A $1,000 pair of cufflinks from a supporter, tens of thousands of dollars of clothing from a wealthy businessman and thousands in gift certificates from staff and appointees were among the lavish gifts given to Republican presidential candidate and unexpected frontrunner Mike Huckabee while he was governor of Arkansas.
The gifts fell within Arkansas’s ethics rules but have raised questions among the governor's political opponents and ethics analysts.
“The reason the people gift is because he’s a public official,” said Robert Stern, president of the Centre for Governmental Studies, a non-profit ethics research organisation. “It’s a business decision.”
A review of state records by the Guardian indicates that during his more than 10 years as governor, Huckabee received thousands of dollars in presents almost every year.
In addition, some former Huckabee staff and appointees acknowledged to the Guardian that Huckabee’s chief of staff solicited contributions from them for Christmas gifts for the governor.
Huckabee’s chief source of largesse was Jennings Osborne, a Little Rock businessman who made his money in the medical testing business.
In 1996, Huckabee’s first year as governor, Osborne bought furniture for the governor’s office and sent $200 flower arrangements to the governor’s mansion every week. He also bought Huckabee gift certificates to clothing boutiques, 200 copies of a book Huckabee wrote, ties and air travel.
He bought Huckabee more than $20,000 of clothing and spent $7,500 on a party for the governor’s staff, Huckabee’s statements of financial interest show. A former top Huckabee staffer said the governor saw nothing wrong with Osborne’s gifts.
“It was because of his background as a preacher,” said the staffer, “They typically get gifts.” Interestingly Huckabee appointed Osborne to the War Memorial Stadium Commission, which oversees the football arena where the University of Arkansas Razorbacks play in Little Rock.
A former state senator, Bill Gwatney, now chairman of the state Democratic party, said the gifts were “indecent”, especially in a poor state such as Arkansas.
