We’re always interested when a Scientologist runs for political office. It doesn’t happen very often, and in recent years it’s been particularly rare. There was a married couple who each ran for office in Nevada (one of them, Brent Jones, did serve as a state legislator but failed in his bid to move up to lieutenant governor). And there was a county clerk in Texas who left office last year, and he is now running for Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector.
It’s uncommon for Scientologists to run. But in Oregon, there’s an even more unusual situation that has us excited. A former Scientology Sea Org worker is not only running for city council, she has some fascinating ties to some of Scientology’s darkest secrets.
Brittany Ruiz is an anti-vaxx mom who is trying to unseat McMinnville, Oregon Council President Kellie Menke in Ward 2 in the election that will be held on November 3. There hasn’t been much press coverage of this race, even locally, with just one article we could find describing Ruiz as one of several candidates who are conservatives trying to unseat more moderate Republicans.
So even locals in McMinnville apparently don’t realize what a fascinating candidate they have in Ruiz. She was Deputy Executive Director at the Advanced Organization of Los Angeles (AOLA), one of the special locations where wealthy Scientologists come to be initiated into the secrets of the “Operating Thetan” auditing levels, costing tens of thousands of dollars. But then, after leaving the Sea Org, she was known for what a hardcore Scientologist she remained, especially on social media, where she kept other members in line.
Both Jefferson Hawkins and Tiziano Lugli, well known figures here at the Underground Bunker, wrote about Ruiz, then known as Brittany Sierra Garrett, enforcing discipline at Facebook a decade ago. Lugli, in 2010, wrote about what he said was a slander campaign being run against him after he had left the church…
As we started receiving calls from the rest of our very close group of so-called friends, the FaceBook Enturbulator I/Cs were already on the move. The good old JoJo Zawawi teamed up with Brittany Sierra Garrett (old D/CO of AOLA and 2D of Javier Ruiz whom I personally helped extensively to get on his feet after he left the SO). They started an amazing rumormongering campaign against us with vicious lies given by Tom Davis regarding our standing which apparently is “We’re declared SPs attacking the Church joined with squirrel groups and trying to get upstat Scientologists to follow us.”
Here’s another fun example, Brittany in 2011 posting a comment at a Scientology parenting blog, enforcing discipline about the barley formula that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard had come up with for feeding infants…
Now that’s hardcore fundamentalist Hubbardism!
But Brittany Ruiz is even more interesting, because we hope she can help us solve one of Scientology’s enduring mysteries, involving her husband Javier Ruiz and the whereabouts of his previous wife, Barbara.
All the way back in 2012 at the Village Voice, we wrote about the troubling ties between the “L. Ron Hubbard’s Writers of the Future” contest and Scientology’s infamous abuses. Namely, that in 2004 a woman named Barbara Ruiz, who at that time was running the writing contest, had also been seen running Scientology leader David Miscavige’s notorious prison at Gold Base known as “The Hole,” which had just been created that year.
For those science fiction writers who insisted that the contest maintained a firewall between it and the church, we pointed out the inconvenient fact that the person who ran the contest had also been seen running Scientology’s notorious concentration camp for its top executives. And not only that, but after Barbara Ruiz ran that 2004 contest, she then vanished and has never been seen since.
Barbara was married to Javier Ruiz, who was also a Sea Org official and the president at Author Services, Inc., the Scientology subsidiary that acts as L. Ron Hubbard’s literary agency and that runs the Writers of the Future contest. Last year Leah Remini told us that near the end of her time in Scientology, she asked Javier about Barbara, trying to find out what had happened to her friend.
“I told him I was worried about what was going on in Scientology,” Leah says. She told him that Shelly didn’t seem to be around, and Barbara had also seemingly vanished.
“We’re divorced. What do I give a fuck where Barbara is?” Javier told her. And soon after that conversation, Leah found herself being called down for a meeting.
Advertisement“I was called in and confronted by Shane Woodruff, Todd Woodruff, Hansuli Stahli and Mike Sutter — Hansuli and Mike are Miscavige’s henchmen,” Leah says.
She learned that Javier Ruiz had dropped a dime on her.
“He wrote a Knowledge Report, an internal report on me, saying I was trying to start a mutiny because I wanted to know where Shelly and Barbara were. They confronted me with the KR and wanted to know if I was trying to start a mutiny. That is where the beginning of the end started for me,” Leah says.
We sent an email to Brittany Ruiz on Thursday, telling her that we were always interested when Scientologists ran for office. And we asked her if she could help clear up what had happened to her husband’s previous wife, Barbara Ruiz, the former Scientology executive who, like Shelly Miscavige, simply vanished.
We hope Ms. Ruiz gets back to us.
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“You could teach people quite a bit about just any one of these Security Checks, you see. Like the children’s check. Teaching them how to use a children’s check. That’s quite interesting. You, of course, mustn’t ask a question which the child can’t understand because you will have an immediate ARC break. He thinks he’s being accused of something; he doesn’t know what you’re talking about. So you have to rephrase all of the questions in the child’s Security Check, you see, so as to reach the comprehension level of a child.” — L. Ron Hubbard, September 26, 1961
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“This is my 50th year on the bridge and most sessions are best ever! Up to OTVIII in the Church, Ron’s Org. Grenchen these days. Just translated LRH lecture Beingness (Dec. 1953) into German and highly recommend it. Lot’s of OT data in there!”
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“Vallarrr use to blather on about how if someone had an irrational fear of spiders and they did some auditing and that fear was gone that was proof of auditing working.”
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Full Court Press: What we’re watching at the Underground Bunker
Criminal prosecutions:
— Danny Masterson charged for raping three women: Demurrer filed by Masterson, arraignment delayed to October 19.
— Jay and Jeff Spina, Medicare fraud: Jay’s sentencing is set for October 5 in White Plains, NY. Jeffrey’s is set for October 24.
— Hanan and Rizza Islam and other family members, Medi-Cal fraud: Next pretrial conference set for Jan 12 in Los Angeles
— Dennis Nobbe, Medicare fraud, PPP loan fraud: Charged July 29. Bond revoked Sep 14. Nobbe dead, Sep 14.
Civil litigation:
— Luis and Rocio Garcia v. Scientology: Oral arguments were heard on July 30 at the Eleventh Circuit
— Valerie Haney v. Scientology: Forced to ‘religious arbitration.’ Petition for a writ of mandate filed with Cal 2nd Appellate District, Sept 10.
— Chrissie Bixler et al. v. Scientology and Danny Masterson: Sept 29 (CSI/RTC demurrer against Riales, Masterson demurrer), Oct 26 (motions to compel arbitration)
— Jane Doe v. Scientology (in Miami): Jane Doe dismissed the lawsuit on May 15 after the Clearwater Police dropped their criminal investigation of her allegations.
— Matt and Kathy Feschbach tax debt: Eleventh Circuit ruled on Sept 9 that Feshbachs can’t discharge IRS debt in bankruptcy. Update required in federal lawsuit on Oct 19.
— Brian Statler Sr v. City of Inglewood: Second amended complaint filed, trial set for Nov 9, 2021.
— Author Steve Cannane defamation trial: Trial concluded, awaiting verdict.
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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] City councilman demonstrates why Scientology puts so much effort into its front groups
[TWO years ago] A conversation with Nathan Rich about the unique Scientology hellscape he survived
[THREE years ago] To help you through withdrawals tonight, take our poll on Leah Remini’s Season Two so far
[FOUR years ago] SCIENTOLOGY’S TOP 20 CELEBRITIES — in order of those most likely to defect
[FIVE years ago] ‘Darth Xander’ files motion challenging Scientology’s anti-protesting injunction
[SIX years ago] Scientology prepares for its big party in England, Maureen Bolstad on the Purification Rundown
[SEVEN years ago] Shut-Down Scientology Drug Rehab Claiming It’s Full, Says Mother of Insurance Fraud Victim
[NINE years ago] The Top 25 People Crippling Scientology, No. 3: Marty Rathbun
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Bernie Headley (1952-2019) did not see his daughter Stephanie in his final 5,667 days.
Valerie Haney has not seen her mother Lynne in 2,072 days.
Katrina Reyes has not seen her mother Yelena in 2,576 days
Sylvia Wagner DeWall has not seen her brother Randy in 2,096 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his grandson Leo in 1,116 days.
Geoff Levin has not seen his son Collin and daughter Savannah in 1,007 days.
Christie Collbran has not seen her mother Liz King in 4,314 days.
Clarissa Adams has not seen her parents Walter and Irmin Huber in 2,182 days.
Carol Nyburg has not seen her daughter Nancy in 2,956 days.
Jamie Sorrentini Lugli has not seen her father Irving in 3,760 days.
Quailynn McDaniel has not seen her brother Sean in 3,076 days.
Dylan Gill has not seen his father Russell in 11,642 days.
Melissa Paris has not seen her father Jean-Francois in 7,561 days.
Valeska Paris has not seen her brother Raphael in 3,729 days.
Mirriam Francis has not seen her brother Ben in 3,310 days.
Claudio and Renata Lugli have not seen their son Flavio in 3,571 days.
Sara Goldberg has not seen her daughter Ashley in 2,609 days.
Lori Hodgson has not seen her son Jeremy and daughter Jessica in 2,322 days.
Marie Bilheimer has not seen her mother June in 1,847 days.
Charley Updegrove has not seen his son Toby in 1,377 days.
Joe Reaiche has not seen his daughter Alanna Masterson in 5,937 days
Derek Bloch has not seen his father Darren in 3,077 days.
Cindy Plahuta has not seen her daughter Kara in 3,397 days.
Roger Weller has not seen his daughter Alyssa in 8,252 days.
Claire Headley has not seen her mother Gen in 3,371 days.
Ramana Dienes-Browning has not seen her mother Jancis in 1,727 days.
Mike Rinder has not seen his son Benjamin and daughter Taryn in 6,030 days.
Brian Sheen has not seen his daughter Spring in 2,136 days.
Skip Young has not seen his daughters Megan and Alexis in 2,538 days.
Mary Kahn has not seen her son Sammy in 2,410 days.
Lois Reisdorf has not seen her son Craig in 1,993 days.
Phil and Willie Jones have not seen their son Mike and daughter Emily in 2,488 days.
Mary Jane Barry has not seen her daughter Samantha in 2,742 days.
Kate Bornstein has not seen her daughter Jessica in 13,851 days.
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Posted by Tony Ortega on September 26, 2020 at 07:00
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Our new book with Paulette Cooper, Battlefield Scientology: Exposing L. Ron Hubbard’s dangerous ‘religion’ is now on sale at Amazon in paperback and Kindle formats. Our book about Paulette, The Unbreakable Miss Lovely: How the Church of Scientology tried to destroy Paulette Cooper, is on sale at Amazon in paperback, Kindle, and audiobook versions. We’ve posted photographs of Paulette and scenes from her life at a separate location. Reader Sookie put together a complete index. More information can also be found at the book’s dedicated page.
The Best of the Underground Bunker, 1995-2019 Just starting out here? We’ve picked out the most important stories we’ve covered here at the Underground Bunker (2012-2019), The Village Voice (2008-2012), New Times Los Angeles (1999-2002) and the Phoenix New Times (1995-1999)
Other links: BLOGGING DIANETICS: Reading Scientology’s founding text cover to cover | UP THE BRIDGE: Claire Headley and Bruce Hines train us as Scientologists | GETTING OUR ETHICS IN: Jefferson Hawkins explains Scientology’s system of justice | SCIENTOLOGY MYTHBUSTING: Historian Jon Atack discusses key Scientology concepts | Shelly Miscavige, 14 years gone | The Lisa McPherson story told in real time | The Cathriona White stories | The Leah Remini ‘Knowledge Reports’ | Hear audio of a Scientology excommunication | Scientology’s little day care of horrors | Whatever happened to Steve Fishman? | Felony charges for Scientology’s drug rehab scam | Why Scientology digs bomb-proof vaults in the desert | PZ Myers reads L. Ron Hubbard’s “A History of Man” | Scientology’s Master Spies | The mystery of the richest Scientologist and his wayward sons | Scientology’s shocking mistreatment of the mentally ill | The Underground Bunker’s Official Theme Song | The Underground Bunker FAQ
Watch our short videos that explain Scientology’s controversies in three minutes or less…
Check your whale level at our dedicated page for status updates, or join us at the Underground Bunker’s Facebook discussion group for more frivolity.
Our non-Scientology stories: Robert Burnham Jr., the man who inscribed the universe | Notorious alt-right inspiration Kevin MacDonald and his theories about Jewish DNA | The selling of the “Phoenix Lights” | Astronomer Harlow Shapley‘s FBI file | Sex, spies, and local TV news | Battling Babe-Hounds: Ross Jeffries v. R. Don Steele
