, which is why people care
ChunkMcHorkle, (edited )
@ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world avatar

deleted by creator

Peaty,

Im not saying a crime never happened. Im saying the crime preceded the purchase so they aren’t pocketing the difference. The expense is being justified by the purchase to cover for the crime

ChunkMcHorkle, (edited )
@ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world avatar

deleted by creator

kmartburrito,

The fact that this is on Amazon for under a grand is hilarious. These people are absolute morons. I hope they get nailed and the truth comes out.

BobGnarley,

They will not. They absolutely own Arkansas and nothing will happen this year, or the next 50 due to their corruption.

IHaveTwoCows,

Hey so when are all the Second Amendment people gonna step up and put an end to tyranny and corruption?

Cryophilia,

If you’re American, you could be a second amendment person.

The problem with “guns are a counter to state tyranny” is that all the people who hate state tyranny got conned into hating guns

IHaveTwoCows,

I am pro-gun because all the other pro-gunners start handing them out to wackos

RememberTheApollo_,

lol, yhgtbsm. Unbelievable.

A ~$900 lectern for $19k. Fraud in broad daylight. I can’t call it “skimming off the top” because it’s so upside down.

Rentlar,

Brent ☆☆☆☆☆

Perfect at home in Arkansas or with my friends in Paris

Reviewed in the United States on October 3, 2023

Don’t let your husband or state know that this thing is under $1,000 because it could go for $19,000-$20,000 EASILY! It’s the perfect accessory for “governing”, photoshopping, and fraud. Me and the gal pals really enjoyed this from afar while we were in Paris, France. 10/10

NielsBohron,
@NielsBohron@lemmy.world avatar

Brent knows what’s up.

hydrospanner,

https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/887f56b0-eb1f-43f6-8a3f-6d4c07aa62f5.webm

DLSchichtl,

Arkansas native here. Word on the street is SHS paid for a vacation for a friend using state money. When people started asking questions, suddenly a new lectern appeared, and her government was shielded from FOIA requests. Thats why people are calling for an audit.

ZooGuru,
@ZooGuru@lemmy.world avatar

Fellow Arkansan here. I love to get in on that Arkansas gossip.

ripcord,
ripcord avatar

Word on the street is that there are some rich jerks in Bentonville

negativeyoda,

I’m a mountain biker and people are always gushing over that place like it’s some eden.

First off, I’m sure the terrain has nothing on the PNW, but also it would feel trained given that it’s some resort paid for with blood money

DLSchichtl,

Not to diminish your PNW, but Northwest Arkansas is some of the most beautiful landscape in the country. It’s super popular with motorcycle riders and mountain bikers. It’s absolutely gorgeous and it almost makes up for the shitty people. Almost.

ComradePorkRoll,

Hold the fuck up, you can’t just call yourself an “Arkansan” when your ass backwards state is pronounced “Arc-en-saw.”

1847953620,

"englishmakesnofuckingsenseanyway

HocEnimVeni,
@HocEnimVeni@lemmy.world avatar

It’s pronounced “Arc-en-sawn”

ZooGuru,
@ZooGuru@lemmy.world avatar

Oh I sure can! There is a reason we reside near the bottom in education. Leave us be.

IHaveTwoCows,

Why does Arkansas keep electing christofascist pstchopathic retards as leaders?

ZooGuru,
@ZooGuru@lemmy.world avatar

Well because they represent more than half the population realistically.

dhork,

This makes the most sense. I was wondering why so many people care about wood.

BobGnarley,

The republican state government blew 19 THOUSAND dollars on it, thats why people care. Its bullshit.

dhork,

Even shitty states like Arkansas have budgets in the tens of billions of dollars; $19k is a rounding error. Nobody cares about $19k, unless it turns out to be a crime, which this might be.

RagingRobot,

Well that’s the issue. A podium like that normally costs a few hundred dollars max. So why was this one so expensive? Fraud is a crime.

That’s not to mention that podiums are mostly pointless anyways. You could just stand and talk just as easily without one.

If you paid taxes and are struggling to pay all your bills I could see why that would be infuriating

clif,

I’ve been slacking… I should’ve posted this over in /c/arkansas long ago.

PeleSpirit,

IMO, this quote from a fellow r, is telling everyone around him to not worry about it. Everyone knows the guy and the detailed report will cover it up.

“From my experience, where we’re at with this particular thing is we need to allow legislative audit go in,” Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey, who requested the audit, said. “Everyone knows them, they do their work, they’re very thorough and then they produce a detailed report that comes to the Legislature through an open committee.”

TheTurducken,

Hickey was pushed out as state Senate leader, he has an axe to grind and isn’t afraid of a primary.

bamboo,

The Arkansas Republican Party reimbursed the state last month for the wood-paneled and blue lectern, which the state received in August.

Is this typical for the party to reimburse the state for an elected official? If it was reimbursed from campaign funds, wouldn’t that be covered by campaign finance laws? Sounds like either the Republican Party is trying to cover it up by reimbursing for it, or they’re doing weird accounting to get through a loophole of campaign finance laws.

mosiacmango,

It’s a coverup. There only defense is “we made an oopsy. This was supposed to be bought with private funds and now it is after it became a clear case of grift. Nothing to see here, tee hee.”

bamboo,

Is there ever a time where it is above board for these types of reimbursements to happen? Seems like it should be something illegal already, but maybe there’s something I’m missing?

BigMacHole,

Arkansas could have had an Urban Planner with a Master’s Degree as their Governor but he was black and Republicans aren’t Racist.

randon31415,

I mean, it is made out of wood. Have you seen lumber prices?

OprahsedCreature,

lol literally nothing will happen because literally nothing ever does. Everything is farce now.

spider,

So is this how Republicans are supposedly such responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars?

Sheesh, she’s even giving the Pentagon a run for their money (no pun intended):

https://web.archive.org/web/20181219202921/https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/19/opinion/pentagon-budget-military-spending-waste.html

PoliticalAgitator,

Working as intended. Having the government overpay tenfold for goods and services is neoliberals favourite method of converting public funds into private profit.

time_fo_that,

I used to work in aerospace and we had a few government customers. Every single government part was sold to a contractor who then flipped it to the government for like 10x what they paid for it.

It was real annoying when they needed parts for old aircraft with deprecated specifications/components that were no longer available because the contractors had no engineering staff so we couldn’t ask them for clarification on which parts/specs to use beyond standard military supercessions which sometimes had no suitable replacements.

alekwithak,

Lord knows when I think of SHS and The Pentagon I think of neolibs.

cabron_offsets,

Republicunts. The original welfare queens.

argo_yamato,

“This is nothing more than a manufactured controversy by left-wing activists to distract from the bold conservative reforms the governor has signed into law and is effectively implementing in Arkansas,” Henning said in a statement.

Haha so I guess “bold conservative reforms” is their new code phrase for hatred and intolerance.

SupraMario,

And “we had to buy a $19k lectern…it was to good a price to pass up”

Hiccup,

When you elect stinky fish, don’t be surprised when it starts to rot. Let’s be real, she should be nowhere in sight of a position of power.

Jaeger86,

Some say money laundering??

TurtleJoe,
@TurtleJoe@lemmy.world avatar

A lot of people are saying it. Very smart people.

bigbluealien,
bigbluealien avatar

Money laundering is taking dirty money and making it clean, this is taking clean money and making it dirty, in someones dirty corrupt pocket

IchNichtenLichten,
@IchNichtenLichten@lemmy.world avatar

That wood grain on the front though.

1847953620,

It’s one ugly-ass lectern - but I still wood.

Vaginal_blood_fart,

Structural integrity and strength is required to support her gunt

Techmaster,

Hopefully it’s made with steel I-beams.

bquintb,
@bquintb@midwest.social avatar

I’ll be honest… I only clicked on this article because I was curious as to what a $19,000 lectern looks like. 🤷

andyburke,
andyburke avatar

Same. Thought maybe some local woodworker produced a beautiful lectern.

No, turns out it's from amazon with some spray paint and Arkansas is just being Arkansas.

hydrospanner,

Maybe it’s motorized like Ol’ Spicy’s

SupraMario,

It’s auto cleaning since so much shit comes out of her mouth…well worth the 19k

PizzasDontWearCapes,

You’ll have to keep looking because this thing was <$1K on Amazon

voluble,

Turns out, extremely yonic

reddig33,

I can’t believe someone paid $19,000 for that ugly piece of junk.

Peaty,

They didn’t. This is graft in action

SARGEx117,

Someone paid $20.28 for that and $6.99 for a rattlecan of metallic blue, and then charged the other $19,000.00 for “labor”. (I’m optimistically assuming they paid tax on the store bought items)

laylawashere44,

Oh it’s even more blatant. She bought it from a friend, who then used the money to go on vacation. It’s a blatant kick back.

  • All
  • Subscribed
  • Moderated
  • Favorites
  • •
  • politics@lemmy.world
  • DreamBathrooms
  • ngwrru68w68
  • modclub
  • magazineikmin
  • thenastyranch
  • rosin
  • khanakhh
  • InstantRegret
  • Youngstown
  • slotface
  • Durango
  • kavyap
  • mdbf
  • GTA5RPClips
  • JUstTest
  • tacticalgear
  • normalnudes
  • tester
  • osvaldo12
  • everett
  • cubers
  • ethstaker
  • anitta
  • provamag3
  • Leos
  • cisconetworking
  • megavids
  • lostlight
  • All magazines
    •