Scientology’s lobbyist: He was sent to DC with a secret mission, and we have it

[Greg Mitchell and Renee Bessone]

For quite a few years now stories have popped up occasionally in the media about Scientology’s DC lobbyist, Greg Mitchell. Usually, they’re some version of, “no way, Scientology has a lobbyist?”

And we really can’t blame folks for being astonished. It does seem kind of crazy that Scientology openly pays a guy to influence Congress.

Way back in December 2006, for example, the Wall Street Journal seemed pretty amused that Mitchell and Scientologist actress Jenna Elfman were hosting a holiday party at the L. Ron Hubbard house in DC and were being pretty open about it. “It is a time for us to thank you for your hard work and dedication, celebrate our successes, and look ahead to many shared wins in 2007!” said the invitation the newspaper received.

In 2013, the conservative Daily Caller noted suspiciously that Mitchell had lobbied the incoming Obama Administration on behalf of Scientology. (But Mitchell has lobbied both Democratic and Republican administrations.)

In 2015, Business Insider interviewed Mitchell, who said he was mainly focusing on issues of “religious freedom” for the church. He said that he was a Scientologist and had been lobbying for the organization since 2003. “I did it because I believed in the programs,” he said.

In more recent years, here at the Underground Bunker Rod Keller noted that in 2019 Mitchell and his wife, former dancer Renee Bessone, had formed a political group they called “Conscience Coalition” that focused mainly to oppose vaccine mandates. (And that was before the pandemic.)

[Mitchell’s Conscience Coalition also attracted the attention of Joy Villa]

Rod noted that in 2019 Mitchell managed to meet directly with Vice President Mike Pence to talk about international religious freedom.

Also, records indicate that in 2020, Mitchell finally went Clear. Well, good for him.

Open Secrets has records of Scientology’s DC spending over quite a few years, indicating that it has just one lobbyist (Mitchell), and that it tends to spend between $60,000 and $100,000 each year, with less in the last few years.

Mitchell has a few other clients (the latest disclosures suggest he represents four other firms besides Scientology), and his company, The Mitchell Firm, usually only employs him, although it did have a few other lobbyists bringing in money from 2011 to 2015.

So Mitchell has been at this for 20 years for the church, he tends to be Scientology’s only DC lobbyist. That’s a long time to be currying favor in DC with successive administrations.

But to what end?

“Religious freedom” is pretty vague. And Mitchell told Business Insider that a focus on prisoner issues was related to Criminon and something he was more focused on earlier.

So what is Scientology hoping to get from paying a DC lobbyist, a Scientologist, to gladhand members of Congress and curry favor at the White House?

Turns out Scientology wrote its aims for Mitchell all down.

Recently, Marc Headley announced that he had got his hands on a trove of documents from Scientology’s secret spy wing, the Office of Special Affairs, which outlined its detailed covert operations that were going on in 2007.

One of them was the OSA program defining Greg Mitchell’s aims as lobbyist for the church in Washington, which Marc generously shared with us.

We sent a copy of the program to Mitchell more than a week ago, but we’ve heard nothing back from him. We’ll let you know if he eventually reaches out.

Here’s the OSA program outlining in 2007 what Mitchell’s instructions were. It’s some pretty interesting stuff.

(Note: ABLE is the Association for Better Living and Education, Scientology’s Sea Org-run umbrella organization that oversees its various front groups, referred to as “Social Betterment” corporations or SBCs in this document.)

So this document suggests that Mitchell is tightly controlled by Scientology’s spy wing, and that his major target is to win support for Scientology in Congress.

While he doesn’t appear to be getting a lot of progress on that, we figure this document is a good reminder of Scientology’s ultimate aim: Acceptance of L. Ron Hubbard and his “tech” by the public, and banishment of psychiatry.

Good luck, Greg.

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Danny Masterson sentencing moved back to September 7

At a hearing yesterday, Judge Charlaine Olmedo moved the sentencing date for Danny Masterson back from August 4 to September 7. Also, the DA’s office informed the court that it will not be retrying the third count that ended up in a hung jury at Masterson’s retrial, but they want the count dismissed without prejudice so that it could be brought up again at some point if something changes. The defense, of course, is asking Judge Olmedo to dismiss the count with prejudice. Judge Olmedo will apparently get back to that at a hearing on August 4, which will still be held.

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Bonus items from our tipsters

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Thank you for reading today’s story here at Substack. For the full picture of what’s happening today in the world of Scientology, please join the conversation at tonyortega.org, where we’ve been reporting daily on David Miscavige’s cabal since 2012. There you’ll find additional stories, and our popular regular daily features:

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

Past is Prologue: From this week in history at alt.religion.scientology

Random Howdy: Your daily dose of the Captain

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