Conservatives always gripe about “political correctness,” right? So why, then, is the new Republican governor of Maine removing a mural celebrating labor from the halls of the state’s Department of Labor?

Because his office got

a faxed complaint comparing the art to North Korean propaganda.

“In this mural I observed a figure which closely resembles the former commissioner of labor,” an anonymous fax given to the Portland Press Herald reads. “In studying the mural I also observed that this mural is nothing but propaganda to further the agenda of the Union movement. I felt for a moment that I was in communist North Korea where they use these murals to brainwash the masses.”

A spokeswoman for the governor, Adrienne Bennett, told TPM that while she didn’t want to “give validity” to the specific sentiments in the fax, it was one of numerous complaints brought up by senior policy staff when the LePage administration took over the department.

The spokesperson went on to say “The message we want to send is ‘We’re here for you,’ for job creators and employees,” she said. “The decorum needs to represent neutrality.”

Uh-huh.