LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas’s Legislative Joint Auditing Committee has approved a request by Republican Sen. Jimmy Hickey Jr. (R-Texarkana) for a state audit into Governor Sanders's office's involvement in both the purchase of a $19,000 lectern, as well as the special session called earlier this year.
Since the purchase of the lectern, the Republican party of Arkansas has privately reimbursed the lectern.
Sen. Hickey says emails and documents released through the FOIA act prompted the requested audit.
The audit includes three items:
- An inspection of all expenditures related to the lectern’s purchase
- An inspection of all matters involving the Governor and her office in relation to the 2023 special session
- A request to create a policy and procedure to conduct the audit and any similar requests in the future
While items one and three were passed unanimously, item two was met with a subsequent motion by Representative Grant Hodges to table it until next month in an effort to narrow the audit's focus.
“Seems a bit like a fishing expedition to me. So I'm asking we table it and get a little more clarity, a little more focused about what the ask is on this," Representative Hodges said.
Representative Hodges was ultimately shot down, and item two of the audit passed along with the others.
State Representative Tippi McCullough doesn’t serve on the committee, but said, “I think the public and most of us in the legislature want there to be a full investigation ... So yeah, I think I think the end result was the correct one."
During a visit to Springdale last week, Governor Sanders said she welcomes the audit.
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