Scientology Lies

By Bill Prescott, Sun staff writer

When Clearwater Mayor Charles LeCher convenes the city's public hearings on Scientology Wednesday, one of the main players may be conspicuously absent: the Church of Scientology itself.

Paul B. Johnson, the sect's Tampa lawyer, said Friday that if the hearings proceed as mapped out by city officials, the church will not participate. He added, though, that a final decision has not been made.

"If it's just a packaged show with no objectivity, then (the church) won't have any part of it," Johnson said.

If so, the city will embark alone on a road that the church, critics of the hearings, and even the city's Scientology consultant predict will be studded with lengthy and expensive legal battles and attempts to discredit city officials.

Just why Clearwater is taking on such a burden is open to debate. The church, and a raft of letter-writers from around the country, contend the city is off on a witch hunt designed to persecute a relatively new and unknown religion.

"It's patently a sham, a thinly veiled witch hunt," said Johnson. "(The hearings) are nothing but a show to get Scientology out of the city."

City officials, however, characterize the hearings as a means to cut through the rumor and mystery that has surrounded the Church of Scientology since it took up residence in Clearwater in 1975.

Some of the mystery was given flesh this past fall, when Boston attorney Michael Flynn delivered a commissioned report that blasted the church as a hotbed of criminal conspiracy.

LeCher, who will chair the proceedings, put their objective this way:

"The purpose of the investigation is to determine whether there is a need for legislation to correct the alleged violations. It is not our purpose to interfere with any of the beliefs, doctrines or tenets of Scientology."

Or more candidly:

"I don't care if they worship L. Ron Hubbard or the great E-meter in the sky," LeCher said. "That is not the purpose of the hearings."

In his report, Flynn - who the city has since hired as a consultant - offered two proposed ordinances designed to protect the public from profit-motivated fraud practiced under the guise of religion. City Attorney Tom Bustin said the hearings will provide the forum where testimony and evidence about Scientology's alleged criminal activity will be examined in detail.

The hearings are set to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday and continue through May 15 if need be. Flynn will present his up-to-30 witnesses during the first four days. After a one-day break, another four days have been set aside for the church to make its case.

But whether the church will take advantage of its time slot is undecided. The ground rules the city has set are unsatisfactory, Johnson said.

According to LeCher, the rules of procedure are as follows:

* The City Commission may cancel or amend any regulation of the conduct of the proceedings.

* The mayor, as chairman of the hearings, may remove or exclude any person from the hearings who interferes with or disrupts the proceedings.

* The commission may limit, extend or terminate the hearings at any time or date as it deems necessary.

* The commission may limit or terminate testimony of any witnesses as it warrants.

* The commission shall receive documents as it warrants.

* There will be no examination of any witness by any person other than the mayor, commissioners, city manager and city attorney.

* The hearings will be held in City Commission chambers in City Hall. A large television screen with cable hookup will be located at the City Hall Annex at 10 S. Missouri Ave. where seating for 750 people will be available. The hearings will also be televised by Vision Cable of Pinellas Inc.

Le Cher said the witnesses will testify under oath and be subject to penalties for perjury if they give false testimony. There will be no cross-examination of witnesses by either Flynn or representatives of the Church of Scientology, nor will they be able to object to testimony as in a court trial, the mayor said.

"If they do, I'm going to throw 'em out," LeCher said.

He said commissioners will not allow hearsay testimony, only first-person experiences. And the public will not be allowed to question the witnesses or offer their own observations, he said.

"That's how the meeting could turn into something other than what we want it to be and get out of hand," LeCher said.

The witnesses, he said, have been picked already. Flynn would not reveal their names, he said, to protect them but has said many are ex-sect members.

Critics have charged he is bringing only witnesses hostile to Scientology. To that Flynn said, "Whether he's favorable to the church or not has nothing to do with whether the witness will tell the truth."

The lack of cross-examination powers is the core of Johnson's objection to the format. The church wants "a chance to question witnesses and examine evidence," he said.

Bustin, however, said the format is one used in congressional and other government fact-finding hearings.

"This is not the first time a legislative investigation has gone one," he said. "Look at the process.

"This is a legislative body trying to proceed in a logical fashion instead of just passing a couple of laws and getting them on the books."

At the conclusion of the hearings, regardless of the Scientologists' participation, the commission will determine whether more hearings are needed or to enact ordinances based on Flynn's proposals.

"If we dont' feel that the facts bear out a compelling enough case, then I won't advise the commission to enact them," Bustin said.

City Commissioner James Calderbank, who has been involved in most of the hearings' planning, said he is "not entirely sure" if the testimony will bear out accusations of consumer fraud, charitable-solicitation violations and that donations have been used to finance criminal activity.

"These are all indications from the past," Calderbank said. "The hearings will hopefully show, yes, they have reformed and this no longer occurs.

"The city has no further thoughts on the matter. But the hearings could show this is still going on."

If the commission decides to enact the ordinances, Bustin said Flynn's proposals would probably go through two or three drafting sessions to refine them.

The ordinances, as suggested in Flynn's report, would create a city consumer affairs office. That office would enforce a fund-raising code severely limiting the activities of any group claiming to be a religious, charitable or non-profit organization.

The code would demand complete disclosure of the organization's activites and finances. The consumer affairs commissioner would have power to close down violators of the code, levy fines of up to $2,000 per violation and order public warnings posted where the violations occur.

Flynn's report contends Scientology counseling is done in violation of a 1971 federal court order. In that case, the judge ruled a warning must be affixed to Scientology counseling devices or accompanying literature saying, in effect, church counseling "is not scientifically shown to produce any physical benefit." The report said the court order has been ignored even though the sect promises mental and physical cures.

The effect of the laws, Flynn has said, would be to cause Scientology to rectify alleged abuses or cause its revenues to fall enough to make it consider leaving town.

Johnson said if the ordinances, "which are unconstitutional and violate religious freedom," are enacted, the church will take legal action to block them.

"They can't single out a particular group because it's unpopular," he said. "I fear the ordinances will be designed to drive the Scientologists out of Clearwater."

Bustin said, though, the law would be applied equally.

"It just so happens that the catalyst for the laws is conduct by them," Bustin said.

Flynn, Calderbank and Bustin said the laws would have no effect on other non-profit and religious groups "if they don't commit fraud."

Bustin traced the actions leading up to this week's hearings back in November 1979, when a federal judge released to public scrutiny 48,000 church documents seized two years earlier in FBI raids. The documents detailed criminal activities which led to the trial and conviction of nine of Scientology's top officers.

"When the stuff started coming out of Washington, D.C., people on the commission began wondering 'what's going on?' " he said. "There had been rumors up to that point and then came the papers.

"I think you're looking at a city trying to figure out what should be done about it. It's not one of those things you just walk away from and pretend it doesn't exist."