Congressman reveals the secret behind his wacky signature

Although you probably won’t be able to decipher the actual letters, you’ll know the signature of Rep. Ted Poe when you see it.

Full of zigzags and a funny-looking “A” at the beginning, the Texas Republican’s autograph is nothing short of a mini masterpiece.

“I started using it when I was a judge. I signed a lot of documents and there’s not much you can do with six letters in your name,” Poe tells ITK.

“I mean, really. My name’s Ted — it’s not Theodore. It’s six letters,” he adds.

But there’s a method to his mark’s madness. “The first letter is actually a teepee, for ‘Ted Poe.’ The symbol,” he explained.

As a longtime Texas state judge tasked with signing tons of legal papers, Poe, 64, says he originally wanted to sign his name in a “quick but unique” fashion because “I didn’t want someone being able to forge my name.” Sometimes he signs with a simple teepee symbol — a triangle with a line through the top that’s meant to resemble the animal skin dwellings — and forgoes the jagged line look.

His teepee preference once almost got him in hot water decades ago when, as a judge, an inmate sued him, alleging the judgment against him was invalid because Poe had signed it with a tent drawing rather than his name.

The five-term congressman recalls while the court considered his signature “quirky,” it ruled the teepee stood as an acronym for Poe and could be used.

But court ruling or not, Poe’s signature still won’t fly in Congress. The lawmaker says, “The House, however, when I do the voting part, they require the actual six-letter mess.”

Poe’s peculiar John Hancock has now become a staple of not only his writing, but of his wardrobe.

“On my boots that I wear I don’t have my initials, I have a teepee. And then on the sleeve of my shirt where normal people put initials, I have a teepee,” he explains with a hearty laugh.

Remembering when the idea to draw a teepee came to him years ago he says, “Sure enough, I stuck with it.”

Poe is not the only bold-faced name in Washington with an unusual signature. President Obama mocked Treasury Secretary Jack Lew earlier this year for his loopy scribble, saying, “Jack assured me that he is going to work to make at least one letter legible in order not to debase our currency should he be confirmed.”

Photo: Rep. Ted Poe's signature from a Feb. 22 letter to President Obama.