Steve Stenger has gone beyond the pale in his attempts to denigrate his opponent, John Campisi, in the coming election for the 6th District seat on the County Council.

In that effort, Mr. Stenger has also seen fit to defame a religion and internationally recognized organization attempting to assist local schools. I am a member of the church he has chosen to assail in his attacks. As a Scientologist, I am appalled at Mr. Stenger’s presumptions and intentional misrepresentations.

In addition to being a member of the church, I am an honorary public-relations officer and in that capacity I placed five phone calls to Mr. Stenger’s campaign over a two-week period. Despite detailed messages outlining the obvious errors in their literature and requests for a meeting or return call to correct, none of my calls has been returned.

Mr. Stenger and his campaign operatives seem to feel it acceptable to cite unsubstantiated Internet reports from questionable sources as proof positive of their exaggerated and blatantly misleading representations about the Church of Scientology and Applied Scholastics International.

Mr. Stenger is an attorney and should know better — especially if he expects to hold public office. From the volume of his mailings, Mr. Stenger clearly has substantial financial backing, but also clear is his lack of good sense to use those funds in an appropriate, honest and ethical manner.

For those wanting to obtain an accurate understanding of the Church of Scientology and Applied Scholastics International, I would recommend visiting their respective Internet sites at

and

.

Mr. Stenger’s literature is inaccurate, unjustified and shameful. Truth rather than fiction should be the measure of an organization, and its application is the measure of a man as well.

Bradley Bauman

Oakville

Editor’s note: Mr. Campisi, a Catholic, once worked for Applied Scholastics.