Photo by Matt Dunn.

In March, Mayor Vince Gray ordered background checks for all of his appointees, a consequence of the hiring-related scandals that dogged him in his three months in office. But the recent hiring hiccup with new Deputy Chief of Staff Andi Pringle seems to indicate that the background checks aren’t as thorough as expected.

During an interview on NewsTalk with Bruce DePuyt this morning, Deputy Mayor Paul Quander admitted that “there were shortcomings” in Pringle’s background check.

“We missed one,” Quander added.

But what they missed is likely the problem. As you may recall, Pringle was brought on last week alongside new Chief of Staff Chris Murphy to give Gray’s administration new life. But it wasn’t but a few days before government watchdog Dorothy Brizill filed a complaint alleging that Pringle voted in the District’s September 2010 primary while living in Maryland. Pringle apologized for the error, and Quander told DePuyt that she’d be staying.

Oddly enough, the news of the not-so-background check coincides with Murphy’s insistence last week that he’d be looking into every nook and cranny to make sure the mayor’s operation runs cleanly from now on. “At the mayor’s request, I will immediately undertake a thorough review of his office, personnel, practices and procedures,” Murphy said after his appointment was announced. Maybe he didn’t expect the first discovery to come this soon.

The D.C. Council may soon have something to say about this, too. In the report that ended the Sulaimon Brown scandal, Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) said that she’d be looking to amend District law to ensure that certain mayoral appointees — the 160 people of the “Excepted Service” — are “sufficiently vetted.” While a violation like Pringle’s wouldn’t likely disqualify her from working at the senior level of local government, it would certainly be useful information for her bosses to be aware of.

In related news: the Post’s Mike DeBonis had to fight for them, but he managed to get the Gray administration to release the résumés of his political appointees. They’re available here.