In the wake of his "inappropriate and hurtful" comment about Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley, Doug Lambert resigned from the Gilford Budget Committee.

After Chair Dick Hickok read Lambert's letter of resignation, about five people left the meeting, saying that was the only reason they attended.

"We've had a lot of e-mails about this," said Hickok before he read Lambert's letter.

"I feel that it would no longer be in the best interests of the good people that elected me to serve them to remain as their representative," Lambert wrote. "Any and all actions made by me in a continued public capacity will be forever marked with the stain of my regrettable words and it is not fair to those who had nothing to do with them."

Lambert has been the subject of public condemnation since he called Buckley a "faggot" on a live Internet stream on his blog GraniteGrok.

In addition to his departure from the budget committee, executives of local radio station WEMJ 1490 AM revoked his access to their studios where he and David "Skip" Murphy broadcast their two-hour Saturday talk show Meet the New Press. Laconia Daily Sun Editor and Publisher Ed Engler said he would no longer run Lambert's weekly column on his editorial page.

Lambert apologized immediately on GraniteGrok.

Most state political leaders, Republican and Democrat alike, condemned Lambert's comments and said they have no place in public debate. Mo Baxley, the executive director of the Freedom to Marry Coalition, held a news conference in Concord and called on Republican Party Chair John H. Sununu to also condemn Lambert's statements and Sununu subsequently did so.

"This is inappropriate and offensive. We strongly condemn the use of such vulgar language and personal attacks," said N.H. GOP spokesman Ryan Williams on the night following Lambert's statements.