The Lap of Luxury

Arkansans Are Paying Twice for Booze and First-Class Travel for California Prison Consultant

For at least the last two decades, Arkansas has been touted as a conservatively run, fiscally responsible state—we have a balanced budget via annual adjustments to the Revenue Stabilization Act and generally run a surplus that, although recently dwindling, at least isn’t a deficit.

Unfortunately for the state and all its taxpayers, the current administration is hell bent on building (or at least trying to build) a mega prison through a process and at a location that are all but laughably bad. As we recently reported, not only did the State start the project without sufficient funding, but we also now know that the expenses being reimbursed for this project aren’t exactly what you might expect.

Alcohol, First-Class Travel, & Valet—In Duplicate

Arkansas taxpayers are footing the bill not just for Vanir’s “management” fees and extensive travel, but for first-class flights, luxury hotels, and even alcohol—sometimes twice via duplicate expense reports. These aren't padded costs to be expected in the normal course of business; they're violations of Arkansas law and policy, and it’s taken the Department of Corrections almost a year to catch on and push back.

On July 14th, Department of Corrections’ Chief Financial Officer, Chad Brown, issued a formal memo to Vanir, highlighting several egregious billing practices:

• Alcohol charged to the state despite an explicit prohibition under Arkansas travel policy.

• First class airfare billed to taxpayers, with no justification other than comfort.

• Hotel rates exceeding allowed nightly maximums, with ADC begrudgingly agreeing to reimburse at a flat $200 per night “for these specific invoices” but warning Vanir not to do it again.

• Valet services, hotel points, and duplicate receipts—all impermissible, all submitted for reimbursement.

This is more than just a few honest mistakes. This is ten months’ worth of invoices expected to be paid by hardworking Arkansans to California-based consultants flying first-class into our state, expensing boozy steakhouse dinners, tacking on valet parking and hotel reward points, then billing us for it—in duplicate.

All while working on a prison project that the legislature has refused to fund five times.

But hey, at least you’re tipping 20%.

Money Please.

There’s a difference between responsible oversight and a blank check—and based on the invoices and internal memos we’ve reviewed, it’s clear that the State is handing California-based Vanir the latter. Unfortunately, it appears we were correct when we wrote about the rationale for our inherent distrust of Vanir.

Take Invoice 180726 for January 2025. Vanir charged the state:

• $1,119.18 for a single airfare by Project Director Michael Beaber.

• $1,063.57 for Project Manager Luann Salado’s lodging—more than five times the federal per diem for some regions of Arkansas.

• $580.41 for a "business meal" by Principal-in-Charge Codi Newsom, submitted with no itemized detail. Or the one she asked for the alcohol and desserts to be crossed out, so they don’t see it.

• Valet services, duplicate mileage receipts, and multiple upgrades clearly flagged by Department of Correction’s memo as violations of policy.

Or look at Invoice 180674 for December 2024. Vanir billed:

• $915.95 for one employee's airfare.

• $567.84 for Beaber’s hotel stay.

• Over $400 in valet and parking fees, and another $378.36 in rental car charges in the same invoice.

To date, Vanir has billed you a total of $46,916.89. And the expense reports read less like travel for work and more like a lavish weekend getaway on the State’s dime—all for a project only one person in this state actually wants in its current iteration.

Arkansas Is Paying a Premium & Getting Nothing in Return.

Not only are you paying Vanir to jet set around the country living large, but it also seems like the only thing they’re capable of doing is missing deadlines, increasing the ultimate cost of the project, fabricating excuses, refusing to meet with lawmakers, and kicking the can down the road.

Surprising to no one, the deadline was flubbed—and, just like that, more money comes out of your pocket.

This kind of waste wouldn’t be happening if:

1. We lived the “Arkansas First” mantra as much as the administration preaches it. Do we not have an Arkansan company capable of doing this work? Are our state agencies too incompetent to undertake a capital project on their own? It appears our government thinks so.

2. We weren’t rushing forward with a massive prison project in Franklin County that’s deeply unpopular, likely unlawful, has yet to be properly studied, and perhaps most importantly, still lacks legislative funding.

We’ve now burned through nearly $400k in five months and put ourselves on the hook for over $75m more for Vanir to do little more than twiddle their thumbs and sip champagne—and we’re only barely getting started. Remember, there’s not even a plan for this thing yet.

Backbone, Anyone?

At a time when rural counties are struggling to keep hospitals open and Arkansans are breaking their backs to keep food on the table, our government is hemorrhaging public funds on valet parking and Merlot. Or was it Reisling and Malbec? There are rumblings, some not so subtle, that the powers that be are growing increasingly displeased with the Franklin County location and Vanir’s conduct. Unsurprising, given that everyone involved with this project disaster looks more foolish by the day.

If the Board of Corrections can muster the courage, it has yet another opportunity to take control of this fiasco at its next meeting on August 1st. And, while they can’t stop at merely asking questions without taking action, they can certainly start by asking why the people of Arkansas are paying a premium for consultants to live like queens while our communities are left footing the bill.

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Happy Wednesday Arkansas—we hope you enjoy toiling the rest of the week away to buy someone a $10 latte in San Diego thanks to your government viewing you as nothing more than walking ATM.

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