Karen#1
Well-known member
TONY ORTEGA
Excerpt:
On Wednesday, we raised some questions about surging California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s past as a Scientology booster.
In the year 2000, when he was a US representative, Becerra helped Scientology dedicate the new international headquarters of ABLE, the church’s subsidiary that runs its front groups, like Applied Scholastics and Narconon.
Not only did Becerra give a speech at that event, he was introduced by ABLE president Rena Weinberg, a woman who, a few years later, became an inmate in Scientology’s notorious prison for executives, The Hole, and later simply vanished.
In 2003, Becerra was again a featured speaker, this time at Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre gala, which was attended by such church luminaries as Tom Cruise, Kelly Preston, and Jenna Elfman.
Becerra was photographed with Elfman and Scientology executive Kurt Wieland, another church official who was put in the Hole and hasn’t been heard from in decades.
We also learned that as recently as 2016, Becerra’s office sent representatives to help out with another Scientology front group, Youth for Human Rights.
In response to our inquiry about showing up at the 2003 Celebrity Centre gala, we received this statement from Becerra’s spokesman, Jonathan Underland: “As a member of Congress, Xavier Becerra met with constituents from across his district and made a point of engaging with all communities and organizations represented there.”
Well, that’s nice. But it doesn’t really speak to Becerra giving speeches at Scientology events, or hanging out with church officials who later went missing.
Meanwhile, a reader tipped us that Becerra had also spoken about Scientology during a session of the House, in 1997. We hunted down a C-SPAN video of Becerra speaking in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 22, at a session on November 9, 1997.
READ MORE
tonyortega.substack.com
Excerpt:
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[/td]In the year 2000, when he was a US representative, Becerra helped Scientology dedicate the new international headquarters of ABLE, the church’s subsidiary that runs its front groups, like Applied Scholastics and Narconon.
Not only did Becerra give a speech at that event, he was introduced by ABLE president Rena Weinberg, a woman who, a few years later, became an inmate in Scientology’s notorious prison for executives, The Hole, and later simply vanished.
In 2003, Becerra was again a featured speaker, this time at Scientology’s Hollywood Celebrity Centre gala, which was attended by such church luminaries as Tom Cruise, Kelly Preston, and Jenna Elfman.
Becerra was photographed with Elfman and Scientology executive Kurt Wieland, another church official who was put in the Hole and hasn’t been heard from in decades.
We also learned that as recently as 2016, Becerra’s office sent representatives to help out with another Scientology front group, Youth for Human Rights.
In response to our inquiry about showing up at the 2003 Celebrity Centre gala, we received this statement from Becerra’s spokesman, Jonathan Underland: “As a member of Congress, Xavier Becerra met with constituents from across his district and made a point of engaging with all communities and organizations represented there.”
Well, that’s nice. But it doesn’t really speak to Becerra giving speeches at Scientology events, or hanging out with church officials who later went missing.
Meanwhile, a reader tipped us that Becerra had also spoken about Scientology during a session of the House, in 1997. We hunted down a C-SPAN video of Becerra speaking in favor of House Concurrent Resolution 22, at a session on November 9, 1997.
READ MORE
Watch then-Rep. Xavier Becerra carrying water for Scientology in Congress
On Wednesday, we raised some questions about surging California gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra’s past as a Scientology booster.
tonyortega.substack.com
