By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
CONCORD – The Civil Rights Unit of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office is kicking off a new review of Deerfield Republican Rep. James Spillane’s online activity after he recently shared an anti-Semitic meme on social media.
Acting Attorney General Jane Young said in an email to InDepthNH.org that she would have Sean Locke, the Civil Rights Unit Director, look into the meme, though she has not received any formal complaints.
This would be the second Civil Rights Unit inquiry into Spillane, the first taking place in September after he posted a Facebook image 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 he meant that post as “tounge-in-cheek” political commentary and Locke’s investigation closed in October without any action taken. The BLM post came down after a day, and Spillane told Locke that he planned to delete all of his social media accounts, including Facebook.
However, Spillane shared a meme this week on his new social media account on Parler depicting obvious Jewish caricatures controlling the world through banking, a common anti-Semitic trope. Spillane shared the image with his own caption: “Truth. Agree.”
When contacted by InDepthNH.org, Spillane claimed he was unaware the caricatures depicted Jewish people. Democratic House of Representatives Democratic Leader Renny Cushing of Hampton, condemned the meme and has called for Spillane to resign.
The social media site Parler is one of the sites used by the far-right to organize and execute the pro-Trump mob attack on the Capitol Wednesday, Cushing said.
The situation is similar to last month’s controversy started when Laconia Republican Dawn Johnson, a school board member and newly elected State House Representative shared an article on her social media platform from a notorious Neo-Nazi website. The article included a Jewish caricature as an illustration. Johnson has ignored many calls for her to resign her posts.