No Session? No Committee? No Problem, As Newmarket-Newfields State Rep. Rakes In Mileage Cash

By Michael Graham, NH Journal

Newmarket Democrat state Rep. Ellen Read really likes to travel.

Last year, for example, she traveled to the Mediterranean twice — once to visit Turkey, and once to participate in an anti-Israel flotilla attempting to support Hamas in Gaza.

She also likes to get outdoors during the Christmas holiday season and help organize The Satanic Temple’s display in Concord every year, including a statue of the pagan deity Baphomet—a winged, goat-headed humanoid with female breasts.

But what Read really likes to do is drive the roughly 96 miles round-trip from her Newmarket home to the New Hampshire State House. That’s her most common — and lucrative — form of travel.

In fact, Read likes the travel so much that she requested reimbursements for days when her committee had no meetings, when the House was not in session, and even on holidays like Christmas Eve. Based on public records, she’s also claimed to have traveled to the State House on days when votes were taken, but she didn’t cast any — usually a sign a member is absent.

(Read’s reimbursement claims can be found here.)

Serving in the House is a volunteer position that pays a token $100 a year. But legislators are reimbursed for their mileage to and from the State House. At the current rate, taxpayers reimburse Read $69.60 every time she reports making the round trip to Concord.

And Read reports making that trip often.

She claimed 168 round trips in 2025 alone. By June 10, she had already claimed another 100 in 2026. Including trips reported during December 2024, Read claimed 285 travel days during the 18-month period.

That is an unusually high total for a rank-and-file legislator with no leadership position and, since April 20, no committee assignment.

Using figures reported by The Boston Globe, Read claimed more State House travel days than House Democratic Leader Alexis Simpson, who logged 261, and Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka, who logged 163.

Only two lawmakers reported more travel days than Read: Deputy House Speaker Steven Smith, with 332, and House Speaker Sherman Packard, with 295. Deputy House Democratic Leader Laura Telerski was just behind Read, with 283.

Read’s $19,378.70 in reimbursements also placed her among the legislature’s four highest recipients of mileage payments.

The dates listed on Read’s reimbursement forms raise additional questions.

She filed claims for New Year’s Eve in both 2024 and 2025 and for Christmas Eve in 2025. She also reported traveling to the State House on Feb. 24, Feb. 25 and Feb. 27, 2025, during the February school vacation week, when the full House was not in session.

Read does not dispute claiming mileage on days when the House was not meeting. She says legislative work does not end when lawmakers leave the House chamber.

“I don’t have family. My legislation and helping people is my legacy,” Read told NHJournal by email. “I work on holidays. I work at 3 a.m., replying to constituent emails. I work at all hours and on all days.”

For an activist who claims she lost her job as a bus driver after participating in the Gaza flotilla, more than $19,000 in mileage payments is not an insignificant sum.

Read’s frequent presence at the State House has puzzled some people who work there full time.

“I know House staffers who show up to ‘work’ less than Ellen Read,” one legislative staff member told NHJournal, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Aside from the occasional rep or senator who stops by for the standard, ‘I was in the area and thought I’d drop in,’ I don’t see anybody except House and Senate leadership for a few hours a few days a week.”

Read does have her defenders. House Clerk Paul Smith declined to comment specifically on Read’s claims. He noted, however, that lawmakers may conduct legitimate legislative business even when the House is not in session.

“I would only note the House did not take a break during school vacation, as several committees met,” Smith said.

Read’s communications director, Gracie Gato, also defended the travel claims.

Read’s record “isn’t an anomaly — it’s the job,” Gato said. “New Hampshire representatives are reimbursed for travel to the State House to do legislative work: bill drafting, constituent meetings, caucus and committee business, much of which happens outside formal session days.

“Rep. Read treats the seat as full-time work, which is precisely why her attendance is high.”

Read’s travel claims did not decline significantly after she was removed from the House Housing Committee on April 20, leaving her with no committee assignment.

She reported 21 trips during the month before losing the assignment and 18 during the following month. In other words, losing her only standing committee responsibility had little apparent effect on how often she claimed to travel to Concord.

Her voting record raises additional questions.

According to House records obtained by NHJournal, Read did not cast a vote on any roll call conducted on May 8, 2025, June 5, 2025, or May 7, 2026. She nevertheless claimed mileage reimbursement for all three dates.

It is possible Read traveled to the State House but chose not to vote. She also could have conducted other legislative business without attending the session. The mileage records do not identify the purpose of each trip.

The volume of Read’s travel claims is particularly notable because House leaders have barred her from entering the House chamber and anteroom on non-session days.

The restriction was imposed in April following an incident during a committee hearing on legislation sponsored by Read. House leaders have not publicly provided a detailed explanation for the ban.

When Read attempted to have the restriction overturned in May, House Majority Leader Jason Osborne, R-Auburn, suggested lawmakers should leave the matter alone.

“The speaker has made a ruling on this,” Osborne said. “It’s not really anything we know about. … Perhaps maybe something was going on that shouldn’t have been going on, and maybe we should let this lie.”

With additional reporting by Damien Fisher.

This story was originally published by the NH Journal, an online news publication dedicated to providing fair, unbiased reporting on, and analysis of, political news of interest to New Hampshire. For more stories from the NH Journal, visit NHJournal.com.