Sarah Palin: A Tool of Scientology?

Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:45 pm

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Even though she publicly denies it, Gov. Sarah Palin is being advised by John Coale, who is Greta Van Susteren’s husband and a Scientologist. Gawker.com today published an old memo of Coale’s which detailed his plan to use popular politicians to advance the Scientology agenda, so is Palin a tool of the Scientologists?

It must be noted that the memo Gawker published was from 1986, and by Coale’s own admission this plan never went anywhere because the church didn’t want anything to do with it. As he told Gawker today, I thought it was a brilliant idea, but no one else did, so it never went anywhere. I was looking at ways to move a new religion forward. I looked at the history of Mormons, who had a lot of people in office, and I looked at the Jews, who were very successful and influential. But the church didn’t want to be part of it. They didn’t want to be misconstrued. There was one small meeting with parishioners in DC. Maybe 9 or 10 people showed up.”

Even though Coale’s plan to get Scientology into politics was rebuffed, it is possible that Scientologists could be using Palin and her popularity to gain some power in order to advance their religion. Palin herself seems absolutely paranoid about the political danger involved with being associated with Scientologists. The governor won’t even admit that Coale is her Washington advisor, or that he is running her political action committee SarahPAC.

Palin could be doomed within her own party if a whispering campaign would associate her with Scientology, which is a religion that many of the evangelical Christians that she is courting for 2012 consider a cult.

There are elements of the Republican Party that won’t accept Mitt Romney because he is a Mormon, can you imagine what might be said about Palin in evangelical circles if she was linked to Scientologists? I find it hard to believe that Coale has completely abandoned his old ideas. I think he would use any potential politically successful relationship with Palin to advance Scientology. The irony here is that evangelicals who support Palin in 2012 could end up helping Scientology.

For the record, I am not a religious person, and I honestly have no opinion on the merits of Scientology as a religion, but I am interested in the political interaction involved here, and why Palin is keeping her working relationship with Coale a secret.

Palin isn’t a Scientologist, but she could be damaged if the Republican primary gets nasty in 2012. For instance, I could see Mike Huckabee trying to draw a Palin/Scientology tie. This is a political minefield for Sarah Palin that she would be wise to get in front of before it becomes an issue within her party.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association