The results of a legislative audit into Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders‘ purchase of a pricey lectern will be delayed just a bit longer, according to auditor Roger A. Norman.
In an email to members of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, first obtained by Matthew Moore of KUAF, Norman wrote:
During the February 2024 Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, I provided an update regarding the status of the audit of “the purchase of a podium or lectern from Beckett Events LLC for the use of the Governor’s Office.” During the update, I informed the members that barring no delays in the finalization process, the anticipated completion date for the report would be before the end of March.
The draft report is complete. However, management response to the draft report has not been received. Management response from the Governor’s Office is due Friday, March 29, 2024. Due to granting an extension requested by the Governor’s Office to provide this management response to the draft report, the anticipated completion date is now early April.
In a follow-up email with the Arkansas Times, Norman explained that a management response is nothing out of the ordinary. “It is the auditee’s opportunity to respond to findings” in the draft report, Norman said. He added that Sanders’ response will be included in the final report.
Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) requested the audit in September, following heavy media coverage of the governor’s alleged purchase of a $19,000 lectern from Virginia Beckett. Beckett, who is also Sanders’ friend, was a paid consultant on the governor’s 2022 campaign. (Her company, Beckett Events, does not produce or sell lecterns.) The audit committee authorized the audit on October 13.
Initial public optimism that the audit would be completed quickly was short-lived. Norman told legislators in November and again in December it was unlikely that the audit would be wrapped up before the end of the year. In February, Norman said the audit was delayed in January due to holidays and bad weather. Norman told lawmakers the audit process would probably be completed by the end of March.
With multiple delays already, “Lecterngate” watchers are unlikely to be happy about any additional postponements. But that does not mean people should assume anything nefarious with this one. “The normal time for a response is two weeks,” Norman said. “The governor’s staff requested another week because of spring break.”
Reading between the lines, if an additional week makes Sanders’ response due on March 29, then it was originally due on March 22. Since the “normal time” for a response is two weeks, Sanders has likely had the draft report since around March 8.
While some people may not be thrilled about waiting an extra week, it could get worse. An additional two-month delay in releasing the report remains a possibility as well.
After auditors receive Sanders’ response, they will provide the report to Legislative Joint Auditing Committee co-chairs Sen. David Wallace (R-Leachville) and Rep. Jimmy Gazaway (R-Paragould). Wallace and Gazaway can then choose whether to release the report early at a special committee meeting or wait and present it at the committee’s next scheduled meeting, which is not until June.
Neither Wallace nor Gazaway has said yet what they ultimately plan to do. Gazaway told KATV last month that he does not know which way they will go at this point, adding that legislators could also ask auditors to answer follow-up questions raised by the initial report. “It’s just hard to say, I don’t know at this point,” Gazaway said.
The upcoming fiscal session may add another wrinkle to deciding when to release the auditors’ findings. The report will be big news and dominate at least a few news cycles when it is released, regardless of its conclusions. The fiscal session starts on April 10.
Legally, nothing prevents the report from being released during the fiscal session. Politically, however, a decision to hold the report until June so it doesn’t overshadow the entire session would not be surprising.
