From http://news.yahoo.com/s/nypost/20050803/cm_nypost/quidprocult
QUID PRO CULT Wed Aug 3, 5:00 AM ET
City Councilwoman and Manhattan Borough President candidate Margarita Lopez appears to have been caught steering hundreds of thousands of city dollars into a "medical" center tied to the crackpot cult Scientology.
Meanwhile, Scientologists have been returning the favor, pumping almost $100,000 into her campaign account - or 25 percent of its total.
Quid pro quo?
Well, The Post's Stefan C. Friedman has unearthed an e-mail suggesting strongly that the cultists have been soliciting their friends to kick in to the Lower East Side lawmaker's campaign kitty, on the grounds that doing so "WILL DEFINITELY PAY BIG DIVIDENDS" - or so the e-mail reads.
We won't pretend to know what that means, exactly.
On the other hand, it would behoove the city Department of Investigation - to say nothing of the Manhattan DA's office - to find out.
Scientology, of course, is the "religion" started by L. Ron Hubbard. Its luminaries include such intellects as Tom Cruise, John Travolta and Kirstie Alley.
Capitalizing on the tragedy of 9/11, Cruise co-founded the New York Rescue Workers Detoxification Project. The project employs a method proposed by Hubbard in his book "Clear Body, Clear Mind": Patients give up traditional medicines and instead take long sauna baths and exercise. The project has been dismissed as ineffective by the FDNY, the firefighters unions and most in the medical community.
When it was privately funded - from its inception in September of 2002, up until last summer - the harm was limited. If you wanted to put your health in the hands of people who believe in "body thetans" and other mumbo-jumbo . . . well, that was your business.
But then, after a hearing at which Lopez heard testimony from Scientologist "doctors," she started steering city money into the group's bank account.
To wit:
* $30,000 in June of 2004.
* $300,000 in December of 2004.
* And another $300,000 just last month.
That was rewarded in Scientology-linked giving to Lopez campaigns: * $38,000 from donors affiliated with Scientology, raised at a January fundraiser in Florida. * More money from a Scientology-linked fund-raiser in California.
All told, 84 people with ties to Scientology have pumped some $96,000 into Lopez's campaign for Manhattan beep.
So what the hell is going on, anyway?
All the chicanery in today's City Council suggests the body might be a proper target for a RICO investigation.
That's right: RICO - as in Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organization, the subject of laws aimed at corrupt criminal syndicates.
Remember how City Council Speaker Gifford Miller (yes, the one who vaguely reminds you of Richie Rich) broke up a $1.6 million printing job into at least 150 small contracts - just so he wouldn't have to put the job up for bid, as required by law?
These people have no respect for the law and even less for the taxpayers' money.
When even the Scientologists have figured that out, maybe Manhattan DA Bob Morgenthau, state Attorney General Eliot Spitzer or some other ambitious law-enforcement official should turn some gumshoes loose on what passes for New York City's municipal legislature.
From: "Praxis" <janeebeslis@hotmail.com>
Subject: New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg Blasts Scientology
Date: 3 Aug 2005 06:38:21 -0700
Message-ID: <1123076300.957979.298420@g47g2000cwa.googlegroups.com>
From http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nypost/20050803/lo_nypost/mikeblastsscientology
MIKE BLASTS SCIENTOLOGY
By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN
Wed Aug 3, 5:00 AM ET
Mayor Bloomberg yesterday slammed the Church of Scientology following reports that it pumped big bucks into a councilwoman's campaign for Manhattan borough president.
"I don't think it's real science," Bloomberg said. "Everything I've read about it - and that's not a lot - it doesn't make a lot of sense to me."
The mayor made it clear that he parted ways on Scientology with Manhattan Councilwoman Margarita Lopez, who The Post reported this week pocketed nearly $100,000 in donations from Scientologists.
On the City Council, Lopez steered tax funding to a controversial church-run "detox" program for 9/11 workers.
"I don't agree with her at all on Scientology," Bloomberg said.
But the mayor offered Lopez a near-endorsement despite the Scientology flap, saying, "I do think she'd probably make a good borough president."
Lopez defended herself yesterday.
"Every penny donated to my campaign has been legal and ethical, and has been sanctioned by the Campaign Finance Board," she said in a statement.
"The religious beliefs of individuals who donate to my campaign are not my concern, and are protected by the Constitution of this country."
The controversial Scientology detoxification program on Fulton Street supported by Lopez rejects traditional remedies in favor of large doses of niacin, exercise, long sauna baths and the ingestion of certain oils.
The Post reported that she directed $630,000 to the detox center to treat 9/11 emergency workers and that church followers then poured hefty contributions into her campaign war chest.
A Post article yesterday revealed an e-mail to Scientologists urged them to contribute to Lopez, saying it would "pay dividends" in the future.
Meanwhile, an additional near-$19,000 that was given to Lopez's campaign kitty from Scientologists around the country came to light yesterday, bringing the total to nearly $115,000.
Among the newly discovered donors was Anne Archer, the raven-haired Scientologist beauty who starred in such blockbusters as "Fatal Attraction" and "Patriot Games." She gave $250.
Go Back
to Shy David's Scientology Page.