阿肯色州州长。莎拉·哈克比·桑德斯卷入了一场被评论家和媒体称为# LecternGate或#PodiumGate的争议，这是一个听起来很傻的名字，指的是一个潜在的严重问题，涉及一笔不寻常的税款支付和对这笔钱的支出收据的修改。
虽然有许多曲折，但事件的核心是桑德斯办公室在6月份用州发行的信用卡购买了一张19029.25美元的发票，后来该州共和党报销了这笔费用，据称是为了定制一个讲台。
然而现在，那次购买以及最终被披露的不同寻常的方式正被视为所谓的浪费或不当行为而受到审查。州议会最近启动了一项正在进行的审计，共和党新星、前特朗普白宫官员桑德斯表示，她对此表示欢迎。没有一个参与购买的人被指控犯罪。
五个数字的讲台，或其附带的旅行箱，从未被使用过，讲台只被拍过一次，九月下旬。
讲台大约19 000美元的价格明显高于通过标准零售方式购买的价格。一个零售商在网上写道他们自己的讲台卖7000美元左右。桑德斯办公室外的两名政治消息人士对美国广播公司新闻表示，19，029.25美元超过了他们在采购上的收费或支出。
桑德斯上周表示，她的演讲台是根据身材的特定高度建造的，在此前取笑其“特殊功能”后，设计为“获得最佳音质”。
她和她的助手将整件事斥为“一场制造的争论”，并表示她很高兴购买和报销正在接受审计。
“州长…鼓励立法者毫不拖延地完成它，”桑德斯的发言人Alexa Henning在给ABC新闻的一份声明中说。“这只不过是左翼活动分子制造的争议，以转移对立法机构已经通过、州长已经签署成为法律并在阿肯色州有效实施的大胆保守改革的注意力。”
2023年5月2日，阿肯色州州长萨拉·哈克比·桑德斯在加利福尼亚州贝弗利山举行的米尔肯研究所全球会议上发表讲话。
帕特里克·t·法伦/法新社
#PodiumGate是如何公开的
此事首次曝光是因为阿肯色州律师马特·坎贝尔(Matt Campbell)是进步博客“蓝猪报告”(Blue Hog Report)的创始人，他在6月份要求提供与桑德斯前往巴黎航展后的旅行和安全有关的公共记录。
坎贝尔说他收到了不完整的回报，随后对该州发起了法律诉讼。阿肯色州坚持说它遵守了公共记录法。
桑德斯召集了一次特别立法会议，最终得以收紧该州的公共记录法尽管其他一些共和党人强烈反对限制政府透明度，她还是以家人的安全为由。
在那次特别会议期间，坎贝尔公开质疑领奖台报酬，他在收到的部分记录中发现了这一细节。
坎贝尔还公开发布了他收到的许多政府记录，这些记录已经过ABC新闻的审查。桑德斯的办公室没有质疑他们的合法性。
从那以后，事情越闹越大，首先是当地记者，然后是全国媒体更密切地关注发生了什么。
这笔19，029.25美元的交易与总部位于弗吉尼亚州的精品活动管理公司Beckett Events LLC 6月8日的发票有关，该发票被描述为定制的猎鹰讲台、附带的公路车和3%的信用卡手续费。
经营贝克特活动有限责任公司(Beckett Events LLC)的弗吉尼亚·贝克特(Virginia Beckett)和汉娜·塞勒姆·斯通(Hannah Salem Stone)与桑德斯有关系:他们之前受雇于桑德斯的办公室，帮助提前规划她的州长就职典礼以及随后对总统乔·拜登(Joe Biden)国情咨文的回应。他们也参加了6月的巴黎航展。(Beckett Events没有回应置评请求。)
阿肯色州共和党最终通过一张日期为9月14日的支票偿还了该州19，029.25美元的付款——只是在坎贝尔提醒注意之后。
根据坎贝尔公布的公共记录，事后桑德斯的行政助理也修改了讲台发票，添加了“待报销”的批注。
桑德斯的发言人亨宁(Henning)表示，在讲台上使用州信用卡是“一个会计错误”。
一封邮件本月浮出水面由自由调查记者杰伊·奥尔西根据坎贝尔早期的请求，显示了阿肯色州转型和共享服务部的一名财务经理描述了桑德斯的行政助理如何被指示将“待报销”添加到原始发票上，但被告知不要注明日期。电子邮件没有指出是谁告诉助理更改发票，但没有注明更改日期。
当桑德斯上周被问及是谁指示助手添加一张便条，而不是注明日期时，他只说“这是我们办公室的标准程序。”
更多的邮件会引发更多的问题
值得注意的是，坎贝尔获得的州政府雇员之间的电子邮件显示，州长办公室在购买讲台前也曾寻求批准，以提高州信用卡的消费限额。美国广播公司新闻频道(ABC News)也看过这些电子邮件。
桑德斯的发言人亨宁，告诉美联社“收据上加了一条说明，以便准确地反映出该州正在用州长为她的就职典礼筹集的私人资金偿还讲台费用，而且支票上的日期也正确无误。”
她还坚持说，讲台“不是[打算]严格供州长使用的。”
桑德斯的助手书写在5月11日给阿肯色州转型和共享服务部的一名员工的电子邮件中，他说“我们已经订购了一个定制的讲台”，其费用“大约在10K”
该助理询问他们如何在6月30日前向Beckett Events LLC付款。
5月31日，这位助理再次发邮件说，他们有定价，供应商要求预先付款:“州长和(另一名官员)以前都用过这个供应商，所以他们批准了购买，”她写道。
在特别立法会议期间，随着讲台上的问题越来越多，这名助理在9月11日的电子邮件中写道，州长办公室在8月9日通过货运公司收到了讲台。国家没有公布任何送达收据。
桑德斯的父亲、前州长迈克·哈克比(Mike Huckabee)手下的阿肯色州警察局局长汤姆·马尔斯(Tom Mars)声称，他代表一名前州雇员，后者是一名举报者，可以证明桑德斯的办公室被不当改造，并试图向坎贝尔隐瞒公共记录，桑德斯否认了这一指控。
Mars拒绝向ABC新闻透露其客户的身份。
接下来会发生什么?
阿肯色州立法联合审计委员会开始调查讲台的采购。
马尔斯告诉美国广播公司新闻，他的客户上周参加了那次审计的采访，他本人也联系了联邦执法当局，但他拒绝透露他联系的机构。
桑德斯说她不想被人看到站在讲台上，因为这会分散注意力。
“我想如果我这样做了，除了我们今天实际采取的重要行动，你不会谈论其他任何事情，”她上周说。“虽然我们专注于实际影响我们州和阿肯色州的事情，但媒体希望把所有时间都花在那些坦率地说没有影响的事情上。”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders defends herself from podium controversy after unusual $19K payment
Arkansas Gov.Sarah Huckabee Sandersis embroiled in a controversy dubbed by critics and the media as #LecternGate or #PodiumGate -- a silly-sounding name for a potentially serious issue involving an unusual payment with tax dollars and an alteration to the receipt of how that money was spent.
While there have been many twists and turns, at the heart of the incident is an invoice for a $19,029.25 purchase that was made in June by Sanders' office with a state-issued credit card and later reimbursed by the state's Republican Party, purportedly for a custom-made lectern.
Now, however, that purchase and the unusual way in which it was eventually revealed are drawing scrutiny as alleged waste or wrongdoing. The state Legislature recently launched an ongoing audit, which Sanders, a rising Republican star and former Trump White House official, has said she welcomes. No one involved in the purchase has been charged with a crime.
The five-figure podium, or its accompanying traveling case, have never been seen in use and the podium has only beenphotographed once, in late September.
The approximately $19,000 cost for the podium is notably higher than could be purchased via standard retail means. One retailerwrote onlinethat their own lecterns sell for around $7,000. And two political sources outside of Sanders' office with experience producing podiums and the costs associated with them told ABC News that $19,029.25 is more than they would have charged or spent on the procurement.
Sanders said last week that her lectern was built with a specific height for stature and designed "to get the best sound quality" after previously teasing its "special features."
She and her aides have dismissed the whole thing as "a manufactured controversy" and said she is happy the purchase and the reimbursement are being audited.
"The governor … encourages legislators to complete it without delay," Sanders' spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement to ABC News. "This is nothing more than a manufactured controversy by left wing activists to distract from the bold conservative reforms the legislature has passed and the governor has signed into law and is effectively implementing in Arkansas."
How #PodiumGate became public
The matter first came to light because Arkansas attorney Matt Campbell, founder of the progressive blog "Blue Hog Report," requested public records in June related to Sanders' travel and security after she traveled to the Paris Air Show.
Campbell then launched a legal battle against the state after he said he received incomplete returns. Arkansas insists it complied with the public records law.
Sanders called a special legislative session and ultimately was ableto tighten the state's public records law, citing her family's safety despite outcry even from some other Republicans about curbing government transparency.
During that special session, Campbell publicly questioned the podium payment, which he had found detailed in the partial records he received.
Campbell has also publicly released many of the government records he received, which have been reviewed by ABC News. Sanders' office has not disputed their legitimacy.
From there, it spiraled, first with local journalists and then the national media looking more closely at what happened.
The $19,029.25 purchase is linked to a June 8 invoice from Beckett Events LLC, a boutique event management company based in Virginia, for what was described as a Custom Falcon Podium, the accompanying road case and a 3% credit card processing fee.
Virginia Beckett and Hannah Salem Stone, who run Beckett Events LLC, have ties to Sanders: They were previously hired by Sanders' office to help with advance planning on her gubernatorial inauguration and subsequent response to President Joe Biden's State of the Union address. They were also at the Paris Air Show in June. (Beckett Events did not respond to requests for comment.)
The Arkansas Republican Party ultimately reimbursed the state for the $19,029.25 payment via a check dated Sept. 14 -- only after Campbell called attention to it.
According to the public records Campbell released, the lectern invoice was also altered after the fact by Sanders' executive assistant, to add the “To Be Reimbursed” notation.
Henning, Sanders spokesperson, has said the use of a state credit card for the lectern was "an accounting error."
An emailsurfaced this monthby Jay Orsi, a freelance investigative journalist, from an earlier Campbell request, shows a fiscal manager at the Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services describe how Sanders' executive assistant was instructed to add the "To Be Reimbursed" to the original invoice -- but told not to date it. The email does not indicate who told the assistant to change the invoice but not date that change.
Sanders, when asked last week who gave the assistant the instruction to add a note and not date it, said only that "it went through standard protocol in our office."
More emails raise more questions
Notably, the governor's office had also sought approval before the lectern purchase to increase the state credit card's spending limit, according to the emails between state employees obtained by Campbell and reviewed by ABC News.
Henning, Sanders' spokesperson,told The Associated Press: "A note was added to the receipt so that it would accurately reflect that the state was being reimbursed for the podium with private funding the governor raised for her inauguration and the check was properly dated."
She has also maintained that the podium was "not [intended] strictly for use by the Governor."
Sanders' assistant originallywrotein an email to an employee at the Arkansas Department of Transformation and Shared Services on May 11 that "we have a custom podium on order" and that it would cost "around 10K."
The assistant asked how they could make the payment to Beckett Events LLC before June 30.
On May 31, the assistant emailed again to say they had pricing and that the vendor required payment up front: "Both the governor and [another official] have used this vendor before, so they approve the purchase," she wrote.
During the special legislative session, as questions swirled around the lectern, the assistant wrote in an email on Sept. 11 that the governor's office received the lectern via freight carrier on Aug. 9. The state has not made public any receipt of delivery.
Tom Mars, who served as the Arkansas State Police director under former Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sanders' father, claims to represent a former state employee-turned-whistleblower who can prove Sanders' office improperly altered and sought to withhold public records from Campbell, an accusation that Sanders denies.
Mars declined to identify his client to ABC News.
What happens next?
The Arkansas Legislative Joint Audit Committee opened the probe into the lectern's procurement.
Mars told ABC News that his client appeared for an interview last week for that audit -- and that he has personally contacted federal law enforcement authorities, but he declined to specify the agencies he reached out to.
Sanders has said she doesn't intend to be seen with the lectern, because it is a distraction.
"I figure if I do, you would talk about nothing else instead of the important actions we're actually taking today," she said last week. "While we are focused on things that actually impact our state and impact Arkansas, the media wants to spend all of their time focused on things that frankly don't."
