Laura Telerski

NASHUA – On the heels of racist remarks posted on Facebook by New Hampshire state representative James Spillane, saying that “Black Lives Matter” signs on lawns are a green light to “burn and loot that house,” New Hampshire state representatives Latha Mangipudi and Laura Telerski, as well as state senator Melanie Levesque are outraged by language that may put Granite Staters at risk of retaliation or violence.

The New Hampshire Department of Justice is investigating Spillane and he is also being investigated to determine if his conduct violated the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act.

That law states: “All persons have the right to engage in lawful activities and to exercise and enjoy the rights secured by the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions and the laws of the United States and New Hampshire without being subject to actual or threatened physical force or violence against them or any other person or by actual or threatened damage to or trespass on property when such actual or threatened conduct is motivated by race, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, sexual orientation, sex, gender identity, or disability.”

Spillane’s Facebook post, which has since been deleted, read, “”Public Service Announcement: If you see a BLM 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.”

“As soon as it was posted on Facebook, I saw the shock because I had distributed over 300 ‘Black Lives Matters’ signs after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis,” Mangipudi said. “It kind of punched me right in my stomach, to say, here you go. This is a representative who we all know. I don’t have words.”

Melanie Levesque

As a person of color, Mangipudi serves her constituents in ward 8 in Nashua, as well as all of Nashua and the state of New Hampshire.

Spillane, a Republican, is serving in his fourth term in Concord representing Candia, Deerfield, and Nottingham. He is also a co-chair of the House Republican Alliance, a conservative caucus within the Legislature.

“When Rep. Spillane first got elected, I was on the criminal justice and public safety commission, and he was also on that,” Mangipudi said. “He had to be removed because he had a conviction of domestic violence and he was being investigated.”

In 2019, Spillane lost his seat on the House Fish and Game Committee after shooting a squirrel and tweeting a graphic photo of its bloody carcass in response to a vegan animal rights activist.

“Enjoy,” Spillane said in that tweet.

Latha Mangipudi

And in 2010 he was convicted of DUI and reckless conduct.

So far, neither Gov. Chris Sununu nor anyone from his reelection campaign have publicly commented on Spillane’s Facebook post.

“Last year, I had briefly spoken to the governor about bullying and hate,” Mangipudi said. “He said, ‘You’re such a great rep who advocates so strongly for Nashua. And I said, ‘Yes, I am a woman, I am brown, I am a third generation immigrant, I’m a democrat and I’m vocal. These are my character strengths.”

Mangipudi said she has been harassed in the past for “being all of those.” Some representatives who were supposed to take a class on sexual harassment walked out, but it is not known if Spillane was one of those individuals.

“This kind of rhetoric and harassment is unacceptable,” Mangipudi said. “I know the speaker of the reps on the democratic side said ‘He needs to resign. This is shameful for us representatives. This is not who we are.'”

As for Gov. Sununu, Mangipudi asked, “Is he condoning this by staying quiet?”

Levesque said we as a state, as a nation, should be evolved.

“This lack of leadership speaking up, to say ‘this is wrong,’ – where is that?”

she asked. “Our leaders need to say that this is not okay.”

Since Sept. 5, there have been numerous calls for Spillane’s resignation, including one from Deerfield.

“The Deerfield select board unanimously called for his resignation,” Telerski said. “I don’t think there has been any movement in the state house.”

In a letter to New Hampshire house speaker Steve Shurtleff, assistant attorney general Sean Locke said, “We received several complaints from members of the public that had forwarded the Facebook post to this office, along with their interpretation of the Facebook post and concerns that they could be victims or targets of violence as a result of the Facebook post.”

Shurtleff said he has seen a lot of strange things, but not quite like the public comments that Spillane made on social media.

“I am disappointed that the governor hasn’t asked for Spillane to resign from the house, after what he did,” Shurtleff said. “To do something so open and to call others to commit an act of violence really goes beyond the pale.”

As far as the state house is concerned, before anything is presented to the ethics committee, Shurtleff is waiting to see if criminal charges will be brought before Spillane.

“There has been some talk that some members want to expel Rep. Spillane at our Sept. 16 meeting,” Shurtleff said. “But that wouldn’t happen that day if a motion like that were to pass on the floor of the house. I would have to refer to a bipartisan committee to make a recommendation to the full house, because it is something that extreme.”

Meanwhile, house Republican leader Dick Hinch of Merrimack said in a statement to WMUR, that Spillane’s words were “inexcusable,” but he added, “I trust he meant no harm to anyone.”

Levesque, who attended the Black Lives Matter rally in Nashua on June 6, said since the murder of George Floyd, people want justice.

“They want to learn more,” Levesque said. “But there are also people who resent this ‘wanting to know more, wanting to put it out that there is injustice.’ This is happening in my neighborhood. People are still being called the ‘N’ word. This is 2020. And this is not acceptable.”

Jordan Thompson, a founder of Black Lives Matter Nashua and a racial justice organizer for the ACLU of New Hampshire, also called on Spillane to resign.

“Remarks like these indicate a total lack of decency and respect for Black lives,” he said in a statement. “This is yet another example of what we mean when we say New Hampshire is not innocent. It is incumbent on all of us to be honest about the reality that white supremacy exists in the Granite State.”

Mangipudi summed it up by saying, “I am not willing to shed my skin. I’m not.”

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