Hollywood star Leah Remini endorses Mark Bunker in Clearwater City Council race

Photo courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

A Clearwater City Council candidate is making national news this week with a mention in the latest edition of Us Weekly magazine.

King of Queens star Leah Remini has endorsed Mark Bunker for the Seat 2 City Council race. It seems an odd venue for celebrity attention — a quiet beach town whose local elections are often low-engagement.

But the city has had its fair share of celebrity visits from Hollywood megastars who are members of the Church of Scientology.

Remini is not one of them — at least not anymore. She left the church in 2013 and has since sought to publicly uncover its darker inner workings. Last year Remini launched a docuseries on the A&E Network uncovering secrets about the church from her own experience as a member and through interviews with ex-practitioners.

Bunker, though not with the high-profile drive of celebrity, has done similarly.

Bunker first came to Clearwater in 2000 when he accepted a position with the Lisa McPherson Trust managing multimedia for the group, which sought to expose deceptive and abusive practices within the Church of Scientology and assist people they believed were abused and defrauded by the group. Bunker recorded interviews with former Scientologists and protests against the group.

Bunker has a dark history with the Church of Scientology. The group once attempted to have him evicted from a condo because of his affiliation with the anti-Scientology movement.

“If it weren’t for me, Scientology would not be discussed at all this race,” Bunker told Us Weekly.

Remini’s decision to way in on a local election comes at a time when Scientology in the city is becoming more and more controversial.

A Tampa Bay Times report last year highlighted how the church has doubled its footprint in Clearwater over the past three years.

Bunker is running in a five-way race to replace Jay Polglaze who is not seeking reelection. The other candidates include Michael Manino, Bruce Rector, Eliseo Santana and Lina Teixeira.

Clearwater’s election is March 17, the same day Floridians take to the polls for the Presidential Preference Primary.