Gov Sarah Huckabee Sanders of Arkansas was mocked on social media over the weekend for a portrait that referred to her as the state’s “govenor.”
A photo of the portrait, which shows a smiling Ms Sanders above the words “ARKANSAS GOVENOR,” first surfaced on Twitter on Sunday evening. On Monday morning, USA Today columnist Michael Stern tweeted it to his 27,000-plus followers.
“Sarah Huckabee Sanders, educating Arkansas,” Mr Sterm wrote. “And we wonder why the GOP are destroying the minds of our children. Someone please tell her how to spell ‘governor.’”
Other observers enjoyed the gaffe.
“This is the perfect way to end my night,” one Twitter user wrote above the photo.
“I mean, they had one job,” another Twitter user named James Rubec commented.
It is not entirely clear who produced the portrait or where the image of it was taken.
Ms Sanders is in her first term as Arkansas governor, having been elected in a landslide last November. The former White House press secretary was cast back into the national spotlight when she was chosen to give the Republican response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address earlier this month.
In that speech, Ms Sanders addressed legislation she is pushing in the Arkansas state legislature to dramatically overhaul the state’s education system — giving students vouchers to use to attend private school or be homeschooled and increasing teachers’ starting salaries by $14,000.
The bill, known as the LEARNS Act, would also make it easier for teachers to be fired by repealing the state’s Fair Teacher Dismissal Act. Democrats have filed amendments to the bill that would preserve some amount of job protection for teachers, but the bill as a whole is currently expected to pass the state’s Republican-dominated legislature.
Arkansas is among the least educated states in the country and has one of the lowest average teacher salaries as well, though it is in the middle of the pack when teacher pay is adjusted for cost-of-living.
The LEARNS Act could be a legacy-defining bill for Ms Sanders, who is following in her father Mike Huckabee’s foosteps as Arkansas governor.
