Arkansas lawmakers OK plan to audit purchase of $19,000 lectern for Gov. Sanders

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas lawmakers are delving into the unusual controversy over the purchase a $19,000 lectern for Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. An all-Republican House and Senate panel voted to audit the lectern’s purchase, which has prompted questions about its seemingly high cost and claims that the governor’s office violated the state’s open-records law. The panel also voted to audit the governor’s travel and security expenditures that were retroactively shielded from public release under a new law Sanders signed last month. The lectern was purchased in June with a state credit card and has become the focus of intense scrutiny. The Arkansas GOP reimbursed the state for it in September.