Prosecuting attorney declines to pursue charges over Arkansas governor’s purchase of $19K lectern

Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders stands at a lectern during her inauguration that looks similar to one her office paid $19,000 for in June 2023. (Karen E. Segrave/Arkansas Advocate)

A prosecuting attorney on Friday declined to pursue further action regarding potential violations of state law tied to the purchase of a $19,000 lectern by Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office.

Members of the governor’s staff used a state-issued credit card to buy the lectern and carrying case in June 2023 from a Virginia-based company with political ties to Sanders. The Republican Party of Arkansas paid the cost of the lectern to the governor’s office three months later, just before the purchase came to light through a public records request and brought scrutiny to the governor’s office.

The discovery prompted lawmakers to request an audit by Arkansas Legislative Audit, a nonpartisan entity that investigates government. In April, the audit agency released its report , which found several instances of “potential noncompliance” with state law, and sent it to the state attorney general and Pulaski County’s prosecuting attorney.

“After a thorough review of the report and supporting documents, we find that criminal charges are not warranted,” Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones said in a letter Friday.

Auditors said they consider the governor’s office an agency under the General Accounting and Budgetary Procedures Law , which regulates the financial behavior of the state’s “agencies, boards, commissions, departments, and institutions.”

Just days before the audit’s release, Attorney General Tim Griffin released an opinion that the accounting law does not apply to the governor’s office because it’s a constitutional office, not an agency.

Jones said in Friday’s letter that Arkansas law is unclear as to whether the GABPL applies to constitutional officers like the governor. Penalties for violating the law are applicable to those who “knowingly violate” its provisions.

“Given the multiple interpretations of the GABPL and the ambiguity over whether it applies to the [Arkansas Governor’s Office], there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the statute was knowingly violated,” he said.

Legislative Audit’s report also noted that the governor’s office had three copies of the lectern invoice, two of which had handwritten notes on them about reimbursement, indicating staff altered public records.

Jones said there’s insufficient proof to show the notation was added to impair “the verity, legibility, or availability of a public record.” The Republican Party of Arkansas did reimburse the state for the purchase of the podium, so the notation was not false, he wrote.

Auditors in their report found that the Department of Transformation and Shared Services excluded several requested documents from its response to state Freedom of Information Act queries related to the purchase.

Although the number of pages provided to the original requester and auditors differed, Jones said there’s no evidence that the employee’s failure to provide the additional thirteen pages to the original requester was “a gross deviation from the standard of care.”

Additionally, Jones said there’s no evidence to show the employee’s identity or if that person qualified as a custodian of records as required by state law.

“Therefore, there is insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the custodian’s exclusion of invoices rises to the level of criminal negligence,” he said.

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