The investigation into Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ controversial lectern purchase and effort to shield records related to her security detail likely won’t be finished this year, the lead auditor at Arkansas’ nonpartisan agency that investigates government spending said Wednesday.

Sanders’ office drew widespread attention in September for the purchase of a $19,000 lectern and carrying case from a Virginia-based event design and management firm with political ties to Sanders.

Attorney and blogger Matt Campbell of the Blue Hog Report has spent months using the state Freedom of Information Act to report and scrutinize Sanders’ use of state funds and resources. He posted an invoice on X (formerly Twitter) on Sept. 15 that showed the lectern was purchased in June. (Campbell is now a reporter at the Arkansas Times.)

Auditor: Investigation into Arkansas governor’s lectern purchase unlikely to end this year

Arkansas Legislature
Frank Arey, a staff attorney with Arkansas Legislative Audit, discusses an ongoing audit into Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ controversial lectern purchase and effort to shield records related to her security detail before the Legislative Joint Auditing Executive Committee on Wednesday, November 8, 2023.

by Roby Brock (roby@talkbusiness.net)

Blue Hog Report blogger and attorney Matt Campbell said he filed a lawsuit in Pulaski County Court late Tuesday (Oct. 24) against Gov. Sarah Sanders for her office’s denial of a request for documents under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

The lawsuit, which Campbell said was filed late Tuesday afternoon but has not been processed by the court, claims the governor is in violation of the FOIA for not providing information requested. Sanders’ legal counsel, Cortney Kennedy, told Campbell the documents he was seeking are covered under the governor’s working papers exemption.

On Monday, Oct. 23, Campbell requested electronic copies by email of emails to or from First Gentleman Bryan Sanders, a copy of his Outlook calendar, and “bills of lading and other documents” that show the shipping or delivery of a $19,000 lectern ordered from Beckett Events.

Gov. Sanders sued by blogger Matt Campbell over FOIA denial