Whoops! Looks Like ‘Mark Sanfrod’ Was Sworn In

Posted May 16, 2013 at 1:36pm

Updated 3:45 p.m. | Moving in. It can be quite the adjustment. Just ask the team of newly sworn-in Rep. Mark Sanford, R-S.C., which was greeted with a press release sent out under the auspices of the new congressman with this headline: “Representative Mark Sanfrod Sworn Into Office.”

A horrified staff saw this — as well as an HOH blog post noting the misspelling and other snafus on Sanford’s official congressional website — and explained what went down.

“Rep. Sanford’s official website was updated by the US House without the prior knowledge, or consent, of our office and they have acknowledged their error,” Sanford’s office said in a statement. Specifically, responsibility for the error lies with the Office of the Chief Administrative Officer.

Sanford, who was sworn in on Wednesday, certainly is one of the most colorful figures to return to Capitol Hill in quite some time. But the release was more than colorful:

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As you can see from the screencaps here — the first from Sanford’s new House page, the second from the Wikipedia page for South Carolina’s 1st District — much of the description of the district included in the release appears to be lifted straight from the open-source encyclopedia.

Whoops.

Also informative? “Representative was added to the rolls of the House upon executing the oath of office.”

Congrats, “Representative!”

Moving pains all got under way earlier this week when the new member’s official nameplate was unveiled at 322 Cannon as “Marshall C. Sanford,” his given name, but not one that anyone’s heard used much.

Gosh, so much stuff to keep track of!