Rep. Spillane Censured By The House For Social Media Posts

By GARRY RAYNO, InDepth NH

CONCORD, NH — The House in what might be its last action of the 2026 session, censured Rep. James A. Spillane, R-Deerfield, for defamatory and demeaning remarks he made about fellow legislators on his social media (X) account.

The Legislative Ethics Committee filed a report recommending the censure after three lawmakers filed complaints in March with the committee and the House adopted the report and the censure on a 185-93 vote Wednesday.

This was not Spillane’s first involvement with the Ethics Committee.

In its report, the committee charged Spillane with “Making postings on the social media website ‘X’ in which he identified himself as ‘Representative James Spillane,’ with offensive and demeaning comments about other House members.

“More specifically, when Representative (Timothy) Horrigan responded to his posted description of Representative (Democrat Cathryn) Harvey as a ‘liar,’ Representative Spillane referred to Representative Horrigan as ‘retarded,’ commented that his mother had ‘f----d (middle letters deleted) her cousin,’ and accused him of dropping acid in the 60’s,” according to the special report to the Speaker of the House signed by Legislative Ethics Committee chairman Edward M. Gordon.

The committee charged Spillane with violating ethics guidelines that legislators “shall ensure that government is conducted openly, equitably and honorably in a manner that permits the citizenry to make informed judgments, have confidence in the integrity of the legislature, and hold government officials accountable” and violating a principle of conduct that legislators “shall treat each other, legislative employees, and the public with dignity and respect.”

Rep. Robert Lynn, R-Windham, the House Judiciary Committee Chair and former state Supreme Court Chief Justice, said it is clear Spillane’s conduct “crossed way over the line.” The facts are not in dispute, he said, noting that Spillane identified himself as a representative and the comments were made in a discussion about a vote on legislation in the House.

Before the committee, Spillane argued his posts on social media were not done in performance of his duties as a member of the legislature so his conduct does not fall within the committee’s jurisdiction.

Spillane also argued his comments are protected speech under the federal and New Hampshire constitutions.

But Lynn refuted those arguments saying the discussion clearly concerned legislation and legislative activity and was related to House business.

He said a 2022 US Supreme Court unanimous decision in Houston Community College System vs Wilson addresses the free speech issues.

The opinion written by Justice Neil Gorsuch found Wilson’s First Amendment rights were not violated by his fellow board members’ censure because it did not hinder his ability to exercise his free speech as an elected official, and that boards have long used censure of members and as an act of the board exercising its free speech rights, Lynn explained.

“(Rep. Spillane may have a constitutional right to make a statement and we have a constitutional right to say loudly and clearly it violates our ethics rules,” Lynn said.

Not only is Spillane’s standing and reputation at issue, the public standing and the reputation of the House is at issue, he said.

“If we fail to condemn the actions of Rep. Spillane,” Lynn said, “what will the public think of us for condoning such behavior?”No one spoke to defend Spillane’s behavior, but Rep. Gregory Hill, R-Hill, said he believes the punishment should not rise to the level of censure, instead it should be a reprimand or they should remove the word guidelines if they are going to be used for punishment.

The same committee admonished Spillane for an anti-Semitic post on the social media site Parler in 2021, but didn’t take it into account in the finding that was released earlier this month. In that case, Spillane said he didn’t know it was an anti-Semitic meme and apologized.

In 2020, the civil rights unit of the Attorney General’s Office investigated a social media post by Spillane that stated “Public Service Announcement: If you see a (Black Lives Matter) sign on a lawn it’s the same as having the porch light on for Halloween. You’re free to loot and burn that house.” Spillane said at the time he meant that post as “tongue-in-cheek” political commentary and the investigation was suspended with no action taken.

Gordon wrote in the report that it is not uncommon for legislators to disagree over the substance of legislation that may even lead to “unpleasant exchanges at times…”

“But here, Representative Spillane has publicly made extremely offensive assertions about another member, calling him ‘retarded,’ alleging he ‘dropped acid in the 60’s’, and, perhaps most offensively, asserting that his mother engaged in sexual activity with her cousin.

“This is not an acceptable disagreement over a legislative outcome. It is a direct personal attack. It demonstrates a complete lack of respect and absolute lack of concern for the dignity of another Representative. The public postings published by Representative Spillane are clearly defamatory of another member of the legislature, Representative Horrigan. His comments were demeaning and constituted harassment. His conduct cannot be viewed in a manner consistent with the established ethical guidelines established by the General Court.”

The three complaints against Spillane were filed by Reps. Paul S. Berch, D-Westmoreland, Harvey, D-Spofford, and Horrigan, D-Durham.

Garry Rayno may be reached at garry.rayno@yahoo.com.

This story was originally published by InDepth NH.