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"Sutherland said, “I’m trying to find other ways to engage with the community.”"

Sutherland has a history of engaging with the public in highly questionable and decidedly inappropriate ways. Building on his record of Human Rights abuses in his previous position in Sacco, Bar Harbor Town Manager Kevin Sutherland has added possible Civil Rights abuses by waging a campaign of threats, lies, and erasure in response to a public outreach project which the Bar Harbor Police Department defended as protected by the First Amendment and compliant with the Maine Criminal Code. As Charles Sidman, (speaking from his experience on the cruise ship initiative) has written about Sutherland "our town manager talks the talk but does not walk the walk of openness and collaboration." Sidman and others have noted that Sutherland has a documented pattern of 'making false assertions, unsupported claims, and erroneous citing of Maine law.' When questioned about this the Town Council has circled the wagons around Sutherland and attacked his critics. Instead of giving a public accounting of what Sutherland's rogue actions have cost Bar Harbor (Sacco had to pay one of Sutherland's victims almost $100,000) they have sent Sutherland out on this puffery Public Relations charm initiative. Don't be fooled.

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