Scientology

From: Truth Dissemination Division <truth@youcanthandleit.org>
Subject: David Cecere on the Lisa McPherson Trust
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2001 19:05:52 -0700
Organization: You Can't Handle The Truth
Message-ID: <he5ktt085dhmvn4i17janvkn2qscbub11s@4ax.com>


David Cecere on the Lisa McPherson Trust Courtesy of the Truth Dissemination Division -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
Hash: SHA1 I realize that it's been some time since any of you have heard from me, and I understand that for some board members at least, that's just as well. I am writing you one last time in the hope that you will be able to prevent what I would consider a tragedy: the extinction of the Trust. I hope that those of you who have a low opinion of me will put your personal feelings aside long enough to consider the current situation and make the right decision.

Please understand that although I'm no longer an officer of the Trust I still have a strong emotional investment in seeing it survive to fulfill its purpose. I have put in many hours on the civil case and I want to see justice done. Please remember the promises made in Lisa's memory and to her late mother and don't let the dysfunction of a few people prevent those promises from being kept.

I'll be blunt: Stacy Brooks should be removed as president, Bob Minton must resign as chairman, and John Merrett should be fired if the Trust is to survive the current legal proceedings. My opinion is based on a number of factors: 1) my experience as executive director from October 1999 until February of 2000. 2) The behavior of Bob Minton and Stacy Brooks during the last 30 days, 3) statements made by Stacy in her deposition of 8/15/01, and her declaration dated 8/22/01, 4) Bob's declaration of 8/22/01, and 5) John Merret's response filing to the court on behalf of Bob.

I can't state strongly enough that, as the board or directors, you must meet and take immediate and effective action. If you feel action is unnecessary then I strongly urge you to resign from the board in short order: you assumed a responsibility to the Trust when you accepted your appointment and now it's time to either take action or step down yourselves. If you decide to take action and remove Bob and Stacy, I recommend that you name Jesse Prince as interim president until such time as a permanent president can be named.

I am including an excerpt of email I sent to Steve Hassan over a month ago. He had expressed interest in hearing my thoughts about the Trust and I had hoped that he would bring my concerns to the attention of the board. I realize now that it's my responsibility to do so, and especially now that the situation has deteriorated further.

Begin Excerpt [...] My concerns about the future of the Trust are essentially the same now as they were at the beginning of 2000:

1) Bob Minton is an incompetent administrator.

He was no experience in management, but that's the least of it. He doesn't view the Trust as a group of professionals/individuals with unique qualifications for addressing the issue of Scientology's impact on individuals and society. Rather, his approach is that of a dictatorial "father figure." I can't count the times that he referred to the Trust employees as a "family." I was never comfortable with that term, or the mentality behind it. I expressed my discomfort to Stacy more than once, but she had resigned herself to pleasing Bob in every way possible and was not willing to address the issue.

Bob frequently expressed a "if you're not 100% with me, you're VERY much against me," attitude. It was an accepted fact that no one should confront Bob about his actions. When he came into the office one day in January of 2000, proudly announcing to me that he'd called the off-duty police at the Clearwater Building "whores," I told him that he was not acting in the interest of the Trust in making such a statement. I had to point out to him that as chairman, he represented all of us and that, unlike him, we had to live in Clearwater full time and interact with those officers on a daily basis. He ultimately apologized to the police, but he never seemed to get over my upbraiding him about it. In my experience, Bob Minton willingly holds a grudge--not a good trait for an administrator in general, and especially an administrator of the LMT.

Bob repeatedly expressed contempt for the board. He said once, "The board does what *I* tell them to do." Another time, when I suggested that the board be informed of a decision he made, his immediate response was, "Fuck the board." Bob's feeling had always been that the board was there because he had to have one, but that he made sure to allow only those members to remain who would not challenge him in any way. 2) Stacy Brooks, as president of the Trust, is simply an extension of Bob Minton.

It's impossible to talk to Stacy about ANYTHING, without that conversation being relayed to Bob almost instantly. I believe that her romantic involvement with Bob has eliminated her objectivity to the detriment of the Trust.

Case in point: In late February of 2000 Charlie Earl, an officer with OSA Int., approached me. He and I had been good friends for two years while we were on staff in Seattle in the early '80s. Charlie had been sent to Clearwater soon after the Trust opened. Mike Rinder was his direct report.

Charlie and I had a long conversation that I hoped was a prelude to opening a constructive dialog with OSA. I made extensive notes of our conversation and gave a copy to Stacy. We talked about the conversation and I told her that I hoped I could also reach the Charlie Earl I new in Seattle. I asked her to promise not to discuss the matter with Bob until I got back to her because I KNEW that Bob would write about it on ARS and screw up any chance of an ongoing dialog. Stacy promised to keep the matter between us.

A week or so later, Bob posted the notes to ARS because Stacy had broken her promise to me. Bob also accused me of being an OSA spy. As a result of Bob's meddling, I never had another productive conversation with Charlie Earl. When I broached the subject of her broken promise with Stacy she told me that she didn't "feel right"

about keeping it from Bob.

Bob and Stacy would frequently engage in romantic contact at the office during working hours. Not only is it unprofessional, it tends to reinforce the fact to the staff that the president and the chairman of the LMT are functionally inseparable.

The nature of Stacy's affair with Bob had her in tears on more than one occasion and boiled down to Bob's unwillingness to make a decision as regards his wife and their pending divorce. Stacy felt trapped and powerless to change her role as "the other woman."

3) The staff of the LMT has adopted a "fight fire with fire" approach.

As recently as last winter, various staffers had been involved in building dossiers on local Scientologists. Activities included "trashing," wherein a staffer would go through the trash of local Scientologists to obtain information about them and their associates.

Although the activity isn't illegal, I find it repugnant, and if I were ED I would NEVER allow it. Other Scientologists in the area have been followed and photographed, and their license plates have been "run" for inclusion in the Trust's database.

I see this activity as walking too fine a line--those people are NOT the enemy, despite what they say or do. They are frightened, deluded, and ignorant adherents of one of the most powerful mind-control cults in the world. Period.

For what it's worth, I'll give you my prescription for treating what ails the Trust.

1) Get Bob's agreement to withdraw from any and all public activities relating to the Trust. He should resign as chairman and quietly finish his criminal probation. He's not likely to agree to resign, but at the very least, someone needs to get him to shut his mouth for a while.

2) The staff of the Trust should be debriefed as to their activities, legal or otherwise, against any Scientologists. The files and databases should be reviewed and any questionable material/information immediately expunged. Any staffer found to have broken the law should be fired.

3) Stacy's role as president should be reviewed and adjusted as necessary. It was agreed in January of 2000 that her primary duties were to involve establishing a financial base for the LMT independent of Bob Minton. My last conversation with Stacy about the matter was last winter and she expressed deep concern over her failure to make progress in that direction. I believe her biggest handicap is Bob and her well-publicized relationship with him. Perhaps someone else should get involved in raising money.

The other thing to consider is that Bob has likely kept her distracted from fund raising because he WANTS to be the sole financial resource for the LMT--he's paying the proverbial piper, and he makes no bones about calling the tune.

4) The Trust must stop spending its time and money on costs incurred by its officers. If they can't stay out of trouble, they shouldn't be on staff. The marijuana debacle with Jesse was an expensive PR disaster and had its origins in activities that started in February of 2000. Read Deneen Philips' deposition--if that isn't self-medication, then there's no such thing as self-medication.

I still consider Jesse to be a good friend even though recently he has refused to speak to me. The same goes for Stacy, even though she lied to me and refused to help me when I needed help. I am an outsider now.

As far as they're concerned I don't "understand," or "appreciate" what they're going through. I can't be trusted because I'm not part of the "inner circle" any more. The Trust is collectively "circling the wagons" as evidenced by Deneen Philips quitting her job as an optician to do secretarial work at the Trust. That was probably Bob's idea to prevent Jesse from having outside distractions. I know for a fact that, as recently as last winter, Jesse did NOT want Deneen to work at the LMT.

I realize now that both Stacy and Jesse are still recovering from their cult experiences. They haven't yet recovered their ability to be a real friend, or to completely separate now from then. I think Jesse and Stacy both suffer from PTSD even though I'm not qualified to make the diagnosis--as a well-read layman I can see the symptoms at least.

I think they should both be in therapy. I spent over a year seeing an MSW in Seattle regularly to get help sorting out my feelings of shame, confusion, and guilt. Perhaps that's why I was able to resign from the Trust when I did. I honestly don't know. What I DO know, is that bad things will happen at the Trust unless there is intervention, and I hope it happens soon.

[...] End Excerpt Thank you for your time, David Cecere -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
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