New public records have sparked additional questions about when Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office intended to use Republican Party funds to reimburse the state for a $19,000 lectern purchased in June with a government credit card. Records released this week, obtained by The Associated Press, show that the Arkansas GOP paid for the lectern in September but the words "to be reimbursed" were added to the original invoice later. The undated reimbursement notice has only fueled weeks of scrutiny in the state over the purchase.
This week, a legislative panel is expected to vote on Republican state Sen. Jimmy Hickey's request for an audit of the lectern's purchase. An email about the reimbursement notice was among a number of other documents related to the lectern that were released to AP through a Freedom of Information Act request. Hickey told AP that the email “further indicates the need for a full blown audit to get all the facts.” The custom lectern was bought for $19,029.95 and the Arkansas Republican Party reimbursed the state for the purchase on Sept. 14. Sanders' office called the use of a state credit card for the transaction an accounting error.
Sanders has said she welcomes the audit but has also dismissed questions about the purchase, and her office acknowledged the addition of the reimbursement note. “A note was added to the receipt so that it would accurately reflect that the state was being reimbursed for the podium with private funding the governor raised for her inauguration and the check was properly dated,” Alexa Henning, a spokesperson for Sanders’ office, told AP, dubbing questions about the invoice “nothing more than a manufactured controversy.”
