BARRINGTON — A public backlash has followed the comments of a 91-year-old freshman state representative who said Thursday that funding for the mentally ill should be cut because he doesn't support state funding for "the crazy people" who should be sent to "Siberia."



State Rep. Martin Harty, R-Barrington, told Sharon Omand, a program manager at Community Partners, which provides behavioral health and developmental services for Strafford County, that he believed in eugenics and disagreed with her about the need for funds for mental health services.



"The world population has gotten too big and the world is being inherited by too many defective people," he told her.



Omand said she asked him to clarify if he meant mentally ill and developmentally disabled and he responded, "I mean all the defective people, the drug addicts, mentally ill, the retarded — all of them."



"I asked what we should do with them," Omand said, and Harty said, "I believe if we had a Siberia we should send them to this and they would all freeze and die and we will be rid of them."



Harty confirmed his comments in an interview with Foster's Daily Democrat late Thursday afternoon.



On Friday the state Democratic Party called for House Majority Leader, William O'Brien, to denounce Harty's comments.



"Representative Harty has said adults and young children with disabilities have no place in our society and went so far as to wish they would die," said Harrell Kirstein, press secretary for the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "Such irresponsible words have no place in the New Hampshire State House, and should be denounced by Speaker Bill O'Brien.



"House Republican leadership should have the integrity to immediately denounce these remarks but instead, they only made excuses," Kirstein continued. "Speaker O'Brien needs to publicly reject the comments immediately, and apologize to all New Hampshire families hurt by them."



On Thursday, O'Brien had said "I would certainly hope that in the future Rep. Harty will choose his comments more carefully, and I will talk with him about how he represents the House. While at age 92 and with the amount of time and effort he has given us all, he has earned the right to say what he thinks, he needs to appreciate that, as a representative, he will be held to a higher standard."



O'Brien could not be reached on Friday.



Foster's has fielded numerous calls and e-mails calling on Harty to resign.



"New Hampshire is committed to taking care of those less fortunate and has a long history of doing so," said Republican former state Sen. George Lovejoy in a statement sent to the paper. "The goal of the new Republican majority of our legislature is to serve the voice of the people and Representative Harty does not."



Kate Messler is a special-needs student at Oyster River High School, and a player-manager for the girls' basketball team. She has been featured in Foster's for her participation in team sports.



Her mother, Patricia, said she was sickened by Harty's comments.



"The importance of groups like Community Partners and the support services within the schools are why Kate has prospered," she said. "Without them Kate would not be the person she is today."



Messler added there are no defective people.



"Everyone can make a difference whether you're able or disabled," she said. "There are no defective people in this world. No one is perfect."