Mark Bunker doesn’t get a second term, but he won’t stop exposing Scientology

In 2020, Mark Bunker was in a five-way race for a seat on Clearwater, Florida’s city council, and he received a plurality of 6,170 votes and a stunning victory.

Four years later, running for re-election, Bunker increased his number of votes to 8,682. But this time he was in a three-way race, and one of his competitors was a firefighter, Ryan Cotton, who had been endorsed by several Republican figures in this nonpartisan election. And that helped in a primary election that had Donald Trump on the ballot but not Joe Biden. Cotton edged Bunker out with 9,351 votes.

We called Bunker up last night after we saw the returns, and he sounded like his usual upbeat self. We asked him if he might give us some thoughts about the election and his path forward, and so he sat down and put together this statement for us.

While I was hoping to have a second term, I was aware it was going to be a very rough battle with both Scientology and the establishment trying to get rid of me. In some ways it is remarkable that I fell short by just 669 votes. Over the course of these four years, I am proud that members of the community recognized I was working on their behalf on more than just Scientology, and they showed their support for me in many ways, not least in the way they helped me in this run for reelection.

The firefighters, the police FOP, members of neighborhoods I worked to improve, the volunteers at the Bread and Roses women’s clinic who appreciated my efforts to bring them a buffer zone to give them more safety from protestors, and all of you from around the world who cheered me on and those in the U.S. who were kind enough to donate to my campaign. In many ways I feel like George Bailey from It’s a Wonderful Life, realizing how lucky I was to have all of these people in my life.

I won’t stop trying to make a difference on Scientology, and there are issues I still plan to fight for here in Clearwater. The first thing I asked for when elected was to change the code to allow ADU’s like tiny homes, granny flats and garage apartments. It took four years to do it, but we just enacted those changes. Now that I am out of office I no longer would have a conflict as I try to bring this Detroit program to Clearwater. I’ve lined up people who are interested in being part of this and I’ll try to get this accomplished.

So thank you to everyone who made this opportunity possible. On Monday, the mayor was under the weather, which allowed me to chair the meeting. At the end of the night, I used my closing comments to thank everyone, knowing it could be my one chance.

So Citizen Bunker appreciates you all. I thank my campaign manager Scott Thomas who worked hard to get me reelected, Aaron Smith-Levin for raising an astonishing $55,000 dollars for the race, and all the volunteers who worked hard for me during this campaign.

I also have to acknowledge Tony for all work he has done to cover Scientology through the decades, as well as point out how lucky Clearwater is to have the amazing reporters who have covered Scientology for the Tampa Bay Times, including Joe Childs, Tom Tobin, and Tracey McManus. I am perhaps the only councilmember to keep their photos framed in my office. Tracey has been great. She is always fair and does a remarkable job breaking stories.

So, one chapter done and another started. I ain’t finished yet.

— Mark Bunker

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Alex Gibney drops in on Scientology

While he’s in Copenhagen for the CPH:DOX documentary film festival, Going Clear director Alex Gibney stumbled on Scientology’s European headquarters and decided to drop in. “As usual, prime real estate and no people,” he said in a Facebook post that included some great photos of the Advanced Org and its L. Ron Hubbard office…

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

Avast, Ye Mateys: Snapshots from Scientology’s years at sea

Overheard in the Freezone: Indie Hubbardism, one thought at a time

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