Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office under scrutiny for spending: 'Clear and convincing evidence' of misconduct

Travis Gettys
September 30, 2023

Former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders speaking with attendees at the 2019 Student Action Summit. (Gage Skidmore/Flickr)

A whistleblower has accused Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' office of misconduct.

Rogers-based attorney Tom Mars sent a letter to state Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) offering testimony from the whistleblower and documents to show the governor's office improperly altered and withheld public records related to its spending, reported News from the States.

"The letter says Mars’ client 'can provide clear and convincing evidence' that Sanders’ office altered and withheld documents that Little Rock attorney and blogger Matt Campbell of the Blue Hog Report requested in recent weeks," the website reported. "Campbell has been scrutinizing and reporting Sanders’ use of the Arkansas State Police airplane for in-state travel as well as her office’s spending habits and purchase of the lectern from an out-of-state events company with a state-issued credit card."

Hickey asked the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee on Wednesday to investigate the purchase of a $19,000 lectern and the retroactive shielding of government records after Sanders signed new exemptions for the Freedom of Information Act.

The whistleblower accused the governor's communications director Alexa Henning of altering a FOIA-accessible document to change the meaning and directed state officials not to share the original with the blogger and also withheld other documents that showed Amazon purchases by Sanders' office.

Sanders' staff also removed portions of FOIA-accessible email threads and directed an attorney who oversaw FOIA responses for the state to alter the contents of a flash drive for the governor's office.