This story was originally produced by the Concord Monitor. NHPR is republishing it in partnership with the Granite State News Collaborative.
State Rep. Ellen Read, a Newmarket Democrat, said all the criticism she’s received about claiming “legislative privilege” to fight a negligent driving charge last year is a targeted attack against an effective lawmaker.
Read cited the state Constitution to argue she couldn’t be charged for driving more than 100 miles per hour, saying in court documents that the motor vehicle stop was unconstitutional because she was leaving the State House.
The Boston Globe first reported on her speeding tickets, which was followed by other outlets. Read said the reports were the latest “non-scandal that has attempted to be drummed up against me.”
The legal fight over the tickets happened after she was stopped twice by the Rockingham County Sheriff’s Department for speeding. She said she was commuting south from her legislative duties in Concord both times.
On Dec. 2, 2024, she was charged with negligent driving for traveling at over 100 miles per hour on Interstate 93 in Windham in her 2009 Toyota Yaris, according to court documents. Read said in an interview that she was speeding but denies going over 100 miles per hour.
In fighting the charge, she leaned on a part of the state Constitution that prevents law enforcement from detaining lawmakers on their way to or from the State House, also called the General Court, as first reported by The Boston Globe. Read was not arrested.
Part II, Article 21 of the New Hampshire Constitution reads: “No member of the House of Representatives, or Senate shall be arrested, or held to bail, on mesne process, during his going to, returning from, or attendance upon, the Court.”
Read said her claim of legislative privilege was rejected a year ago and she has not appealed it.
While that claim was used unsuccessfully to fight the negligent driving charge — Read was found guilty and fined $1,240 — she said she was not trying to get immunity from prosecution and wouldn’t support that.
“It is literally just a protection while you are commuting to and from your legislative duties, and that was the argument that my lawyer made,” Read said. “The judge declined it, and it was never appealed.”
She did ask the state Supreme Court to review a speeding ticket she received last June for driving 92 miles per hour in a 65-mile-per-hour zone in Londonderry after the presiding judge recused himself from the case. In that petition, Read also raised the question of legislative privilege. The Supreme Court declined to handle the case earlier this month.
Bob Lynn, a former chief justice of the New Hampshire Supreme Court and a current Republican state representative, said this provision of the constitution exists to ensure elected officials can carry out their legislative duties.
Claiming legislative privilege in this case, Lynn said, is a stretch.
“Even if there were something to her argument that, you know, she can’t be … kept from going to the State House or returning from the State House by being arrested, I don’t think that that means she can’t be prosecuted for her behavior,” Lynn said.
Lynn added that he thinks law enforcement conducting a motor vehicle stop and then charging her with those violations is reasonable.
“Candidly, it sounds very irresponsible,” Lynn said. “It strikes me that nobody should be driving at 100 miles an hour, and the last person that should be doing that is a state rep.”
Read has faced other controversies. She was banned by the Speaker of the House from entering parts of the State House, except on session days, after she cursed in the hallway outside a legislative hearing earlier this year.
Read also came under scrutiny for logging nearly $19,000 in gas mileage, reimbursed to legislators with taxpayer dollars, for her commutes during this term, as reported by The Globe. That’s one of the highest amounts paid any state representative.
Read said she feels she’s been targeted by political opponents because she’s effective.
“I show up, I do the work and what I get is $100; $60 (in mileage) every day that I go to the State House to do my Zooms and emails, and I get nonstop media press over every speeding ticket and every mileage claim and every F-bomb I drop,” Read said, “like it’s kind of nuts.”
