Reply #40: It's even worse. Huck's gift-givers ended up in state posts.

[kskiska]

From Politico:

Mike Huckabee accepted more than 90 gifts from 21 Arkansans he appointed to state posts during his decade as governor, a Politico analysis of state public records found.

Since setting his sights on the White House, those supporters, their families and their companies have kept on giving. They contributed nearly $161,000 to a pre-presidential campaign account and Huckabee's official campaign committee since late last year, according to state and federal campaign finance records.

(snip)

Huckabee also gave appointments to givers of less extravagant gifts who have yet to appear in his campaign donation reports.

He accepted a barbecue grill from a resort owned by the family of a man he appointed to the state’s State Parks, Recreation and Travel Commission.

He accepted as gifts seemingly common services, including car repairs. He reported receiving free eye care and “eye wear” from an optometrist and an ophthalmologist — both of whom he tapped for spots on the boards overseeing their respective professions.

(snip)

When Adam's furniture gift, worth more than $70,000, was first revealed, Huckabee claimed it was his family’s to keep. He backed down after a lawsuit was filed over the furniture and his family’s use of a $60,000-a-year fund, which the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported had been used to pay for pizza, a doghouse, a magazine subscription and pantyhose for Janet Huckabee.

The suit was settled with the furniture still in the mansion and Huckabee, while admitting no wrongdoing, acknowledging a dispute “regarding reimbursements.”

more…
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7401.html