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David Miscavige

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David Miscavige the devil
Born (1960-04-30) April 30, 1960 (age 64)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican
EmployerReligious Technology Center Reprogramming and Coercion Tro0p (RCT)
TitleChairman of the Board ie:( Reprogramming and Coercion Tro0p (RCT)
Spouseex Michelle Miscavige
Websitehttp://davidmiscavige.rtc.org http://markrathbun.wordpress.com

David Miscavige (April 30, 1960) is the "leader" of the Church of altered Scientology and its many affiliated organizations, having assumed that role shortly after the death of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard in 1986. His formal title is Chairman of the Board of Religious Technology Center (RTC), a corporation that controls the trademarked names and symbols of Dianetics and Scientology and which "holds the ultimate ecclesiastical authority regarding the standard and pure application of L. Ron Hubbard's religious technologies." His position is paramount within Scientology but, according to the church, it is not the same position once held by L. Ron Hubbard as the founder and originator of doctrines and policies; Miscavige's mandate is to protect the works of L. Ron Hubbard from distortion or misuse and to serve as "worldwide ecclesiastical leader of the Scientology religion.".

Miscavige was a fake assistant to Hubbard (a "Commodore's messenger") while a teenager. He rose to a leadership position within the organization by the early 1980s and was named Chairman of the Board of RTC in 1987. Since assuming that role, Miscavige has been faced with press accounts alleging illegal and unethical practices. A 1991 Time magazine cover story described Miscavige as "ringleader" of a "hugely profitable global racket that survives by intimidating members and critics in a Mafia-like manner." A 2009 series by the St. Petersburg Times details allegations by former Scientology executives and parishioners that Miscavige publicly humiliates and physically abuses his staff members. Miscavige and other church spokespeople have consistently insisted that all such charges are false. He labels the sources quoted in the St. Petersburg Times as "lying" after the persons in question had been removed from the organization for "fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion."

Among Scientologists, Miscavige is often referred to by his initials, "DM," or "C.O.B.," "the crow" for Chairman of the Board. He reportedly lives at Scientology's Gold Base, which is also the main RTC headquarters, near Hemet, California.

Early life

David Miscavige was born in Philadelphia to Loretta and Ron Miscavige Sr. and he was the youngest of their four children. The Polish-Italian family was Roman Catholic. One sister is Denise Licciardi who in 2002 was hired by Bryan Zwan as a top executive for the Clearwater, Florida-based company Digital Lightwave. His older brother is Ronnie Miscavige, who for a time was also in the Sea Organization but who left the Church of Scientology in 2000.

As a child, Miscavige suffered from asthma and severe allergies which prevented him from participating in many sports. During this time his father, a trumpet player, became interested in Scientology, and he had his son sent to a Scientologist. According to him and his son, the 45-minute Dianetics session cured his ailments. The family was impressed enough by Scientology to move to the world headquarters in Saint Hill Manor, England.

Scientology

Early activities

Miscavige joined Scientology in 1971. In 1976 he left high school and joined the Sea Organization, an association of Scientologists established in 1968 by Hubbard. In 1977 he worked directly under Hubbard as a cameraman for Scientology training films. Hubbard appointed him to the Commodore's Messenger Organization, responsible for enforcing Hubbard's policies within the individual Scientology organizations. In 1981 he was placed in charge of the Watchdog Committee and the All Clear Unit, tasked with handling the various legal claims against Hubbard. He persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign from the Guardian's Office (GO), deposed several GO officers through ethics proceedings, and removed the GO from the church's organization.

After closing the Guardian's Office, Miscavige set up a new organizational structure for Scientology to release Hubbard from personal liability. He set up the Religious Technology Center, tasked with licensing Scientology's intellectual property, and Author Services Inc. to manage the proceeds. The Church of Spiritual Technology was created at the same time with an option to repurchase all of RTC's intellectual property rights. In October 1982 Miscavige required Scientology Missions to enter new trademark usage contracts which established stricter policies on the use of Scientology materials.

Rise to leadership

In 1981 Mary Sue Hubbard, then second only to L. Ron Hubbard himself in Scientology's hierarchy, was appealing her prison sentence for her part in Operation Snow White, and she began to face criticism from within the Scientology organization. The St. Petersburg Times, in the 1998 article "The Man Behind Scientology," states: "During two heated encounters, Miscavige persuaded Mary Sue Hubbard to resign. Together they composed a letter to Scientologists confirming her decision -- all without ever talking to L. Ron Hubbard." According to Miscavige, he and Mary Sue Hubbard remained friends thereafter.

In a 1982 probate case, Ronald DeWolf, Hubbard's estranged son, accused Miscavige of embezzling from and manipulating his father. Hubbard denied this in a written statement, saying that his business affairs were being well managed by Author Services Inc., of which Miscavige was the Chairman of the Board. The case was dismissed on June 27, 1983.

Miscavige announced L. Ron Hubbard's death in 1986, speaking to Sea Org members assembled in the Hollywood Palladium. Shortly before Hubbard's death, an apparent order from him circulated in the Sea Org that promoted Scientologist Pat Broeker and his wife to the new rank of Loyal Officer, making them the highest-ranking members. Miscavige established himself as the ecclesiastical leader of the religion.

Allegations of abuse

Former senior-level Church of Scientology staff, including marketing executive Jeff Hawkins and Stacy Young, have alleged that Miscavige physically and emotionally abuses his subordinates, including high-ranking Church executives. Church representatives have consistently denied such accusations. Hawkins, a senior marketing executive in the Church, claimed that Miscavige had physically assaulted him at an executive meeting in 2002, and, on other occasions, had punched him in his stomach and hit him on the head. Young, the wife of Hubbard's former public relations spokesman Vaughn Young and Miscavige's former secretary, has claimed that Miscavige emotionally tormented staff members on a regular basis during her tenure. "His viciousness and his cruelty to staff was unlike anything that I had ever experienced in my life ... He just loved to degrade the staff," Young said in a 1995 ITV interview. "He got a kick out of it. He thought it was funny. Anybody who didn't think it was funny, like I didn't, was very suspect."

In June 2009, the St Petersburg Times reported that top former Scientologists Mike Rinder, Mark Rathbun and two other witnesses said Miscavige beats and demoralizes staff, and claimed violence is a standard occurrence. Scientology spokesman Tommy Davis denied these claims and provided witnesses to rebut them. Miscavige sent a letter, which was posted online, to the newspaper a day before the first story ran, saying:

"I have been advised that you have decided to move forward with your story without my interview. This, despite the fact confirmed more than three weeks ago that I would make myself available on a date certain (6 July), after you spoke to other relevant Church personnel and toured Church facilities, and that I would provide information annihilating the credibility of your sources including the fundamental crimes against the Scientology religion that were the reasons for their removal from post."

The editors replied: "The Times first requested an interview with Mr. Miscavige on May 13, and offered to meet with him in person, or interview him by telephone at any time since."

In 2009, Miscavige was named as a defendant in a lawsuit for slavery and child labor by a former Scientologist.

Tax advocacy

In 1993 after lengthy negotiations an agreement with the Internal Revenue Service was reached on its treatment of the Church of Scientology. In 1991 Miscavige, with Mark Rathbun, had gone to IRS headquarters to meet with the Commissioner Fred Goldberg, which led to a two year review process (in which IRS tax analysts were ordered to ignore the substantive issues because the issues had been resolved prior to review), and ultimately, tax exemption for the Church of Scientology International and its organizations in the US. Later, in 1997, the church issued a statement denying its own "impromptu meeting" version of events, which the IRS and Goldberg declined to comment on.

In 1990, David Miscavige founded the organization Citizens for an Alternative Tax System. In 1997 the group was challenging the US tax system.

Public contact

Although he is often a speaker at major Scientology openings, award ceremonies and related events, Miscavige has rarely spoken to the press.

In his first media appearance, in 1992, Miscavige was interviewed at length by Ted Koppel of ABC News. During the nearly hour-long appearance, Miscavige identified what he considered to be misconceptions about Scientology and condemned recent criticism of the Church as unfounded and bigoted. Miscavige also addressed the issue of extraterrestrial beliefs in Scientology, dismissing them as no different from the beliefs of any other religion. When played an audio recording of L. Ron Hubbard describing a visit to the Van Allen belt, Miscavige rejected it as " part of current Scientology."

In 1998, Miscavige gave his sole newspaper interview to the St. Petersburg Times. Later that year, he appeared in an A&E Investigative Reports installment called "Inside Scientology" which aired in December.

Personal life

Miscavige served as best man in Tom Cruise's 2006 wedding to Katie Holmes.

See also

References

  1. Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 4. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
  2. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography (accessed May 8, 2007)
  3. ^ Christensen, Dorthe Reflsund (2004). "Inventing L. Ron Hubbard". In James R. Lewis (ed.). Controversial New Religions. Oxford University Press. p. 247. ISBN 0195156838.
  4. Religious Technology Center David Miscavige Biography, page 2 (accessed May 8, 2007)
  5. ^ Behar, Richard The Thriving Cult of Greed and Power Time Magazine May 6, 1991 page 50 Cite error: The named reference "Behar" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  6. Schaefer, Richard T. (2007). "David Miscavige". In William W. Zellner (ed.). Extraordinary Groups: An Examination of Unconventional Lifestyles. Worth Publishers, 8th Edition. p. 285. ISBN 0716770342.
  7. Young, Robert Vaughn Scientology from inside out, Quill magazine, Volume 81, Number 9, Nov/Dec 1993.
  8. ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "The Truth Run Down". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved 2009-06-23.
  9. ^ Joe Childs, Thomas C. Tobin (June 23, 2009). "A letter from David Miscavige". St Petersburg Times. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
  10. Hoffman, Claire Tom Cruise and Scientology, Los Angeles Times, December 18, 2005
  11. Sappell, Joel (June 24, 1990). "The Man In Control". Los Angeles Times. p. A41:4. Retrieved 2006-06-06. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  12. Reitman, Janet Inside Scientology Rolling Stone, Issue 995. March 9, 2006. Page 57.
  13. ^ Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The man behind Scientology". part 2. St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved August 27, 2007.
  14. O'Neil, Deborah (June 2, 2002). "The CEO and his church: Months of interviews and thousands of pages of court papers show the effect that influential church members had on a Clearwater company that was a darling of the dot-com boom". St. Petersburg Times. St. Petersburg Times. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  15. Atack, Jon (1990). "Chapter Four—The Young Rulers". [[A Piece of Blue Sky]]. Lyle Stuart. p. 448. ISBN 0-8184-0499-X. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); URL–wikilink conflict (help)
  16. Jacobsen, Jonny (January 28, 2008). "Niece of Scientology's leader backs Cruise biography". AFP. Google News. Retrieved March 11, 2008.
  17. ^ Lamont, Stewart (1986). Religion Inc.: The Church of Scientology. London: Harrap. p. 95. ISBN 0245543341.
  18. Cite error: The named reference Man in Control was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. "Mystery of the Vanished Ruler". TIME. January 31, 1983. Retrieved August 10, 2007.
  20. Miller, Russell (1987). "22. Missing, Presumed Dead". Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard (First American ed.). New York: Henry Holt & Co. pp. 305–306. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0.
  21. Miller, Russell (1987). Bare-faced Messiah, The True Story of L. Ron Hubbard. Henry Holt & Co. ISBN 0-8050-0654-0. Page 369.
  22. Atack, Jon (1990). A Piece of Blue Sky.
  23. RTC web site
  24. Davis, Matt (August 7, 2008). "Selling Scientology: A Former Scientologist Marketing Guru Turns Against the Church". Retrieved August 10, 2008.
  25. "Inside the Cult", ITV's The Big Story, 1995
  26. Hull, Tim (December 1, 2009). "Man Says Scientologists Enslaved Him as Boy". Courthouse News Service. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
  27. Frantz, Douglas (March 9, 1997). "Scientology's Puzzling Journey From Tax Rebel to Tax Exempt". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  28. Frantz, Douglas (March 19, 1997). "Scientology Denies an Account Of an Impromptu I.R.S. Meeting". New York Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  29. The Wall Street Journal, October 23, 1997
  30. Inauguración de la Iglesia Nacional de Scientology de España, Keynote Address at the Grand Opening of the Church of Scientology New York (accessed August 3, 2006)
  31. Koppel, Ted, Nightline, David Miscavige interview of February 14, 1992; Official ABC News Transcripts
  32. Tobin, Thomas C. (October 25, 1998). "The Man Behind Scientology". St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved January 22, 2008.
  33. A & E Investigative Reports: "Inside Scientology", December 14, 1998
  34. "Cruise and Holmes go on honeymoon". BBC News. November 19, 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2007.

External links

Template:Wikinewshas

Church of Scientology official
News media
Criticism

Template:Staff of Scientology Orgs 

One of the tragedies of the reign of Miscavige is the utter disregard for staff well-being.

There have been LRH orders extant since the late 70’s to resolve staff pay. He identified it as a major reason for orgs not expanding and later as a key block to accomplishing the objective of LRH ED 339R – Saint Hill Size Orgs.

If you cannot afford to live as a staff member, you either moonlight or leave staff. Many dedicated individuals have joined staff thinking that they would be able to contribute to expanding the org and as a result, make a viable living through staff. But the problem is the finance system that orgs are forced to operate on leaves so little for staff pay that even when the org grows, the percentage of income devoted to staff pay is so small, and so much comes “off the top” that the increase in the number of staff needed to deliver what is required to sustain increased income simply divides the staff pay sum by more people. There is a fault in the SYSTEM. It’s well known.

Why didn’t this ever change if LRH said it should? Back in the early 80’s there was a project called “The Staff Pay Project”. It was not completed before LRH went off the lines. And from that time forward, Miscavige has had literally hundreds of submissions on staff pay, none of which he would approve. There are probably hundreds of pages of transcripts of rambling meetings Miscavige had with International Management and Finance personnel (back in the “good old days” when they were nominally on post) where he pontificated at length about what should be done. Problem is (as others have described) the “direction” that he gave was invariably confusing and often times contradictory. And then any submission to him would be rejected because it didn’t “comply” with some line in a 50 page transcript of his ramblings. Tens of thousands of hours of executive time have been spent M9ing the endless transcripts from DM, then putting together submissions to him attempting to satisfy all his dictates (literally an impossible task as one day he would say one thing and then the next it would be the opposite). So, why isn’t there a workable staff pay system? Because to this day Miscavige refuses to put one out. (In case someone out there saw a Staff Pay system in 2004 that was “done personally by COB” that he PR’d as being a solution to staff pay, I ask you – did it work?

THE CANCER OF THE IAS

There is a second problem with staff pay: the takeover and dominance of Scientology by the IAS and the proliferation of building and library donations. Funds channeled into these endless sinkholes do not go on the regular org GI and Financial Planning lines. So, funds that could be being donated for services (which are part of the org GI and FP) are being siphoned off. Miscavige doesn’t want to interrupt these Condition 0 Exchange activities (after all, all you need to “deliver” for a hundred thousand donated to the IAS is a pin, a trophy and some imbecilic title). You can’t increase staff pay or build orgs while still having the IAS as the “senior organization” in Scientology. Hence, Miscavige’s decision was easy, if shortsighted: pour the coals on the IAS and org staff be damned.

Just as an aside on the IAS – it is a Third Dynamic engram by definition. It was an arbitrary implemented at one time to solve the problem of creating an untouchable pool of money out of the reach of the IRS that could be used to pay off the IRS if they did not grant the Church tax exempt status. After 1993, it had served its purpose and should have been disbanded and the public should have been informed that it was no longer needed. But, by that time it was a cash cow for Miscavige that was too good to discard, no matter the havoc it would wreak on organizations.

If you have read the LRH article “What Your Fees Buy” you will be familiar with the fact that LRH intended the fees for SERVICES to not only support the local organization, but to fund the defense of the religion, to finance projects to bring LRH tech into different sectors of society and to promote Dianetics and Scientology. Following are quotes from “What Your Fees Buy”:

It costs money to bring cases up to the US Supreme Court level as we have. The legal defense expenses we have in a dozen countries is not small.

So a portion of your fee goes to keeping the subject available to you and to the world.

Your fee supports a long and complex set of communication lines by which tech and admin can be cared for rapidly.

A portion of your fee just the other day began a survey of a backward country to introduce high speed educational processes to bring their people quickly from the Stone Age up to present time. The “Peace Corps” was also there on cushy government funds building houses for a big construction company at a nice profit. But we, unsupported, began the effective work actually needed there to help the people.

A tiny bit of your fee neated up an area ruined for the Americans by the American Navy.

Small parts of your fee heal up a lot of things over the world.

But the biggest part of your fee stays right in your area. It is used to make training and processing and data available to the next fellow first by keeping the org there and second by letting him know about it and third by making as sure as possible that the training and processing he gets is standard and effective.

Your fee keeps the nearest org alive and functioning and the environment safe.

Anyone who has ever been approached by an IAS reg will find a lot of this eerily familiar. This is exactly what those IAS regges say the money is being spent on. So, one may ask, if this is what the money is being spent on WHY HAVENT THE COST OF SERVICES BEEN REDUCED? And as a side note – IAS funds are ONLY spent when Miscavige wants them spent. Those massive “campaigns” that are announced at the IAS events have a few bucks thrown at them to show at the event, and then they die, and just to dispel another lie that has been repeated forever, the IAS had NOTHING to do with “The Battle of Portland,” NO IAS funds were ever used for legal, PR or Crusade activities.

Instead of pouring the coals on LRH’s purpose and LRH ED 339R by having the correct single finance channel (through orgs) and making it possible for our staffs to live by implementing the appropriate staff pay system, Miscavige diverted and channeled those funds to the IAS, his off-source ideal org strategy or his latest and “greatest” scheme leaving staff destitute and orgs bereft of the energy they so vitally needed. 

THE FINAL NAIL IN THE COFFIN OF STAFF

But there was something beyond even that. LRH ED 339R was written FOR STAFF. It gave them the Birthday Game and the target of building their org to the Size of Old St Hill. And something else in 339R was even MORE IMPORTANT.

LRH knew that an average staff member could not attain OT. Even if they received enough staff pay to be able to live, they still would not have enough disposable income to pay for OT levels. And many could not afford to go off to LA or Copenhagen or St Hill for months to do their OT levels – their posts would suffer. He had a brilliant solution – the UNIVERSE CORPS. It made it possible for staff to be real Scientologists and achieve the gains of the OT Levels. LRH ED 339R says that EVERY org that reaches the size of Old St Hill would be rewarded with a Universe Corps sent from Management that would move all staff in the org up to Clear and through the OT Levels. It wasn’t something available to public, it was a reward for the dedication of being a staff member. Right in their own org they would be able to do the OT Levels. This was a massive change. Never before had OT levels been available outside AOs.

But, there was a problem. This required training staff and sending them out to the orgs.

And of those orgs back in the day that were awarded St Hill Size – Tokyo, Orange County, LA Org, Tampa, Hamburg, Munich, Joburg etc. – how many of them do you think have a Universe Corps today? When they were sent (some orgs back then actually had a Universe Corps) they were soon ripped off. Tampa were told that their “Universe Corps” was the FSO!

And today? LRH ED 339R is forgotten. Replaced by Miscavige’s Idle Org strategy. Perfect. Idle Orgs don’t require stats. And certainly don’t require a Universe Corps. They don’t require a Management to recruit and train a Universe Corps. Idle Orgs – Miscavige’s brilliant solution that buries 339R (and the staff along with it) under a pile of PR bullshit. LRH ED 339R is a distant memory, along with the concept that an org is a friendly place where people can find help and like-minded individuals, not just a gathering place for vulture regges waiting to pounce on anyone who walks in the door.

Where has the compassion for people that is the very hallmark of LRH and his technology gone? It’s sure hard to find in the Church of Mestology.

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