Hard to argue with state legislators who smell a rat in efforts to let off the hook a state employee who auditors say fraudulently misspent more than $100,000 in state money. He’s repaid the money. But payback isn’t enough when you rob a bank. It shouldn’t be enough when you rob the state, if the facts bear that out. (Stephens Media article suggets that allowing restitution in this case has put up a roadblock to prosecution.)
Does anybody know why Mike Huckabee intervened in this case on behalf of leniency for the man accused of the misspending, John Harris, the former head of the state architects board? It’s hard to believe there’s not a personal connection here of some sort. Perhaps it’s The Huckster’s own history of funky bookkeeping that makes him sympathetic to others. Readers?