Sharron Angle

Sharron Angle (born 1949 in Klamath Falls, Oregon) is a former, four-term Republican member of the Nevada Assembly who represented the 26th district from 1999 to 2005, and is currently a Republican candidate for the United States Senate seat, currently held by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), in the 2010 Republican Primary.

Political career

Nevada Assembly

In 2003, Angle arranged a trip to an Ensenada, Baja California prison which employed an organization with affiliations to Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard, called the "Second Chance Program". Angle sponsored legislation aimed at placing this program in women's prisons in Nevada. Assembly Majority Leader Barbara Buckley stated that Nevada lawmakers should not go on the trip arranged by Angle. "At a time when our kids might be going without books and teachers it would be impossible to justify spending money on an unproven massage, sauna and vitamin plan for prisoners. These gimmicky programs undermine successful rehabilitative programs", said Buckley. In February 2003, the office of Governor Kenny Guinn announced that Corrections Director Jackie Crawford, who had previously traveled to the prison in Mexico, would not go on the trip to the prison. Trips to the prison were privately funded by an individual named Russell Suggs, a businessman from Arizona with connections to the Church of Scientology. According to the Associated Press, Suggs did not wish for his name to be associated with funding the trip for the lawmakers to visit the Scientology-affiliated drug rehab program in Mexico. "He is approached not only by non-profits, but politicians as well. And he doesn't like his name spread around, but he would let it go if it would help me and the Second Chance Program," said Angle. The Associated Press reported that Suggs was not initially identified as the individual funding the trip for the politicians, and the AP referred to him as the "mystery donor", and noted that there would not be a public financial record of his expenditures. The Second Chance Program has been in operation at the Ensenada State Prison in Mexico since 1995, and it is licensed by the organization Criminon International. Criminon International is a sub-organization belonging to the group Narconon International. In the Second Chance Program, participants are given vitamins and minerals, in addition to massages and time spent in a sauna. A portion of the program is based on The Way to Happiness, a booklet written by L. Ron Hubbard.

The press secretary for Governor Guinn, Greg Bortolin, stated that the Governor was not interested in the Scientology-affiliated prison program promoted by Angle, noting that the Office of the Governor was "moving in another direction" with regard to drug rehabilitation models for state prisoners. The Second Chance Program was rejected in 2002 by the state of Arizona. Angle asserted to the Las Vegas Review-Journal that the Second Chance Program's ties to Scientology were not related to her efforts to promote the organization, commenting, "I don't have any inclination toward Scientology. But when something works, you have to take a look at it." According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, "The Church of Scientology touts the benefits of the Second Chance Program, which it calls Narconon, on its Web site." On February 17, 2003, Angle said she would end her efforts to have women inmates take part in the drug rehab program affiliated with Scientology. Angle stated her intention to cancel the March 1, 2003 trip funded by Suggs for politicians to travel to visit the Second Chance Program at a prison in Ensenada, Mexico. On Angle's support for the Scientology-affiliated program, the Las Vegas Sun reported in 2010, that the politician "vehemently defends the program as an innovative approach that could have changed lives in Nevada".

2006 run for U.S. Congress

On August 15, 2006 Angle narrowly lost the primary for U.S. Congress in Nevada's 2nd congressional district which was vacated by Rep. Jim Gibbons. Nevada Secretary of State Dean Heller received 24,781 votes to Angle's 24,353. Gibbons' wife Dawn, a former State Assemblywoman herself, finished with 17,328 votes. On August 25, Angle called for a new primary election because of cases in Washoe County, where Angle was the strongest, where people allegedly could not initially vote because of workers who did not show up on election day. On September 1, the Carson District Judge denied Angle's appeal for a new election.

2010 run for U.S. Senate

Main article: United States Senate election in Nevada, 2010

On April 15, 2010 Angle received an endorsement for the US Senate race from the Tea Party Express at a rally in the nation's capital. On April 16, 2010 Angle received an endorsement from conservative talk radio personality Mark Levin. When asked at a Republican political mixer event held in Winnemucca, Nevada about something untrue being stated about her, Angle identified the rumor that she is affiliated with Scientology as a concern. The American Spectator reported that Angle's support of the Church of Scientology has plagued her political campaign for US Senate, resulting in media coverage focusing on her connections to the organization. During a KVBC-hosted debate on the program Face to Face with Jon Ralston with other candidates including John Chachas, Chad Christensen, Sue Lowden and Danny Tarkanian, Angle was asked by journalist Ralston "about recent whispers that an Angle legislative proposal to explore a program of massages and sweat-boxes for Nevada prisons was a strange foray into Scientology." Angle responded, "This program had a recividism rate of less than 10 percent. They aren’t massages. ... it was more of a karate chop. The sauna was a sweat box. When you’re in there with 30 guys it’s not exactly a sauna." Angle stated that the controversy with Scientology had been "largely distorted".

See also

• Association for Better Living and Education
• Criminon
• Narconon
• Purification Rundown

External links

• Sharron Angle's website
• Nevada Legislature bio of Sharron Angle