As 'Podiumgate' roils Arkansas, governor's office accused of criminal cover-up

by Hunter for Daily Kos




One of the hallmarks of New Republicanism, the thing that Donald Trump so expertly latched onto, is an insistence on lying about everything, all the time, even in situations where the lies can easily be disproven or aren't even advantageous to begin with.

The latest example comes to us from Arkansas, where the Arkansas Times has been covering the mysterious case of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' new $19,000 custom-ordered podium. That is not a typo: Last June, Sanders' office evidently decided that she, of all people, could not possibly post up for one of her trademark lie-a-thons at a merely expensive-as-hell $3,000 or $5,000 luxury podium. Instead, she needed a new custom-built, state-of-the-art (?) version, complete with custom travel case, that costs much, much more.

Last month the public found out about that via an Arkansas Freedom of Information Act public records request, known as a FOIA, and all hell broke loose as Sanders' office tried to explain how and why they spent nearly $20,000 on a single damn podium, with the story getting sketchier and sketchier as time went on.

Sanders' spokeswoman called the purchase of the podium with a state credit card an "accounting error," with the state eventually being reimbursed by the real purchasers, the Republican Party of Arkansas. Oh, and the Republican Party of Arkansas would be letting other officials use the podium too, not just the governor of Arkansas.

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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/10/2/2196872/-As-Podiumgate-roils-Arkansas-governor-s-office-accused-of-criminal-cover-up