Gazaway declined to comment on the report’s findings.
The committee last year approved the request to review the purchase of the lectern, which had drawn nationwide scrutiny over its costs and questions about public records surrounding it.
The 3 1/4-foot-tall (1-meter-tall) blue and wood-paneled lectern was bought in June with a state credit card for $19,029.25 from an events company in Virginia. The Republican Party of Arkansas reimbursed the state for the purchase on Sept. 14, and Sanders’ office has called the use of the state credit card an accounting error. Sanders’ office said it received the lectern in August.
Sanders, a Republican who served as press secretary for former President Donald Trump, has dismissed questions about the lectern as a “manufactured controversy,” and the item has not been seen at her public events.
The audit had been expected to be completed by the end of March. But the state’s legislative auditor last month said Sanders’ office had been given an extension to submit its response to the audit’s findings.
