FOIA lawsuit over Arkansas Gov. Sanders' lectern purchase dismissed on procedural grounds

A Pulaski County circuit judge on Tuesday dismissed on procedural grounds a lawsuit alleging Arkansas Freedom of Information Act violations against Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

The complaint was filed by Matt Campbell of the Blue Hog Report in October 2023 after he was denied certain documents related to the governor’s purchase of a $19,000 lectern with public funds, including bills of lading and emails to and from first gentleman Bryan Sanders.

Campbell was one of the first to draw attention to the purchase of the lectern, which then blew up into a controversy some have dubbed as “Lecterngate,” leading to a legislative audit that wrapped up in April.

The lectern was paid for with a state credit card, before it was delivered, and later reimbursed by the Republican Party of Arkansas. The audit found that several of the governor's actions were potentially in violation of state law.

In hearings last month before the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee, members of Sanders’ administration denied any wrongdoing, saying no mistakes had been made. The purchase had previously been explained as an “accounting error.”

Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a motion to dismiss the case on Monday after Campbell didn’t serve certain paperwork to the governor’s office within the required window.

This is the first movement in the case since Campbell requested more time to serve that paperwork from Judge Latonya Honorable in February.

“This was the proper outcome for this baseless case after Mr. Campbell failed to serve process within 120 days of filing the complaint — the second time this year he has had a case dismissed for failure to serve process,” Griffin said in a written statement Tuesday.

“It’s unfortunate that cases like this waste taxpayer dollars and clog up our judicial system.”

Campbell, who practiced law before becoming a journalist, in an email Thursday called Griffin’s statement “incredibly embarrassing coming from a state official who knows better.”

“I was already planning on amending that lawsuit to include additional FOIA violations by the Governor's Office," he said.

“I was very busy after the first of the year, however, and decided that it would be easier to just wait until I had a little time to re-draft the complaint and then just refile the whole thing," Campbell said. "That's exactly what I'll do now, too.”

He said the dismissal will only serve to “speed up how quickly the governor will get sued for additional FOIA violations.”

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Arkansas Gov. Sanders lectern FOIA lawsuit dismissed on technicality