There is a perception that the city of Clearwater is dominated by the Church of Scientology, contends Aaron Smith-Levin, a candidate for Clearwater City Council. He says that can change if he's elected to public office next year.

“That perception scares away investors, scares away developers, scares away small business owners, and its destroyed our downtown business core,” Smith-Levin told Spectrum Bay News last week. 

Clearwater has been the international spiritual headquarters for the church for decades, but its vast control of property in the city was revealed in a 2019 Tampa Bay Times report. The story found that the church and its parishioners had made over $100 million worth of land purchases in recent years.

Smith-Levin, 41, was a member of Scientology for decades before he left the church in 2014, and has since become a virulent critic of the organization.

In addition to serving as CEO for OTG Research Group which provides investment research for hedge funds, he also acts as vice president and vice chairman of the Aftermath Foundation which works with people who leave Scientology. And he also has a wide following from the videos he produces on the YouTube channel Growing up in Scientology.

He says that his candidacy is, in part, a rebuke to the Clearwater business establishment. 

“I think it’s pretty obvious that to a certain respect, business in the city gets done through the good old boy network,” he said. “I can tell you that when it comes to development deals being shoved down the throats of the neighborhoods in this city, it pretty much seems that if you hire the right lawyers who know the right people and the right lawyers, you get pretty much what you want done.”

Spectrum Bay News 9 caught up with Smith-Levin last week in downtown Clearwater as he was meeting with Clearwater City Councilman (and Scientology critic) Mark Bunker. The pair were there to record a new episode of their YouTube program “Dining with the SPs,” which they record in front or inside downtown Clearwater establishments (“SPs” is an acronym for a Suppressed Person, which the church refers to as “antisocial personalities”).

“We try to promote downtown business to show (that) a lot of these buildings may be owned by Scientology, but these restaurants and these businesses are not,” Smith-Levin said. “We come down and relax and have some food and some drink at a restaurant with the message being, if we can come here and be comfortable and enjoy ourselves, so can everybody in Clearwater — and come back downtown and support these businesses.”

Smith-Levin said if elected he also wants to work on increasing the city's flood preparedness, which can lead to lower flood insurance rates for everyone. He also wants to maintain robust funding and training for the city's police and fire and rescue departments.

According to his most recent campaign financial report, Smith-Levin has raised more than $26,000 since announcing his candidacy, with the majority of those small-dollar contributions from people spread out across the country.

Lina Teixeira, who made a bid for the city council in 2020, is also running in the District 5 City Council election.

The other race on the Clearwater ballot next year is in District 4, where incumbent David Albritton is facing an electoral challenge from Maranda Douglas and Gerry Lee.