According to a new report in Politico (based on data from LegiStorm), U.S. congressman Mark Sanford is one of the worst bosses in Washington, D.C.
Using salary data from 2001 to 2016, LegiStorm ranked the offices in each chamber of the U.S. Congress with the highest annual turnover rate – assigning added weight to more senior officials. Among members of the U.S. House of Representatives, Sanford came in at No. 3 – behind Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee (ahem) of Texas and Raul Ruiz of California.
Is this surprising?
No … we’ve written repeatedly in the past about Sanford’s revolving door. And his, um, idiosyncrasies.
Also, the founding editor of this news site – Will Folks – spent four years working for Sanford from 2001-2005. In other words he knows a thing or two about this particular subject.
So … is Sanford really a terrible boss? Here’s what Folks had to say on the matter …
He’s eclectic, narcissistic, impersonal, aloof, inconsistent and extremely demanding. But I wouldn’t say he’s a terrible boss. Lots of bosses are like that. If you can tough it out with him, you can tough it out with anyone. Actually, if you were able to tough it out working for Jenny Sanford, you can tough it out with anyone.
Mark Sanford’s problem is not that he’s an asshole to work for – his problem is that he’s a sellout.
Sanford spent six years in Washington, D.C. from 1995-2001. After that he spent eight years as governor of South Carolina from 2003-2011. In 2013, he won a special election to reclaim his old congressional seat – which is when his sellout began picking up momentum.
As we’ve written previously, Sanford is exceedingly vulnerable in this election cycle following his underwhelming performance two years ago. He is being challenged by freshman state representative Katie Arrington in the “Republican” primary in June, with the winner of that race to face Democrat Joe Cunningham in November.
Will being a “terrible boss” hurt Sanford?
We don’t think so. Frankly we don’t care if an elected official is a good boss or a bad boss – all we care about is whether they are advancing freedom and free markets. Sanford used to be a reliable leader on those fronts … but not anymore.
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WANNA SOUND OFF?
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