The office of Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders oversaw the purchase of a $19,000 lectern for use by the governor by way of a state credit card in June, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported, shedding new light on the podiumgate scandal. Emailsobtained by the Democrat-Gazette show aides to the governor and Department of Transformation and Shared Service staff were behind the purchase of the pricey dais. Sanders has said the purchase was later reimbursed by the Republican Party of Arkansas, meaning taxpayers ultimately did not bear the costs. Sanders’ spokeswoman Alexa Henning told the Democrat-Gazette that the scandal is “nothing more than a manufactured controversy by left-wing activists to distract from the bold, conservative reforms the governor has signed into law and is effectively implementing in Arkansas.” Sanders herself has acknowledged that “I think the process wasn’t as clean as it should have been.”
