AUGUSTA

Maine state Rep. Joyce McCreight of Harpswell has been named to the Joint Standing Committee on Health and Human Services, replacing a Democrat representative removed from that post following an expletive-laden Facebook post directed at Donald Trump.

In turn, Rep. Denise Tepler of Topsham will replace McCreight on the Joint Standing Committee on Taxation.

Rep. Scott Hamann, D-South Portland, last week criticized Trump on Facebook, calling the president a “half-term president, at most, especially if I ever get within 10 feet.”

Hamann later apologized for what he called an “aggressively sarcastic and inappropriate” post.

Hamann says he shouldn’t have used such language and was trying to make a point about the state of political discourse.

Maine GOP Chairwoman Demi Kouzounas told reporters that Hamann’s expletive-laced post was an implied death threat against the Republican president.

House Speaker Sara Gideon, D-Freeport, released the following statement explaining her decision and the reassignments: “Rep. Hamann’s statements this week were inexcusable and unacceptable. Elected officials, at every level of government, must hold themselves to a higher standard and set an example of civility. As he has done publicly, Rep. Hamann again apologized and expressed deep remorse when I spoke with him last night.

Gideon continued: “While our system of government demands vigorous debate, too often today our political discourse, on both sides of the aisle, strays into personal attacks and vulgar language, whether on social media, in the press or in the hallways of the State House.”