Rick Scott was just following precedent. Photo: Joe Raedle/2011 Getty Images

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.