Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders' buddies over in the state's Department of Public Safety, specifically her BFF, Secretary Mike Hagar, are requesting $1.2 million in American Rescue Plan Funds to beef up the governor's security detail.
The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's Mike Wickline reported Tuesday that the request was discussed during a Legislative Council meeting that morning.
The public safety department also wants more than $3 million in state restricted reserve funds for an Arkansas State Police Troop School and $450,000 for new uniforms. We can't help but be a little excited to see the fashion police in their new outfits.
The biggest issue with the request for a million bucks for the governor's security is that the public will never know how it is being spent, and we don't trust them to do what's right when no one is looking.
The Arkansas Legislature managed to change part of Arkansas's Freedom of Information Act last year to shield from media and the public records and communications about the governor's and other state officials' security and travel. The law buries those records forever, meaning that even expenses and passenger manifests from trips taken long ago will remain secret for all eternity. Did any friends catch a ride on the state police plane on the state's dime? Did Arkansas taxpayers pick up the tab for things we shouldn't have been expected to pay for? State government told us to just trust them on all this, and an effort to drag public records back out into the sunshine fell short this summer.
Hagar sent a letter at the end of August to the state Department of Finance and Administration requesting funds "for enhanced security efforts of the Executive Protection Detail, including equipment and related professional services," the Democrat-Gazette reported.
Perhaps scared for their own safety, "none of the lawmakers attending the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Subcommittee meeting Tuesday morning asked any questions about the request for American Rescue Plan funds during the meeting," the Democrat-Gazette reported.
Why not? We sure have some questions.
Such as, have there been any real threats to the security of the governor? Has her security detail had to fend off any attackers? Do any of the governor's groupies make armored lecterns?
In Hagar's Aug. 31 letter, he justified the funding request by pointing to a woman in Fort Smith who pleaded guilty to assaulting a trooper and threatening to blow up the governor's office. While the woman may have some suppressed anger towards Sanders, Sebastian County's prosecuting attorney said he didn't think she was actually capable of doing any real harm, like building a bomb and planting it in the state Capitol. (The police officer didn't suffer any serious injuries.)
Arkansas Times emailed the state Department of Public Safety to ask if there have been other threats against the governor, but so far we have not received a response.
Sanders' funding request probably should not surprise anyone given her former boss, Donald Trump, was the target of two recent failed assassination attempts.
Arkansas has about $77 million left to spend of the $1.6 billion it received from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, a $1.9 trillion program to help the country recover from the lingering effects of the pandemic. If the remaining money isn't committed to projects by the end of this year, it has to be paid back.
There are probably about a million things that million dollars could be spent on in a state that ranks just about last in almost every single metric for education, health, food insecurity, poverty, etc. etc. etc.
Just a hunch, but maybe if the governor spent more time focused on improving the lives of the 480,000 Arkansans who live in poverty, instead of spreading divisive political narratives that keep everyone angry and riled up, she might not feel the need to spend more money on her security apparatus to begin with.