Yet Another Twitter Hack? Ohio House Speaker Says Account Was Compromised

COLUMBUS, Ohio (The Blaze/AP) -- Aides to the Republican speaker of the Ohio House say his Twitter account was hacked by a person who tweeted support for liberal causes.

The Columbus Dispatch reports that in other phony posts Speaker William Batchelder appeared to criticize Republican Gov. John Kasich (KAY'-sihk) or promote former Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland.

House Republican caucus spokesman Mike Dittoe says someone who follows Batchelder on Twitter noticed the tweets Monday night. A GOP attorney had the company eliminate the messages.

Batchelder told the Dispatch he was unaware he had a Twitter feed. Dittoe says it's maintained by caucus staffers to get messages out:

"Well, I won't do any more of this ... Twittering?" he said, turning to Dittoe to make sure he got the terminology correct. "We'll avoid that at all cost. I didn't know I had such a device."

The account, Dittoe said, is accessed by a handful of caucus staffers - many of whom are less than half the speaker's age - as a way to get out messages. Despite the issues, and his boss' reservations, Dittoe said Twitter is a valuable way to disperse information, and they will likely restart the account in some form.

News of the breach comes amid a media storm surrounding a lewd photo sent from the Twitter account of a Democratic congressman from New York, Anthony Weiner (WEE'-nur).

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Information from: The Columbus Dispatch, https://www.dispatch.com