ROCKLAND — Wrong numbers can add up to trouble.

Linda Bean wrote hers on a check and now a Waldoboro woman says she is getting phone calls from people across the United States who have misdialed when they tried to reach Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine company.

Fontana Jackson said Monday that her cellphone has been “going crazy” since last week, when the L.L. Bean heiress became embroiled in a controversy surrounding a donation she made to a pro-Trump political action committee that exceeded limits set by the Federal Election Commission.

Jackson said her number is the same as the one for Bean’s business – which is not connected to the Maine retail giant founded by Linda Bean’s grandfather – except for the last two digits.

Jackson has had her number for two years and said she had never received a call for Linda Bean’s company until last Tuesday. She suspects the calls are the result of the publicity that Bean has received since a story was published Jan. 6 that the FEC determined she had contributed $30,000 to Making America Great LLC – nearly half of the $66,862 the group spent on signs, online, radio and television ads. The FEC stated that Bean was limited by law to an individual contribution of $5,000.

Soon after that news was published, an anti-Trump organization called Grab Your Wallet called for a boycott of L.L. Bean because Linda Bean sits on the company’s board of directors.

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The 105-year-old Freeport provider of outdoor gear distanced itself from the fallout, explaining that Linda Bean is one of 10 board members and one of 50 family owners of varying political viewpoints, and that the company doesn’t endorse political candidates, take positions on political matters or make political contributions.

Then the president-elect weighed in.

“Thank you to Linda Bean of L.L. Bean for your great support and courage. People will support you even more now. Buy L.L. Bean,” Donald Trump tweeted to his 19.6 million followers.

Trump’s tweet propelled Linda Bean and L.L. Bean into the national spotlight, garnering coverage from The New York Times, The Washington Post, Atlantic, Slate and other national media.

Jackson also has been getting national attention, with people dialing wrong numbers from states as far away as Oregon, Wyoming and Michigan. Two of the callers said they wanted to order products, while the others would not say why they were trying to reach the company.

The Waldoboro woman said that the callers were polite, but that two of them said Linda Bean was losing business by publicizing the wrong number. The callers repeated the number they dialed, Fontana said, and confirmed they were calling Jackson’s number. The callers said her number was listed online for Bean’s business. Several phone numbers are listed on the website for Linda Bean’s Perfect Maine. None of them matches Jackson’s, but one does come within two numbers.

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Jackson said she has tried to contact Bean by phone and email to inform her about the telephone calls being directed to the wrong number but has had no success.

The Waldoboro woman said she provides home health care and needs her cellphone for her business as well as for personal calls.

Jackson is a Trump supporter and the controversy has not changed her views of the president-elect or Bean.

“I don’t follow politics that much,” Jackson said.


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