Indie Scientologist running for Seattle city council on lingering anti-mask outrage

We’re always interested when Scientologists run for public office, which isn’t very often. In 2020, we wrote about a former Sea Org member running for city council in the Oregon town of McMinnville (she lost). There was a married couple who each ran for office in Nevada (one of them, Brent Jones, did serve as a state legislator but failed in his bid to move up to lieutenant governor). And also in Nevada, we’ve had some questions about a perennial candidate there.

Now, we’ve learned about something a little different. Victoria Palmer, an independent Scientologist — someone who practices the ideas of founder L. Ron Hubbard but outside the confines of the official Church of Scientology itself — is running in Seattle’s November city council election.

And it’s the way we learned about Palmer’s candidacy that is maybe the most interesting thing about it.

Noted indie figure Rey Robles has announced a return of his “Theta Alliance,” which has an annual convention in Reno but hasn’t met since the pandemic hit.

In his flier, Robles noted that the Scientology “Free Zone” has been fractured in recent years, and it was time “to bring together all in the independent field practicing the works of Scientology and Dianetics including all developments.” The convention (with a $250 entry) will be taking place over three days, August 11-13 in Reno, and three speakers are featured on the flier.

The first is Robles himself, who is a very colorful figure. He said he had “sorcerer powers” on CNN’s 2017 Believer episode about the independents, and we also noted that at one time he was offering followers the secret of living to age 150 for only $100.

The second speaker featured is Trey Lotz, a longtime stalwart in the independent field whose endorsement helped LRH 2.0 gain some traction with indies.

And the third speaker listed is Palmer.

Here’s how Robles describes her…

Lifelong Scientologist, Class IV, OT 3

Leading the Way to Freedom

This presentation will rekindle your purpose for freedom. Victoria will share the story of how her persistence ended the oppressive mandates in her state, bringing freedom to the environment. She is now a candidate for Seattle City Council.

That sent us looking up Palmer’s campaign website. We didn’t see any mention of Scientology on it. Her “about” page was mostly about her anti-mandate advocacy:

The COVID pandemic response by government authorities in Washington state was excessive and created huge injustices and casualties. Lockdowns, face coverings and mandatory vaccination caused incalculable damage to the physical, mental, and financial well-being of Washingtonians. I became an outspoken advocate for those damaged by this government overreach. I started with a campaign of signs on the streets and freeways around Seattle and built up to over 20 organized marches in the Seattle area – including a march of almost 1000 people through downtown Seattle in January 2022….

Our efforts were effective in ending vaccine mandates in many private businesses. I helped others facing unfair mandates successfully keep their job or stay in college. Our outcry helped bring the early ending of the statewide public and employee mask mandates in 2022…

We were curious, though, whether Palmer attributed any of her success fighting state mandates to her background in Scientology. We asked her about that in an email, and we’ll let you know if she gets back to us.

Palmer, who says she’s new to politics and isn’t affiliated with any political party, is one of five announced challengers to District 6 incumbent Democrat Dan Strauss, who is seeking a second term. So far, he’s garnered about a dozen endorsements from state legislators and other local officials.

We’re not sure if Palmer has a strong chance to unseat Strauss, but those OT abilities have to give her an edge, no?

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Source Code: Actual things founder L. Ron Hubbard said on this date in history

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