Nonpartisan D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics posts tweet against Scott Brown

Chris Moody
·Political Reporter

The Twitter account for the nonpartisan District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics posted a link to an editorial criticizing Massachusetts Republican Sen. Scott Brown on Thursday, an act the government agency tells Yahoo News was an accident.

The link directed followers to a piece on the left-leaning Talking Points Memo website headlined "Really, Scott Brown?" that attacks him for bringing up a controversy surrounding the Native American heritage of his challenger, Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren, at a recent debate.

"We would not have put that up there," Board of Elections spokeswoman Karen Raper said when informed of the Twitter post. "I don't know how it got there."

The post was deleted a few minutes after Yahoo News called to inquire about the tweet.

"Somebody must have hacked into our account and posted that," Raper added. "Anybody who had worked here previously who had access to the Twitter account could have posted it or either someone posted it by accident."

The agency has since changed the account's password.

The remark about Brown also appeared for several hours on an automatic feed on the agency's website.