All Florida governor Rick Scott wanted was to help some people afflicted with meningitis by directing them to a Department of Health hotline yesterday. Instead, he accidentally gave out a number to a phone sex service, which is nice and all, but not exactly helpful for someone with meningitis. However embarrassing his mistake, Scott finds himself in pretty good company. In fact, he isn’t even the first Florida governor to make such a mix-up. Herewith, a concise history of this hilariously common blunder.
Who? Wisconsin state senator Randy Hopper
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? His office
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? Florida governor Charlie Crist
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? Florida KidCare, a program for uninsured children
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? A voter hotline
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? The Michigan Democratic State Central Committee
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? A campaign hotline
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? The White House
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? A media conference call with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and National Security Adviser Jim Jones
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? The RNC
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? The RNC
Instead It Went to … A phone sex hotline
Who? Indiana’s secretary of State Jerry Bonnet
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? The “Hoosier Voter Hotline”
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? The Club for Growth
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? 1-800-Get-Some-Pork, a fake number on a mailer mocking an allegedly earmark-friendly candidate for Congress
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
Who? New Jersey
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? New Jersey’s Office of the Ombudsman for the Institutionalized Elderly
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
And this one’s not political, but it’s the best ever, so …
Who? Chad Ochocino’s eponymous kid’s cereal
What Was the Number Supposed to Be? The Feed the Children charity
Instead It Went To … A phone sex hotline
The moral of the story is there are a lot of phone sex hotlines out there.