Eyeing A Trump Cabinet Position, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders Is Roasted By Critics Who Say She’s Neglecting Her Day Job

Critics are blasting Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) for her poor management of the state of Arkansas while she eyes the national spotlight. 

Arkansas chicken growers are still reeling after the state euthanized a million chickens last year.

The Huckabee-run Arkansas Department of Agriculture helped kill the chickens for Cooks Venture, a poultry firm closed due to financial issues.

The state Legislature’s Joint Committee on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development heard testimony this month that the cull had been poorly managed and messaged. 

It’s just the latest scandal to beset the Huckabee administration, which is in turmoil as the governor eyes a potential cabinet position in a second Trump administration.

In March 2023, Sanders signed House Bill 1410, also known as the Youth Hiring Act of 2023, which would eliminate a measure requiring employers to procure work certificates for children under the age of 16.

Critics said it was a thinly veiled attempt to legalize child labor and lower worker costs. 

Huckabee spokesperson Alexa Henning said in a statement that “the governor believes protecting kids is most important, but this permit was an arbitrary burden on parents to get permission from the government for their child to get a job.” 

Henning claimed that “all child labor laws that actually protect children still apply” and businesses must still adhere to them “just as they are required to do now.”

Children under 16 must confirm their age and get their parents’ or guardians’ written permission before the state’s Division of Labor sends out a work certificate. The bill eliminates the necessity for children under 16 to have a work certificate as a prerequisite for their employment.

Sanders’ 2020 book hinted at her national ambitions. In Speaking for Myself: Faith, Freedom, and the Fight of Our Lives Inside the Trump White House, Sanders mentioned the time when former president Donald Trump jokingly asked her to travel to North Korea and “take one for the team.”

This was after Trump concluded that the North Korean Supreme Leader, Kim Jong-Un, flirted with her during the 2018 Singapore summit.