Man they got fucking robbed. Amazon has it for only $944 The Amazon review though...

If you are concerned about wasteful spending I highly recommend going with this price from Amazon

EDIT: Yes, I'm pretty sure they paid $1,000 for it and then reported $19,000 pocketing the difference. As someone who has lived their whole life in Tennessee (and has worked for a period of time in State Government), that's Southern politics 101. Days where they aren't fleecing the taxpayer are few and far between here in the Southeastern US.

The Arkansas Republican Party reimbursed the state last month for the wood-paneled and blue lectern, which the state received in August.

Is this typical for the party to reimburse the state for an elected official? If it was reimbursed from campaign funds, wouldn't that be covered by campaign finance laws? Sounds like either the Republican Party is trying to cover it up by reimbursing for it, or they're doing weird accounting to get through a loophole of campaign finance laws.

I'll be honest.. I only clicked on this article because I was curious as to what a $19,000 lectern looks like. 🤷

Sanders' entire job at the White House involved lying to the public on a regular basis. Is it any wonder she leveraged the same skill set at her next job?

So is this how Republicans are supposedly such responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars?

Sheesh, she's even giving the Pentagon a run for their money (no pun intended):

These Toilet Seat Lids Aren’t Gold-Plated but They Cost $14,000

Some say money laundering??

“This is nothing more than a manufactured controversy by left-wing activists to distract from the bold conservative reforms the governor has signed into law and is effectively implementing in Arkansas,” Henning said in a statement.

Haha so I guess "bold conservative reforms" is their new code phrase for hatred and intolerance.

The party of fiscal responsibility!

I can’t believe someone paid $19,000 for that ugly piece of junk.

That's the state that just wrecked child labor laws, right?

It should be removed one day and replaced with four empty boxes and a big lots desktop microphone.

lol literally nothing will happen because literally nothing ever does. Everything is farce now.

Republicunts. The original welfare queens.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The lectern’s purchase was first uncovered by Matthew Campbell, an attorney and blogger who has sued State Police for withholding records he had requested about Sanders’ travel and security.

Days after Campbell filed his initial suit, Sanders called a special legislative session and proposed broad exemptions to the state’s open records law.

Sanders signed into law a measure restricting the public’s access to her travel and security records after she and lawmakers backed off more widespread exemptions that faced backlash from media groups, transparency advocates and some conservatives.

According to Mars’ letter, the interference includes the governor’s office altering an invoice from Beckett Events LLC, the Virginia firm listed as the seller of the lectern.

“This is nothing more than a manufactured controversy by left-wing activists to distract from the bold conservative reforms the governor has signed into law and is effectively implementing in Arkansas,” Henning said in a statement.

Hickey’s request also asks for an audit of all matters regarding security and travel records for the governor or her office that were retroactively made confidential by the law she signed last month.

The original article contains 745 words, the summary contains 183 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

When you elect stinky fish, don't be surprised when it starts to rot. Let's be real, she should be nowhere in sight of a position of power.

That thing is hideous.

Ok I thought Lizz Truss' podium was expensive.

I mean, it is made out of wood. Have you seen lumber prices?