#oops! Del. governor mistakenly tweets suggestive photo

WILMINGTON, Del. — Gov. Jack Markell caused a stir Thursday when a message posted on his Twitter account promoting an education event instead linked to a suggestive photo of an Estonian model.

Markell, or likely someone tweeting on his behalf, sent out the tweet during an event at Warner Elementary in Wilmington about 10:30 a.m., distracting from Markell's announcement to direct $5 million to low-performing schools.

It included a link to the photo and was deleted 17 minutes later, according to the website Politwoops, which archives tweets posted then deleted by politicians.

The photo, showing a woman photographed from mid-torso wearing a revealing top with leather straps around the neck and chest, was posted in 2010 on the Twitter account of a woman who identifies herself as a hair and makeup artist.

Markell quickly apologized, sending a message on Twitter that his staff was attempting to determine how the photo of the scantily clad adult female was included in a tweet promoting an education initiative.

"An inappropriate photo was inadvertantly sent out earlier," the tweet on Markell's account states. "We are looking into how this occurred but apologize to anyone who was offended."

The tweet and the photo was quickly circulated, along with comments from those who saw it before it was deleted from Markell's account.

"Nice photo, Jack," Elizabeth Page wrote. "Ummm. Maybe she's a teacher," wrote Shirley Minn of WHYY television in Philadelphia.

A spokeswoman said the link attaching the photo to the governor's tweet was mistakenly altered before the tweet was sent, resulting in an accidental linking to the racy photo.

"The lessons here are not to compose tweets too quickly and there is a lot of odd stuff on the Internet," spokeswoman Kelly Bachman said in a written statement. "We just wish the accidental link had been a cat video."

A good explanation from Twitter on Friday:

A woman identifying herself as the source of the photo responded to the incident on her social media accounts Thursday, saying she believed the tweet link was an "honest accident." On Twitter, the woman who calls herself "Precious Little" says she is a "Gypsy queen, Estonian model, singer, photo editor, hmua & wardrobe stylist." Her Facebook account referred to her as "Precious Little Model."

"There was a 4-year-old innocent candid/selfie of me that was accidentally posted & deleted by a politician today," she wrote on Facebook. "I was wondering why I was being contacted by reporters. Instances like this make me consider cutting ties from all social networks. I have no personal association with any politicians.​"

And after receiving twitter messages, some critical, from others who saw Markell's post, the woman responded: "I don't deserve to have my integrity or that of anyone I know questioned because of a stranger's error."

Contributing: News Journal reporters Jon Offredo and Melissa Nann Burke