Will this vision of the Alexandra ever come true?
Like other cities in what Scientology considers the “East US Continent” (Detroit, Chicago, Philadelphia), Boston’s pursuit of an “Ideal Org” has been mired in a struggle for funds.
Despite Scientology leader David Miscavige sitting on a mountain of liquid assets — more than a billion dollars in ready cash, according to former church executive Debbie Cook — Miscavige insists that locals hold events so they can raise the millions needed to purchase, plan, and renovate the fancy new facilities he calls “Ideal.”
Yesterday, the Boston Globe detailed the struggle that Scientology has gone through trying to renovate a formerly glamorous hotel to become its new Ideal Org. With the Alexandra Hotel project millions of dollars short, it has sat, rotting, for six years since Scientology purchased the landmark. In the meantime, Scientology has had to find temporary digs and has now leased a place in the nearby town of Quincy, but not before leaving a broken lease that has produced a lawsuit.
Tsk, tsk. Such troubles over not being able to raise enough money from the handful of local Scientologists still remaining in Beantown.
What struck us, however, was the tone of the Globe article, which gives the impression that the newspaper would actually like to see Scientology renovate the hotel and move in.
That was especially surprising to us because the Globe was willing to cast far back in the past to put the story in context: “In the late 1800s, the Alexandra was home to wealthy Bostonians, with unheard-of luxuries such as a primitive elevator powered by a giant piston connected to the city’s water main. The 1875 late Gothic building is in the South End Landmark District, which requires that its colorful sandstone facade and cast-iron details be preserved.”
That’s great local lore, but why, we wondered, was the Globe also not telling its readers about its own history with Scientology? Seems like pretty important information, if the newspaper really wants to give its readers a full picture about whether neighbors should be excited about the church moving into the Alexandra.
Here’s what the Globe left out of its trip down memory lane.
In early 1975, Scientology’s Guardian Office — its intelligence wing at the time — got wind that Boston Globe reporter John Wood was working on a major story about the Church of Scientology, relying in part on help from one of the church’s most hated enemies, journalist Paulette Cooper.
In order to find out what the Globe was writing, it had one GO operative, Robert Dardano, get a job at the newspaper as a security guard. Another operative named David Grace got himself hired as a janitor at the legal firm — Bingham, Dana & Gould — which represented the newspaper.
Grace was instructed to rifle through the files of attorney James McHugh after hours. Grace brought back a thick file to Dardano and other operatives, who sifted through it and, to their delight, found a rough draft of John Wood’s story that McHugh was reviewing for publication.
Meanwhile, at around the same time, Dardano and several other GO operatives broke into the offices of psychiatrist Dr. Stanley Cath in the nearby town of Belmont, where they located Paulette Cooper’s private medical file. After another group-sift through the file for kicks, the GO then began anonymously mailing copies of the documents to Cooper in order to intimidate her.
The Guardian Office also cooked up a scheme to get a revolver planted in Globe reporter John Wood’s vehicle, hoping to get him in trouble for breaking Massachusetts’ strict handgun law. (That plan didn’t come off.)
All of this nefarious activity came to light a few years later when the FBI raided Scientology’s headquarters in Los Angeles and Washington DC in July 1977. Dardano, meanwhile, testified under oath in a deposition about his own activities.
Now, isn’t that history awfully fun? Scientology, of course, always says that its Guardian Office was a rogue outfit that was purged. But judging by what’s happening in a current lawsuit in Texas, with revelations of subterfuge and surveillance and harassment of Marty and Monique Rathbun stipulated to by the Church of Scientology International, it’s really not so easy to accept that the church has changed its ways.
Anyway, the people of Boston really ought to know these things about Scientology and its major newspaper. It’s a shame that the newspaper doesn’t remind them itself.
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Laura DeCrescenzo finally has a new judge
The game of judicial musical chairs in Los Angeles has finally produced a new winner as Judge Rolf Michael Treu was selected to take over Laura DeCrescenzo’s forced abortion lawsuit against the Church of Scientology.
Laura first sued the church in 2009, and her case has been through a legal rollercoaster since then. We were there when she managed to get past one big hurdle, defeating Scientology’s motion for summary judgment last year. Judge Ronald Sohigian had scheduled a trial for early 2015 before he retired.
Now, we’ll wait to see when Judge Treu schedules a trial, as there are some time limitations involved. We’re hearing it’s possible this trial could be put off until early 2016, which is really a shame. Please catch up on her case by reading our extensive coverage of Laura’s victory prying tens of thousands of documents out of the church, documents which Scientology went to the US Supreme Court to try and keep hidden.
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Your proprietor on the airwaves again
Tonight, yours truly will be on an Internet radio broadcast live from 8 to 10 pm Eastern — yes, you can even call in!
Here’s the link to the show we’ll be on, which we admit we don’t know a lot about, but we’ll do our best to entertain and inform.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 25, 2014 at 07:00
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