Scientologist pair running for office double down on their denials about church involvement

We have a little follow up for you in regards to a story we did last week. Our veteran readers know that for several years we’ve kept an eye on Nevada politician and Scientologist Brent Jones, who served a single term as a state assemblyman, and is now running for lieutenant governor, with a Republican primary scheduled for June 12.

A reader alerted us that Brent’s wife, Aimee Jones, is also running for office, hoping to win the Assembly seat that her husband held until he was defeated in the 2016 election. Curious about her involvement in Scientology, we found a church publication which listed that she had completed the “L11 New Life Rundown” — a very expensive auditing level only performed at the Flag Land Base in Clearwater, Florida, which would have run Aimee about $24,000. Brent also has the L11 experience under his belt, according to Scientology’s own publications. Only very involved Scientologists have the chance to experience something like the L11 rundown, our experts told us.

But Aimee’s campaign manager, Laurel Fee, denied that Brent or Aimee were Scientologists, telling us that the two of them had only taken some courses because they use L. Ron Hubbard’s “admin technology” in their business, Affinity Lifestyles, which sells “Real Water,” alkalized drinking water with added electrons.

“Aimee and Brent have both taken courses to learn the business model, I will say that,” Laurel told us. “But you don’t have to be a Scientologist to take their courses. All kinds of people take their courses. All kinds of people use those courses for a business model.”

After that story ran, we heard from another tipster who pointed out that a few weeks earlier, Rob Lauer, a conservative commentator who ran unsuccessfully for Nevada secretary of state in 2010, put out a video statement about Brent and Aimee running for office and facing questions about their Scientology involvement. The video was posted at the Facebook page for 360Daily.Net, a Las Vegas conservative website. Here, take a look…

 
About a minute into the video, here’s what Lauer says…

There’s been some people out there — in our party, frankly — who’ve criticized and attacked Brent and Aimee because they’re Scientologists. I’m not a Scientologist. I’m a Christian. But you know that? Brent has a beautiful wife, a beautiful family, he’s got a successful business, so whatever he’s doing it’s working for him, and we should all just let people do what they believe, follow the beliefs that are in their hearts.

After we watched that video, and saw Lauer referring to his good friends as Scientologists, she sent Laurel Fee a message. Here is the exchange we had with her…

The Bunker: It was just brought to my attention that two weeks ago, Rob Lauer said in this video that Brent and Aimee are Scientologists, but he objects to people bringing that up in the campaign. That contradicts what you told me, that Brent and Aimee are not Scientologists. I’m wondering what you make of that contradiction.

Laurel: Did not watch. Don’t care what you make of it. I also did some checking on you. I heard you were a hack writer and were contacted to attack the Joneses about Scientology. What do you make of that? Why do you try to ruin people you don’t even know? I mean what exactly drives you to do that?

The Bunker: How does it “ruin” Brent and Aimee to point out that they’re Scientologists? Shouldn’t they be excited to tell people about all the benefits they got from the L11 Rundown? That’s the part I don’t understand.

Laurel: You are not trying to be positive — we both know it. Why are you trying to hide who asked you to get involved in a little ole assembly race in Nevada?

The Bunker: As I explained, it’s extremely rare for Scientologists to run for public office in this country. That a husband and wife are both running makes it especially interesting. It was one of my readers who noticed that Aimee was also running and brought it to my attention. No one involved there.

Shortly after this exchange with Laurel, the Rob Lauer video was removed from the 360Daily.Net website and Facebook page.

Luckily, one of our researchers happened to nab a copy.

Meanwhile, one of the people who chimed in about our story last week was Janis Gillham Grady, author of the recently-released book, Commodore’s Messenger. She had this to say about Brent and Aimee…

Both Brent and Aimee Jones are Scientologists and even apply disconnection. A fun story to tell – we have some mutual friends who have a second home out of state. Brent and Aimee had planned to visit with them but had to make sure it was during a time that Paul and I were not there as we are “SPs”. It was worked out that the Joneses would leave town the day Paul and I were to arrive. We arrived in time for dinner – the Joneses thought they were having dinner with our mutual friends, not knowing we were arriving in time for dinner. Of course when the Brent and Aimee found out dinner included the Gradys, they could no longer join our mutual friends for dinner! Well, it just so happens there is only one real restaurant in this little town we were visiting – so what did the Joneses do to avoid Paul and me, they called in their food order and while the mutual friends, Paul, and I were enjoying a nice sit down meal, they sent their teenage son in to pick up their food in order to avoid bumping into us! Now, tell me they are NOT Scientologists applying disconnection policy.

Let us know what you think about Rob Lauer’s point, as well as what Laurel Fee is saying. Is it too much, really, to ask Aimee to tell us about the super powers she attained on L11 at Flag? Wouldn’t that make for a killer campaign video?

 
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Kim Poff gets $200K in settlement from Oklahoma

We were pleased to read the news yesterday that whistleblower Kim Poff received $201,912.50 from the state of Oklahoma to settle the latest of her lawsuits.

It was Poff and her investigator Michael DeLong who, in 2012, investigated Scientology’s flagship drug rehab facility, Narconon Arrowhead, after three patient deaths occurred there in a nine-month period. What they found was so bad, they recommended that the state shut down the facility immediately. Instead, according to testimony by Poff, her bosses at the state mental health authority buried her report because they were too afraid to take on Scientology.

When they complained about it, both Poff and DeLong lost their jobs, and so they sued. Poff got a job with another state agency, but then was fired there as well and filed another lawsuit. It was that secondary lawsuit that was still alive and that has now been settled.

Poff’s attorney, Rachel Bussett, told News9’s Dana Hertneky that the payment should be seen as a victory: “This settlement is some kind of vindication to show that she didn’t do anything wrong,” she said. But the state disagreed, saying that no liability was determined in the settlement.

We’re glad that Poff got some money. But when is the state of Oklahoma going to act on what she found at Narconon Arrowhead?

 
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Make your plans now!

HOWDYCON UPDATE

Wow, we’re now less than two months out, and Chee Chalker is working hard to make sure things are going to run smoothly at this year’s HowdyCon in Chicago, June 21-23. As in past years, we’re looking forward to meeting readers of the Bunker, culminating in Saturday night’s main event.

The biggest difference this year is that our Saturday night event is separate from that evening’s dinner. Chee is setting up an inexpensive pizza dinner that you don’t need to pay for ahead of time, after which we’ll walk over to the theater where our event, hosted by Chicago Fire star Christian Stolte, will take place. Because it’s a separate event, we’re asking that you pay $10 each to get into the Saturday night event, which will help us recoup what the Bunker paid for the venue. (We have never made a penny on our HowdyCon meetups, we only try to break even.)

Please email your proprietor (tonyo94 AT gmail) in order to reserve your spot for Saturday night’s main event. Seating is limited, and we’re going to have some really interesting people on stage and they may make a few announcements that you don’t want to miss.

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on April 24, 2018 at 07:00

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