Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signed a law Thursday restricting release of her travel and security records after the Legislature wrapped up a special session marked by a fight to more broadly scale back the state Freedom of Information Act.

The law, which took effect immediately, allows the state to wall off details about the security provided the GOP governor and other constitutional officers, including who travels on the State Police airplane and the cost of individual trips. Proposed changes to the 1967 law protecting the public’s access to government records were among several items Sanders had placed on the agenda for a session that met this week.

Sanders has argued the restrictions are needed to protect her and her family, citing threats she’s faced since taking office and going back to her time as White House press secretary for former President Donald Trump.

  • Syldon@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    I can understand restrictions on upcoming events, but there is nothing wrong with releasing them after they have been used. It is not like someone is going to go back in time to commit an offence.

    • matchphoenix@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      Seems like she doesn’t want the press that DeSantis keeps getting for flying on rich donors’ planes. This is basically a sign on her office saying, “open for corruption”.

      • Syldon@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        A honest politician is usually the more open one. You would think that getting threats would be an indicator she is doing something upsets people, and she wants to double down on the crazy.

          • Syldon@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Are you suggesting that politicians create issues to hide other more heinous issues? That would just be dead catting.

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      1 year ago

      Hah! She’s a step ahead of you. She’s thinking of when there’s a time machine! (/s if that wasn’t clear)

    • ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It is not like someone is going to go back in time to commit an offence.

      They might if somebody else has already gone back and killed baby Hitler.

  • ATQ@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Sanders was getting appropriately shit on for abusing the resources of her office for personal gain. This law allows her to abuse her office “more secretly”.

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    1 year ago

    Isn’t there a federal law that explicitly says the opposite regarding these and other types of records?

    They want to become kkkings of their state and rule for life.

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      1 year ago

      Most states have their own version but I don’t see where the federal law applies to states specifically.

      I think this is an attempt to block their own state law.

  • bluestribute@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So instead of electing a black rocket scientist, Republicans elected someone who’s blatantly stealing their money and calling it legal?

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      To be fair, being a good scientist doesn’t guarantee that you’re going to be a good governor. They’re very different skillsets.

      To be even MORE fair though, being a former Trump appointee who hasn’t rebuked him by now DOES guarantee that you’re a liar and would steal from children with cancer (like Jr and Eric did) if it could benefit you. The lying part goes triple for press secretaries and other spokespeople, of course.

  • BossDj@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I want to hear her say the sentence, “We need to keep the cost of the trips a secret to protect my family.”

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      1 year ago

      they aren’t in the bottom 20 percent (approx) in public school funding for nothing.

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    1 year ago

    And just like in Florida, this will be used to hide her activities & vacations with donors.

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    1 year ago

    Not that hard to track her plane flights, hotels, restaurants. From there, you can pretty much figure out the cost.

    • Tangent5280@lemmy.world
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      I dont think so. Any “reasonable estimate” we can make is going to be soo much smaller than the real figures. Can you manage a 100k USD dinner bill? They probably could pretty easily.