I just finished asking the Department of Finance and Administration for copies of the documents related to the emergency spending of the last three years of Mike Huckabee’s tenure. The media has shown a lot of interest in the destruction of the hard drives, but I suspect that there are other legal issues, related to public spending, that will overshadow the issue of the destruction of the hard drives.
I have a question for anyone who wants to defend Huckabee’s actions. How do you argue that the desire to destroy hard drives constitutes an “emergency?” Arkansas state law states in pertinent part that:
A.C.A. § 19-2-404. Emergency expenditures.
(a)(1) In the event of riots or threatened riots; sabotage, public insurrection, or threatened insurrection; storm, flood, famine, or other public calamity which jeopardizes the public peace, health, and safety of citizens of Arkansas that calls for immediate action, the Governor is delegated and authorized by the General Assembly to declare an emergency to exist and to issue a proclamation declaring an emergency to exist.
(2) Other requests for utilization of this appropriation shall be submitted for prior review by the Governor to a Governor’s Emergency Fund Review Committee, meeting in committee, composed of the chairmen and vice chairmen of the Legislative Joint Auditing Committee and Legislative Council.
Surely these expenditures don’t fall within subsection (a)(1), unless the Huckabee team had threatened insurrection or rioting unless the hard drives were destroyed. Given the unlikelihood of such a scenario, I want to see the reviews by the legislative officers designated in the law, in which they determine that destroying hard drives is a proper use of public funds.
I have a second question. Why wouldn’t Huckabee simply use readily available software to thoroughly erase the hard drives and leave them in the computers? Are public employees to unreliable to trust to do such a job? Surely the cost would be minimal. The skill level necessary for such a task is not particularly high. Then there would be no hard drives to destroy and none to replace.
Oscar Stilley's blog 
September 20, 2007 at 11:06 am
I totally agree with you Oscar! There’s never a need to destroy a hard drive (HDD). I have professional software at my home office and it writes the disk with several different Algorithms including:
Department of Defense: US DoD 5220.22-M
Naval Information Systems Management Center: NAVSO P-5239-26 (RLL)
United States – Naval Information Systems Management Center: NAVSO P-5239-26 (MFM)
Air Force System Security Instruction 5020: AFSSI-5020
Russian Federation – Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology: GOST P50739-95
Germany – Federal Ministry of the Interior: VSITR
VERY SECURE industry trusted data destruction algorithms:
ThE ONE I USE >> Peter Gutmann’s algorithm, Bruce Schneier’s algorithm.
So it just goes to show the taxpayer that OUR government hires Master Degreed “F Grade” People as I never graduated HS and have a GED and I guarantee I could’ve wiped that drive in two hours or less with no data left to be recovered EVER. Believe me I have tested the software by running Peter Gutmann’s Alg. 3 times only AFTER Formatting the drive and then tried to recover anything bot no avail.
Ultimatly the ONLY true way to destroy data on a HDD is to remove the cover and all of the magnetic discs and smash them with a hammer..if you do this take the two magnets out of the HDD as they are wind proof on your refriderator and can only be removed by sliding them to the edge.
Keep up your excellent work Oscar, there are more people in this town then you think that stand behind your beliefs.
April 11, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Mr. Stilley, I read Jim Parsons vs. Mike Huckabee’s law suit re the hard drive and other issues of Mike Huckabee. It is unbelievable that a former governor would so grossly misappropriate the people’s money. He be must be punished for spending states treasury on everything that is NOT of an emergency use. It appears that most of the misspending is on what would more likely support his political advancement. Also I noticed that Huckabee did NOT report $40,000 in contributions. This is also grossly unethical and illegal.
When will all this exposed wrongdoing committed by Huckabee stop? Ever?
Well I think an ethics complaint should be filed against him.
April 21, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Correction: I see in the AR DEM GAZ, Saturday, April 19 that it was not about the money reported, it was worse! It was a start violation of not reporting the donors names who contributed to the portrait. Then his lawyer says ‘well we intened to do it all along’? WHAT? Is this his way of lawyering? It’s OK to break the laws but only if you don’t get caught?
When will any competent state agency stop this guy from breaking the laws?
Gab