Arkansas lawmakers question governor’s staff about purchase of $19,000 lectern cited by audit

— Arkansas lawmakers on Tuesday pointedly questioned Gov. “But I do think the lesson learned could be worth far more than that if we would just accept the fact that it was bad judgement and it was carelessness.” The audit released Monday said the governor’s office potentially violated Arkansas laws on purchasing, state property and the handling of government records. The legislative audit said Sanders’ office potentially violated state law by paying for the lectern before it was delivered and not following steps laid out in Arkansas law for agencies to dispose of state property. The audit also said Sanders’ office potentially illegally tampered with public records when the words “to be reimbursed” were added to the original invoice for the lectern only after the state GOP paid for it in September. Democratic Rep. Tippi McCullough, the House minority leader, asked Deere why Sanders posted a video shortly after the audit was released Monday that featured the lectern, a snippet of a Jay-Z song and the words “Come and Take It.” “It kind of felt like spiking the football before we’d been through the whole process,” McCullough said.