​'Outstanding Orator' Steve Vaillancourt Has Passed Away​

CONCORD, NH — The Statehouse community was shocked this morning by the announcement of the passing of one of the more colorful members of the House of Representatives, state Rep. Steve Vaillancourt, R-Manchester. House Speaker Shawn Jasper, R-Hudson, “with great sadness,” informed the press and other members of the body of Vaillancourt’s passing this afternoon.

“We will remember Steve as an outstanding orator and a man who was certainly dedicated to his principles,” Jasper stated. “Rep. Vaillancourt was a valuable member of the House Finance committee where he served as a strong advocate for the taxpayers of our state. Today’s news comes as a shock to us all. Our thoughts and prayers go out to is brother, Norman.”

Vaillancourt, 65, was in the process of serving his 10th term in the House, representing the voters of Ward 8 in Manchester, after being ousted in 2014.

Gov. Chris Sununu, R-NH, also offered sympathy for his family in a statement.

"I knew Steve and had deep respect for his commitment to fight for what he believed in and doing what was right for the people of Manchester and for all of New Hampshire," he said in an email. "We are grateful for his service and we send his family our deepest condolences.”

According to his Wikipedia page, he grew up in Vermont and later attended college at Plymouth State, as a history major.

Donald Birx, the president of Plymouth State, commended Vaillancourt's support for higher education, including the school and shared "our commitment to being fiscally efficient with an emphasis on workforce development," according to a statement.

"He was a proud representative of our PSU community,” said Birx added.

Birx also noted that Vaillancourt was the original “Voice of the Panthers" and a well-known sports broadcaster during the 1970s who publicized and reported on Plymouth State sports teams in an era before the university had a sports information director. He was also sports editor of the student newspaper and sports director of the student radio station.

Vaillancourt also broadcast a weekly sports highlight radio show, and he founded, hosted, and wrote the questions for the popular Sports Challenge Cup, a College Bowl for sports trivia, he stated. Vaillancourt was inducted into the University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1996.

“Steve Vaillancourt was a pioneer student sports broadcaster at Plymouth State, and he will be missed by his fellow alumni and faculty,” said Birx.

Before running for the House in 1994, a race he lost, he was an alderman for Ward 8 in Manchester. He was elected two years later as a Democrat along with his housemate at the time, Ray Buckley, who is the long-time chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. Vaillancourt won re-election in 1998. Sometime during that time and when he joined the Libertarian Party in 2000 and won again, he evicted Buckley from his home. After being redistricted out of his seat, he chose not to run again but ran in 2006 as a Republican. He also began blogging at NHInsider.com, an active political blog in the state for many years.

Years later, when Buckley began a run for the chairmanship of the NHDP, Vaillancourt alleged in a letter to then-Gov. John Lynch, that Buckley possessed child pornography. Buckley denied the allegation and Lynch requested he suspend his campaign, which he did. Vaillancourt later admitted he had no proof of the allegation and Buckley was easily elected to the position.

In the spring of 2012, a contentious time for drama at the Statehouse, Vaillancourt was suspended from the House floor after giving a Nazi salute to then-Speaker William O’Brien, R-Mont Vernon, during a debate concerning Voter ID. Vaillancourt was infuriated by what he believed was an autocratic parliamentary move and called out O’Brien with “Sieg Heil,” from the floor. O’Brien demanded an apology so Vaillancourt rose again but when he didn’t offer one, he was removed from the Hall by the sergeant at arms and state police.

Vaillancourt – at the time – didn’t believe that saying “Sieg Heil” was a Nazi salute. In an interview with Patch, he rejected the claim.

“There was no Nazi salute at all,” Vaillancourt said, suggesting that he did not offer a Hitler hand motion, only a verbal offering.

After some back and forth, he was allowed to return if he would offer an apology. However, Vaillancourt still hemmed and hawed, refusing to apologize, stating he would never use a German word again. On the third try, he apologized.

The house ruckus was picked up by some political media outlets. But it was the string of events after the incident that raised a number of issues about political leaders and the press.

After the Vaillancourt-O’Brien dust up, Mike Marland, then the cartoonist for the Concord Monitor, portrayed O’Brien in a cartoon with a Hitler-style mustache, causing a furor in the state. The cartoon led O’Brien to barring the newspaper’s Statehouse bureau reporters from a press avail, inside his office, about EBT card abuse. The act of limiting representation during the avail – something that had been done by other House leaders in the past – caused a national firestorm. O’Brien later quipped that the Monitor wasn’t a real news organization but were “democratic propagandists.”

Two years later, in a NH Insider blog post, Vaillancourt made national headlines again by attacking the appearance of U.S. Rep. Ann McLane Kuster, D-NH, suggesting she was ugly and would not win re-election against state Rep. Marilinda Garcia, R-Salem, an up-and-coming Republican activist.

“How attractive is Marilinda Garcia?,” he wrote. “You know how opposition ad makers usually go out of their way to find a photo of the opponent not looking his or her best. Well...Democrats and Annie Kuster supporters can’t seem to find a photo of Marilinda Garcia looking bad at all.”

Vaillancourt then stated, “Let’s be honest. Does anyone not believe that Congressman Annie Kuster is as ugly as sin? And I hope I haven’t offended sin.”

In the end, Kuster won the race easily and the remarks led voters to oust Vaillancourt from his seat. He was easily elected though two years later.

No funeral arrangements were available at post time.