Maine Department Of Transportation Ad Making Fun Of Local Residents Accidentally Runs In Newspaper

WASHINGTON -- The Bangor Daily News published a public notice on Wednesday from the Maine Department of Transportation (DOT) alerting the citizenry to an open meeting in the town of Islesboro to discuss a planned bridge replacement. It promised that representatives from the agency would show up and "listen, with fake sympathy" to the problems of the locals. It also said that candid photos would be "sneakily taken of awkward persons."

It certainly wasn't your typical government public service notice. Not surprisingly, it wasn't ever supposed to be published.

After the ad ran on Wednesday, Maine DOT Commissioner David Bernhardt sent a letter of apology to the residents of Isleboro.

"This was an obvious spoof draft that was somehow emailed and published in the paper," he wrote. "This behavior is unacceptable and in no way reflects the values of the department or the seriousness and care in which the department treats its public input processes."

He added that "[a]ppropriate measures" were being taken to deal with the situation, but a spokesman declined to tell the Bangor Daily News whether the employee who made the spoof ad would be fired.

The ad read that the agency representatives would be "swimming in, if they miss the Quick Silver Water Taxi, on Tuesday evening, April 24, 2012, at 6:00 p.m., to listen, with fake sympathy, to stranded folks who missed the Ferry complain, receive dirty looks from the locals, and smell the sandbound fish, who missed the tide ride."

"We really don't care about the bridge," the ad continued. "We are just curious about these island folk. Anyone who happens by is invited to disrupt the meeting."

The interim advertising director for the paper, Steve Martin, also apologized for the error.

“The ad actually was sent to us twice, with the original proofread by staff,” he said in a statement. "Due to technical issues, the first version could not be processed properly, so the advertiser was asked to resend the ad, which was then processed. The problem was that we treated the second submission as a duplicate of the already proofed ad, which it clearly wasn't. This event reinforces the need to be ever vigilant in our efforts."

Image of the spoof ad, which was passed along to The Huffington Post:

Comments

[willow4725]

12:42 PM on 03/30/2012

hilarious! at least it shows that Mainers have a sense of humor....and who, at work, hasn't indulged in a little judgmental fun? Especially if you deal with the public....

[BetterDeadthanRedState]

02:34 PM on 04/06/2012

They'd have to have a sense of humor. Look at their governor.

[katerowe]

07:15 PM on 05/01/2012

If you have to deal with this state government; you would know this was not meant in jest; it is a display of the arrogance and condescending attitude that prevails in Augusta towards the residents and business people in this state. I am a small business owner and have to deal with this daily when dealing with the State. We, in fact, were part of the push to elect our new governor and like the changes we are beginning to see...he can't fix a decade of rampant fraud and fiscal abuse overnight!

[LostinSocialSpace]

02:20 AM on 03/30/2012

...yet dead on accurate.

[flatbushfred]

10:54 PM on 03/29/2012

Many a truth is said in jest...

[iconico62]

10:47 PM on 03/29/2012

Another classic example of state officials using state time and state money to pursue what sounds like a dismal attempt at comedy. They should grill in public the idiot that wrote this. Then fire him/her.

[lemealone]

12:07 AM on 03/30/2012

With full benefits!

[Sam Good]

08:23 PM on 03/29/2012

How dare they speak the truth!

[SteveDenver]

08:09 PM on 03/29/2012

That certainly shows a rotten attitude from whomever created this ad. HOPEFULLY it can be blamed on the paper as a joke; but if it's from the department, whomever created it should be cut.

[Wombat 123]

08:09 PM on 03/29/2012

I would rather deal with with someone who has a sense of humour than someone who doesn't. I suspect that the government workers who wrote the spoof ad would be the best people to interact with the public. The ad is pretty funny and it pokes fun at bad civil servants rather than the public.

[Tree S-B]

09:41 PM on 03/29/2012

I agree. Maybe they just needed to blow off some steam

[soxfan58]

08:25 PM on 03/30/2012

I am one of those awkward people who they want to take pictures of. I'll get my Allen's brandy and give them a good pic of my backside.
I bet you would not think this is humorous if it was your property they are ravaging and giving only pennies on a dollar for something that has been obtained through sweat and tears.
The entire MaineDOT is joke and they violate the rights of Maine citizens all the time because "they can".

[Karissa36]

08:08 PM on 03/29/2012

Finally, truth in government.

[brklynivn]

07:37 PM on 03/29/2012

I do hope these people were GOP.

[pipetoe]

07:28 PM on 03/29/2012

How can anyone not love this???

[Henry Herron]

09:21 PM on 03/29/2012

Cause nobody has a sense of humor anymore. Nobody has made fun of a patron or customer that is just a royal pain to deal with. Nobody has done anything in private at work that would be embarrassing if it were leaked to the public.

[candoworker]

07:12 PM on 03/29/2012

Some people just never learn.

[mcfried]

07:05 PM on 03/29/2012

I love this ! If only all public notices where this honest.

[Ponicrat]

06:54 PM on 03/29/2012

And just half a week from the one day of the year it would have been entirely appropriate!

[P Fra]

06:46 PM on 03/29/2012

an honest mistake-

[pipetoe]

07:29 PM on 03/29/2012

HAHA!!! How true?

[lajoan47]

11:25 PM on 03/29/2012

Freudian Slip.

[BlueCashew]

06:40 PM on 03/29/2012

talk about busted....