Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
It’s Labor Day here in the US, and traditionally, that’s when political campaigns kick off before a November election. So we asked Mark Bunker, who recently succeeded in a primary to qualify for a run-off against Sam Wilson for a seat on Clearwater’s city council, for his thoughts.
This is an exciting time. I’ve run twice before but this is the first time I have been in a two person run-off. It has hit me hard how important this race is. I’m up against a young man who has the backing of the entire GOP and all of the Scientologists in town. A lot of money was spent to get him in office in last month’s vote...but he was not able to pass the 50 percent threshold that would have given him a clean win, so there is a path forward to success.
In the last race in 2024, Ryan Cotton beat me by around 600 votes. We had three people in that race. Mike Mastruserio was also strong on Scientology and he did draw some votes away from me. If Mike’s supporters had voted for me, I would still be in office and the city would still have possession of Garden Avenue. To Mike’s great credit he has thrown his full support behind me in this race because he sees the importance of winning. Mike personally spent money to send out mailers on my behalf with the very strong message that we can’t let party politics and Scientology control City Hall. His “This time, don’t vote R or D. Vote B for Bunker and Bianca” had a big impact on the primary win. In fact, I have considered using that on a yard sign.
The same dynamics of a three-person race led to the same results this time. With three people in the race I didn’t expect anyone to go over 50 percent of the vote. Kevin R T Laughlin pulled some votes away from me, but after the dust settled he publicly endorsed me and encouraged all his supporters to vote for me — and I greatly appreciate that. He has also given me some interesting avenues for research into some potential chinks in Sam Wilson’s armor.
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tonyortega.substack.com
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[/td]This is an exciting time. I’ve run twice before but this is the first time I have been in a two person run-off. It has hit me hard how important this race is. I’m up against a young man who has the backing of the entire GOP and all of the Scientologists in town. A lot of money was spent to get him in office in last month’s vote...but he was not able to pass the 50 percent threshold that would have given him a clean win, so there is a path forward to success.
In the last race in 2024, Ryan Cotton beat me by around 600 votes. We had three people in that race. Mike Mastruserio was also strong on Scientology and he did draw some votes away from me. If Mike’s supporters had voted for me, I would still be in office and the city would still have possession of Garden Avenue. To Mike’s great credit he has thrown his full support behind me in this race because he sees the importance of winning. Mike personally spent money to send out mailers on my behalf with the very strong message that we can’t let party politics and Scientology control City Hall. His “This time, don’t vote R or D. Vote B for Bunker and Bianca” had a big impact on the primary win. In fact, I have considered using that on a yard sign.
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[/td]READ MORE
Labor Day campaign kickoff: Why Scientology fears a Mark Bunker victory!
It’s Labor Day here in the US, and traditionally, that’s when political campaigns kick off before a November election.
tonyortega.substack.com
