Scientologist on Clearwater downtown board does a classic ‘dead agenting’ of Mark Bunker

Wednesday evening, Mark Bunker went to the Clearwater Downtown Development Board to explain something about Scientology.

Now, to understand what ensued, it helps to know a few different sets of circumstances that led up to this being a pretty remarkable evening. For example, it’s not the first time that Bunker has spoken at various Clearwater government meetings. Even before he announced his intention to run in the next campaign for city council, Bunker has appeared at council meetings and the downtown development board, expressing his concerns about Scientology’s influence on the lovely beach town and its dead downtown.

And his interactions with at least one of the people on the board Wednesday night — its chairman, Scientologist and “One Stoppe Shoppe” owner Paris Morfopoulous — goes back much further. When Bunker was a part of the Lisa McPherson Trust filming activism around Scientology’s buildings in the year 2000, one of the people he ran into was a very aggressive Morfopoulos, who ragged Bunker about his weight, and asked him if his appetites also included sex with children and sex with barnyard animals.

So Bunker and Morfopoulos know each other from way back.

But there was something else in the mix Wednesday. The night before, Tracey McManus at the Tampa Bay Times had reported that for the first time, a majority of Scientologists had been elected to the development board, and would be joining Morfopoulos in January.

So the chairman, currently sharing duties on the board with only one other Scientologist, Ray Cassano, may have been feeling his oats a bit.

Bunker said what he had come to say, addressing something Cassano had said in the meeting the prior month, that he was a Christian and a Scientologist. Bunker wanted to put on the record that in fact, to the IRS the Church of Scientology had said that members are expected to drop other practices in favor of Scientology, and also that in 1968, Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had said, on tape, “There was no Christ.”

Anyway, Bunker had his say, and also mentioned that he would still accept an apology from Morfopoulos about the cracks about sex with kids and barnyard animals, nearly 20 years later.

The meeting then went on, but near its end, Morfopoulos pulled out a prepared statement and went on a lengthy character assassination of Bunker.

From a Scientologist, this is no surprise. Hubbard instructed Scientologists to use such a “dead agenting” technique to cancel an “enemy” and make their criticisms of the church seem irrelevant.

From a Scientologist, it might seem pretty natural to go on an extended litany about “religious bigotry.” But for a public official in a public meeting? It seemed fairly extraordinary.

We especially liked this line: “I ask the public not to listen to the hateful propaganda of Mr. Bunker, the Times, the other agents of hate that spew this constant litany of garbage about me and my fellow Scientologists.”

The Tampa Bay Times, an agent of hate — from the chairman of the development board? Egads. And in January, just how much freer will Morfopoulos feel as he has three more Scientologists around him to make a 4-3 majority on the board? This could get interesting.

Last night, the city put video from the meeting up at its website. Mark Bunker put together this edit of it for your viewing pleasure…

 
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Duck, Dave, they’re coming at you from Miami!

We told you that a summons had been issued in Lawsuit #1 (Plaintiff: Valerie Haney) from the Brian Kent-Marci Hamilton team in Los Angeles, and process servers would be out looking to shove a fistful of documents into the hand of Scientology leader David Miscavige. And now, a summons has been issued in Lawsuit #3 (Jane Doe/Miami), and Dave has even more reason to be looking over his shoulder…

 
Tonight, the International Association of Scientologists (IAS) is kicking off its three-day annual celebration under the tents in East Grinstead, England. We don’t know if these lawsuits could be served there, but we have to imagine that Dave is going to be a bit frazzled if he shows up to give his yearly three-hour stemwinder tonight.

 
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Bonus items from our tipsters

The whales of October started arriving in England yesterday. Two of the US’s top Scientology donors, Tom Cummins and Jim Bridgeforth of Florida, celebrated seeing Hungarian actor Timea Vojtilla, who was highly visible during some of the protests there over a government investigation. She captioned this, “Amazing to meet freedom fighter friends!”

 
It’s starting!

 
Oh no…

 
Ready to translate C.O.B….

 
What do you think, good place for a first date?

 
Connor Cruise posted this two hours ago without saying where he was. Could he be attending IAS for the first time?

 
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Source Code

“Now, ‘When did the PC’s physical body change characteristics?’ Getting this out of women, you will have to take the E-Meter and beat them over the head. A woman at 110 will never admit that her body changed anything from that of a beautiful 16-year-old girl, or something like that, you know? It’s just things they won’t talk about, so you have to pull that the hard way. Go ahead and grab it.” — L. Ron Hubbard, October 11, 1961

 
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Overheard in the FreeZone

“Apparently OSA’s most sucessfull black opperation was to indoctrinate american indies that Bill Robertson followers were squirrels.”

 
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Random Howdy

“Man-animals, come out of your caves. The Psychlos have deserted the planet. We have won!”

 
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Scientology’s celebrities, ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and more!

We’ve been building landing pages about David Miscavige’s favorite playthings, including celebrities and ‘Ideal Orgs,’ and we’re hoping you’ll join in and help us gather as much information as we can about them. Head on over and help us with links and photos and comments.

Scientology’s celebrities, from A to Z! Find your favorite Hubbardite celeb at this index page — or suggest someone to add to the list!

Scientology’s ‘Ideal Orgs,’ from one end of the planet to the other! Help us build up pages about each these worldwide locations!

Scientology’s sneaky front groups, spreading the good news about L. Ron Hubbard while pretending to benefit society!

Scientology Lit: Books reviewed or excerpted in our weekly series. How many have you read?

 
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THE WHOLE TRACK

[ONE year ago] Dave Richards, 1948-2018, ran the Founding Church of Scientology in DC
[TWO years ago] Tara and Nathan — subjects of last night’s ‘Leah Remini’ — respond to Scientology’s smears
[THREE years ago] Louis Theroux’s movie comes to Oregon, and Jefferson Hawkins is there to talk Scientology
[FOUR years ago] L. Ron Hubbard’s regressive homophobia: Can Scientology’s celebrities handle the truth?
[FIVE years ago] Scientology’s ‘International Justice Chief’ surfaces for the Garcia lawsuit
[SIX years ago] HOW SCIENTOLOGY COERCED A CHILD TO HAVE AN ABORTION: THE LAURA DECRESCENZO FILES
[SEVEN years ago] L. Ron Hubbard Explains Your Life “Before Earth”
[EIGHT years ago] Scientology and Disconnection: “No One’s Going to Take My Eternity Away”

 
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Posted by Tony Ortega on October 11, 2019 at 07:00

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