This week, Leah and I have a conversation with Mark Bunker on the Fair Game podcast. Download at midnight tonight. I will add a link to the show here when it becomes available. We talk to Mark about his history with scientology, him becoming the newest Clearwater City Council member and what the future of the City of Clearwater holds. We cover the land grab by scientology so ably reported by Tracey McManus in the Tampa Bay Times "How Scientology doubled its downtown Clearwater footprint in 3 years" : Tracey updated her story a few days ago "Vacancies in Scientology-tied … [Read more...]
Pinellas County Sheriff Candidate Eliseo Santana: Scientology Shill
Eliseo Santana just sent me this mailer as a resident of Pinellas County. Last month, he became the democratic candidate to challenge the incumbent Sheriff Bob Gualtieri. I would not normally comment on this, except earlier this year, Eliseo Santana also ran for Clearwater City Council against Mark Bunker. Santana was a scientology shill in that election. (You can watch some of the videos of Santana in action at that link). Scientology is afraid of running any scientologist candidates -- they know they will lose -- so they try to curry favor with candidates by promising them their … [Read more...]
Mark Bunker Strikes Fear Into Scientologists’ Hearts
I was sent this Facebook message by Aaron Smith-Levin, who received it from Aida Barbosa in Mexico City. He does not know Aida. But she is very concerned that Aaron may know someone who is connected to Mark Bunker and that he should unfriend that person on Facebook as soon as he figures out if that person has other friends connected to Bunker. Obviously she does not know who Aaron is or that he is more than Facebook friends with Mark Bunker. But it gives some insight into the world of scientology and how panicked they are about Mark Bunker. And that, as has been said so often, it is OSA … [Read more...]
What Happened to Ryan Prescott?
Frankly, the closed orgs have dried up a lot of the material for Thursday Funnies -- endless streams of "Get your Pandemic workbook here" and "We command you to do an Extension Course" are just not very funny. We may not see much in the way of Thursday Funnies for a little while... So, I thought some clowncar material from another corner of the scientology bubble might be entertaining. This is Ryan Prescott's Facebook live post from a week or so ago. I had only ever seen his comical Tweets and some bits from his Loony-Tunes books. I had never had the misfortune of seeing him in … [Read more...]
Clearwater Police Chief Inspects Flag
As always, Tracey McManus has the story. I spoke to Tracey about this earlier today and she quoted me in the article. But I had more thoughts on it that she was unable to include. I also have a copy of Chief Slaughter's publicly available report. First, this comes as a relief to me. My son is in this facility, so anything being done to mitigate the threat of this pandemic is very welcome. Second, I applaud Chief Slaughter for taking the initiative to do something. I do not recall the last time any city official walked in to the Ft Harrison to check out what is going on. Third, … [Read more...]
Mark Bunker Settles In at City Hall
Mark Bunker was sworn in to the Clearwater City Council seat 2 on Monday. There is a public ceremony being held in City Hall on Thursday evening. This is his new desk. And his first visitor. Mark tells me Bobblerinder will be a permanent fixture at his desk. It is quite an honor. … [Read more...]
City Councilman Mark Bunker and Scientology Tax Exempt Status
The news has sunk in, Mark Bunker is now a Clearwater City Commissioner-elect. As Tracey McManus put it, this is a historic day for Clearwater. There is another piece in the Tampa Bay Times (top of article screencapped above) this morning. It makes some interesting points - first of which is noting Bunker's "desire for the city to urge the IRS to revoke Scientology's tax exempt status..." Some have poo-poo'd this idea "The City of Clearwater doesn't grant tax exempt status, the IRS does" -- as if Mark Bunker is unaware of the difference between a city government and the … [Read more...]
Unofficial Result — Mark Bunker Wins Election
This is an historic day in Clearwater. Providing nothing changes as this is made into the official result (not sure when this will be), Mark Bunker is now a City Council member of the City of Clearwater. The scientology backed candidate came in 4th out of 5... Once and for all proving that scientology in fact has NO political clout in Clearwater, let alone Tampa Bay. Congratulations to Mark Bunker! Also Congratulations to Frank Hibbard who will be the new Mayor of Clearwater. The people I feel sorry for are those in OSA Flag. This loss will be blamed on them. It will not be … [Read more...]
Clearwater Elections Today — Vote for Mark Bunker
If you are a resident of Clearwater, please exercise your right to vote today. As I have said since he announced his candidacy, I wholeheartedly support Mark Bunker for Seat 2 on the Clearwater City Council. Mark has changed the landscape of city politics in Clearwater by simply being in the race. He has forced those running for office to have to confront the issue of scientology and its impact on the local community. With no political history and no real "campaign" organized, it has been a word of mouth, grassroots effort. If you don't want scientology to hoodwink the city into the … [Read more...]
Clearwater City Elections — Scientology Endorsements
A recent article in FlaPol (FloridaPolitics.com) reports on recommendations from scientologists "Citizens for Social Reform" (Brett Miller, Joanie and Steve Sigal) These are the surrogates who deliver the political direction of the church without being a formalized statement from the institution. Why do they do it this way? Because if the church itself published them it would run afoul of 501(c)3 prohibitions against political endorsements (though the Evangelicals don't seem to be too concerned about that). But make no mistake, the "Citizens for Social Reform" are just another scientology … [Read more...]