Misused public fundsTransparency

Arkansas Legislative Audit found Gov. Sanders' office potentially violated state purchasing, property and records laws in a $19,029 lectern purchase, 2024; a prosecutor concluded no criminal charges were warranted

Confidence: Confirmed · 3 sourcesArkansas · Oct 12, 2026

Subject of this story

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Governor of Arkansas

Also named

Oversight

Arkansas Legislative Audit

Will Jones, Prosecuting Attorney, Sixth Judicial District of Arkansas

Tim Griffin, Attorney General of Arkansas

What happened

A special report by Arkansas Legislative Audit (dated March 12, 2024, released in April 2024), requested through the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and covering May 1 to December 10, 2023, reviewed the Governor's Office purchase of a custom podium (lectern) and road case for $19,029 in June 2023. The audit's timeline records that the Governor approved the final purchase amount; it attributes the actions below to the Governor's Office, its staff and its disbursing officer, and notes the Governor declined an offer to speak with auditors. It listed areas of 'potential noncompliance' or 'potential violation' of state law: paying before delivery, charging the item to operating expenses, not following state-property disposal steps (the Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state $19,029 on September 14, 2023, after a September 11 Freedom of Information Act request), shredding a bill of lading (staff said this was inadvertent), and a staff member's handwritten 'To be reimbursed' notation added to an invoice after it entered the state accounting system. Auditors could not determine whether the podium's price was reasonable because three vendors did not respond. The report was forwarded to the Sixth Judicial District prosecuting attorney and the Attorney General. On June 7, 2024, Prosecutor Will Jones said his office concluded no criminal charges were warranted, citing a lack of evidence of gross negligence on the FOIA request and uncertainty over whether certain laws apply to constitutional officers, and saying the invoice notations did not constitute tampering with public records. Attorney General Tim Griffin said around the time of the report's release that the accounting law does not apply to the governor's office as a constitutional office and that he was "perplexed" by the audit's view that it is a state agency; the auditors maintain it is. The Governor's Office's written response to the audit (March 29, 2024) called it a 'deeply flawed report' and concluded: 'No laws were broken. No fraud was committed.' No penalty resulted.

Sources (3)

Arkansas Legislative Audit - Special Report SP050123: Review of Selected Transactions and Procurements, Arkansas Governor's Office (May 1 - Dec 10, 2023), with Appendix P management response'Payment for the podium before it was delivered resulted in a potential violation of Ark. Code Ann. 19-4-1206(b)(3)(B)'; 'This report has been forwarded to the Sixth Judicial District Prosecuting Attorney and the Attorney General.' Appendix P (Governor's Office response, March 29, 2024): 'No laws were broken. Even this deeply flawed report...'; 'No laws were broken. No fraud was committed.'

KATVProsecutor Will Jones concluded his investigation and determined no criminal charges are warranted (published June 7, 2024); key factors included lack of evidence of gross negligence on the FOIA request and uncertainty over whether certain laws apply to constitutional officers.

Daily MontananAudit identified potential noncompliance in areas including payment before delivery, operating-expense classification, document shredding and altered invoice copies; the governor's office said it followed the law and the state was fully reimbursed with private funds.

Response

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Statement given

Contacted and responded — exact wording not on record.

What happened next (0)

No outcome recorded yet.

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