One source I read mentioned $500 in credit card fees. Wow.
And yeah… empty off-brand toilet paper roll.
As it happens, $554 in credit card processing fees. That part actually makes at least some sense if a purchase of that size is made. The actual purchase: not so much.
And the lovely and not at all conflicted Attorney General has a partial defense in which he claims he is “perplexed” (his word) that the Governor’s office is considered a state agency for purposes of certain statues. That’s just…wow.
Here’s the breakdown of the costs taken from the audit, in case people are curious:
- $11,575 for the podium.
- $2,500 for a consulting fee.
- $2,200 for the road case.
- $1,225 for freight shipping and hand delivery of the podium.
- $975 for freight shipping of the road case.
- $554 for a 3% credit card processing fee
And a pdf of the legislature audit report is on the KATV website: https://katv.com/resources/pdf/556e2bc9-af93-46e5-a74a-fba093b1f612-SPSR00723.pdf
No convenience fee? No what else you gonna do fee? Tickemaster would laugh at their lack of fees.
Why a separate charge? Wouldn’t the podium be shipped in the road case?
I’d guess not, actually - I figure most people don’t travel with their podiums, so a road case wouldn’t be standard offer, and they had to buy the case for it separately, possibly from a different vendor.
No, same vendor (as far as the state is concerned) for the case. There was a single credit card payment (on June 12 2023) for the whole thing, which was invoiced to the state by Beckett Events, though it is likely they would sub-contract to separate outfits for the case and podium, which could explain the separate shipping.
Since the state is working with a single vendor, you’d think they wouldn’t simply pass along those types of costs and instead collect both bits in one place themselves first. At the very least to make sure the podium fits inside the case - which was unknown on the Arkansas side for a looong time after purported delivery.
But these are the types of questions coming up, and the answers from the AG and governor are, to put it mildly, not entirely satisfactory and some of which come across somewhat imperious.
According to the audit, seven “areas of noncompliance.” Of course, the state AG has already said he won’t pursue charges.
Here is a 20 thou lectern (SNL bit).
As above and as listed in the article, the state AG contests the notion that the Governor’s office is required to comply with some/all of those laws in the first place, claiming they apply to state agencies, which, apparently, does not include the Governor’s office or other executive offices.
That sort of reasoning takes some real chutzpah but, after her time in the White House, is unsurprising from Sanders or any of her coterie.