Re: Debbie Cook sued by Cult of Scn
http://www.tampabay.com/news/scient...-clearwater-leader-over-new-years-eve/1213102
Church of Scientology sues longtime Clearwater leader over New Year's Eve email
By Joe Childs and Thomas C.Tobin, Times Staff Writers
Joe ChildsThomas C.TobinTampa Bay Times Posted: Jan 30, 2012 07:58 PM
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Read the documents: Church of Scientology lawsuit (PDF)
Debbie Cook's agreement (PDF)
Previous coverage: Read the earlier stories about Debbie Cook's New Year's Eve letter
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The Church of Scientology has sued its longtime Clearwater leader Debbie Cook after she publicly questioned the church's aggressive fundraising tactics and other practices.
The lawsuit — filed Friday in San Antonio, Texas, where Cook lives — reveals that the church paid Cook and her husband, Wayne Baumgarten, $50,000 each to remain silent about their time on church staff.
Cook, 50, worked 17 years as the church's top official in Clearwater, Scientology's worldwide spiritual headquarters. Serving in the post of "captain," she presided over an operation that brought in $1.7 billion for the church during that time.
Cook and Baumgarten each signed non-disclosure agreements as they left the staff in October 2007. All told, Cook had worked in the church's religious order, the Sea Org, for 29 years.
The church alleges in the lawsuit that the couple violated the agreements when Cook circulated a New Year's Eve letter urging Scientologists to work internally to reform the church. The letter went to thousands of church members.
Arguing that it faced "substantial risk of imminent harm and irreparable injury," the church asked for and received an order temporarily restraining Cook and Baumgarten from saying anything more.
In a statement to the Tampa Bay Times, church spokesman Karin Pouw described the payments to the couple as "help," saying each willingly accepted the money as part of a legally binding agreement. "Only with recent violations of that agreement was it necessary for the church to pursue and protect its rights," Pouw said.
The agreements, filed with the lawsuit, provide a rare look at the extraordinary lengths the church goes to to keep its inner workings secret. Among the restrictions on Cook and Baumgarten:
• They waived their First Amendment rights to free speech.
• They can never, "in perpetuity," disclose any information about the church, its staff or former staff.
• They can never publish, attempt to publish or help anyone publish any information about the church in any media, including newspapers, television, radio or the Internet.
• They can never utter a disparaging word about the church, either directly or indirectly.
The couple agreed to stiff penalties for violating the agreement, including a minimum of $100,000 for each disparaging Internet posting, each television broadcast or each newspaper story.
The church alleges in the lawsuit that news of Cook's "disparaging emails" reached more than 24 million people via television and radio shows and newspaper stories, including reports in the Times.
Her letter criticized "extreme" money raising tactics used by church staff and said the church had amassed well over $1 billion in reserves. It questioned the church's strategy of building new churches called "Ideal Orgs" around the world, calling the buildings unnecessarily "posh."
It alleged that the "complex and balanced command structure" put in place by the late Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard no longer existed, and it said Scientology was being run by a single leader, David Miscavige.
The letter also said many Scientologists are reaching the upper levels of spiritual awareness only to be told they must redo lower-level services at great expense.
These practices are against Hubbard's policies, and all members are obligated under those policies to report and correct internal problems, the letter stated.
Pouw did not answer several questions about the agreements signed by Cook and Baumgarten and said the newspaper's inquiry "fits your controversy-laden agenda." She said the Times should be reporting on the 15 "Ideal Orgs" set to open this year, including two recent ribbon cuttings in Hamburg, Germany, and Sacramento, Calif.
Before filing the lawsuit, the church wrote Cook to demand she stop violating the agreement. The lawsuit said Cook responded last Thursday, stating in an email that she would not give up her right to free speech and declaring: "If you sue me, it really doesn't matter ... I have no money to spend on an attorney."
Cook wrote to the Times after her letter was made public saying she lamented that the media had gotten word of her New Year's Eve letter. It was not intended for outside eyes unfamiliar with the church, she wrote. "It was clearly intended as a communication amongst Scientologists."
Joe Childs can be reached at
[email protected]. Thomas C. Tobin can be reached at
[email protected].
Read the documents
Find a copy of the Scientology lawsuit and the agreements signed by Cook and her husband as well as previous coverage at links.tampabay.com.
[Last modified: Jan 30, 2012 08:21 PM]
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THIS WILL BACKFIRE
I find it hard to believe they weren't speaking. I found it rather odd that he and Rinder made a point of stating they were not in touch with Debbie in any way. 
