Lectern audit timeline
SEPT. 8 Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders issues the call for a special legislative session, requesting that lawmakers meet to cut income taxes, amend the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act, and cut the state’s top individual and corporate tax rates. The Republican governor says the state’s FOIA law is in need of an update and requests that lawmakers consider a bill that would shield documents related to the governor’s security detail from the public.
SEPT. 11 Matt Campbell, a Little Rock attorney and author of the Blue Hog Report blog, posts a photo of a state credit card statement that reads “Do you want to know things like “Sarah Sanders inexplicably paid nearly $20k to Beckett Productions LLC in mid-June? Her Anti-Transparency bill would prevent you from knowing that.”
SEPT. 14 The Republican Party of Arkansas reimburses the state with a check for $19,029.25 for the purchase of the lectern.
SEPT. 15 Matt Campbell tweets a photo of an invoice for an $18,475 lectern and travel case from Beckett Events, LLC, and a credit card processing fee of $554.25. “To Be Reimbursed” is written on the invoice. Alexa Henning, a spokeswoman for Sanders, describes the lectern’s purchase with a state credit card as an “accounting error.”
SEPT. 27 State Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, requests a legislative audit of the lectern’s purchase. SEPT. 29 Rogers attorney Tom Mars writes to Hickey saying he represents a client “with firsthand knowledge” that the governor’s office tampered with a state record and didn’t follow the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act for a request regarding the purchase of the lectern.
OCT. 4 Sanders says the lectern issue is a “manufactured controversy,” adding that “This was paid for by private funds.”
OCT. 5 Asked who approved the purchase of the lectern, Sanders states “[We] followed the regular course of law, standard operating procedure for any purchase that would take place by the state.” OCT. 13 The Arkansas Legislative Audit Committee approves Hickey’s request of an audit of the lectern’s purchase.
MARCH 27 Legislative Auditor Roger Norman says the draft report of the investigation into the audit of the lectern is complete, and the governor’s office requests additional time to respond. MONDAY Legislative auditors release the findings of their audit report to the public.
TODAY The Legislative Joint Auditing Committee is scheduled to meet at 2 p.m. today in Committee Room A of the Multi-Agency Complex at the state Capitol to discuss the findings of its report and to question legislative auditors about their investigation into the purchase.