BREAKING NEWS: NYTimes finally publishes its article on Leonard Leo with interviews and photo of local protests

Annlinn Kruger ups the ante as she seeks justice for infringement of her speech rights by Bar Harbor town manager

BAR HARBOR, Oct.12, 2022 - My former employer sent a photographer in late summer to capture the protests in front of 46 South Shore Drive in Northeast Harbor. Since then it’s been a long wait for Ken Vogel to publish his article on the art of dark money perfected by island denizen Leonard Leo.

Here is the Times article in which the locals are referenced at the end with a photo and interview in which Leo was asked why he was out on the street washing away Annlinn Kruger’s words:

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/12/us/politics/leonard-leo-courts-dark-money.html?smid=em-share

Town Council chair Val Peacock has stood by Town Manager Kevin Sutherland for his threats to seek police action against Kruger. Sutherland, like Leo, was also out on the streets with the highway department personnel washing away Kruger’s messages.

Kruger’s latest missive to the council was signed by 16 Island residents:

To the Bar Harbor Town Council,

We are writing out of sincere concern that the Bar Harbor Town Council seems to be taking an adversarial stance towards the public - in the Council's response to reports in The QuietSide Journal of Bar Harbor Town Manager Kevin Sutherland's past abuses of public office in Saco, and to questions raised by Annlinn Kruger about Sutherland's current inappropriate activities here in Bar Harbor. 

At a recent Town Council Meeting, in violation of the Council's own protocols, Councilors disrespectfully and disparagingly characterized those raising good faith and fact based issues about Sutherland, as making 'unfair and nasty attacks on our Town Manager.' A Councilor's request for the Council to respond was made only so that 'continued silence by the Council not be mistaken for acquiescing to the attacks.' We expect better of our elected officials. We are concerned that the Town Council's swinging between stonewalling and dissembling on this issue may also apply to other issues. 

Why has the Bar Harbor Town Council refused to adequately respond to bright line requests for answers to these simple questions: why did Bar Harbor Town Manager Kevin Sutherland initiate his campaign of threats, misinformation, and erasure regarding the google Leonard Leo = Corrupt Courts public outreach project; under what influences and by what authority did Sutherland divert town resources to specifically removing the 'google Leonard Leo' chalk paint messages; through which town procedures did Sutherland redirect staff from previously planned and budgeted priorities; and what amount of town resources, - in work hours, supplies, and dollars -  did Sutherland divert to his seemingly unwarranted pursuits. 

Bar Harbor Town Manager Kevin Sutherland not only physically erased the public outreach messages, but socially erased their intent. In his campaign of misinformation fed to local media, Sutherland shifted the spotlight from right wing religious extremist and Republican power broker Leonard Leo's documented activities to Sutherland's own unsupportable assertions that the project 'violated local laws and damaged public property.'

Evidence shows that Sutherland's response to and misrepresentation of the google Leonard Leo project conformed neither with the facts of the law nor with the facts of the case. Bar Harbor has no laws on chalking or graffiti. Maine officials with enforcement and prosecutorial authority defended the project as protected by the First Amendment and compliant with the Maine Criminal Code. They told Sutherland this, but he continued his campaign of threats, misinformation, and erasure for many weeks, before the Council deigned to "talk to Kevin."

The intent of our on-going protest is to spotlight Leonard Leo's corrupting influence on government in the United States. Actions by the Bar Harbor Town Manager and Town Council raise questions of privileged players having a corrupting influence on local government. Looking into why doing the right thing in this clear-cut and relatively simple situation seems so difficult for the Town Council to accomplish, may be a thread to pull on to unravel more knotty problems, or a microcosm perspective on a larger picture of dysfunction. 

We know that the Council has belatedly taken steps to acknowledge Kruger's requests for clarification; we also know the information she's requested has not yet been provided and the questions she's asked have not yet been answered. We hope our expression of concern might encourage the Town Council to be more thoughtful, respectful, and forthcoming, 

ThankYou for your consideration of our concerns, 

Annlinn Kruger

Matt Bauer

Susan Covino Buell

Rachel D'Angeli

Sheila and David Eddison

Bo Greene

Dixie Hathaway

Peter Homer and Linda Homer

Amanda Kendall

Carolyn Maches

Murray Ngoima

Caroline Pryor

Nancy Schafer 

Zoe Schott 

Tina Stein MD, 

Amy Trafton