Michelle Obama said in her book Becoming, “The more popular you become the more haters you acquire.” There is some truth to that statement. Growing up I never cared about being the center of attention, being liked, or being popular. My wife on the other hand was and still is the complete opposite. She is a social butterfly, the talker, and the one everyone likes which is good for me because I can just hide in the distance behind her. I remember seeing her across the gym when we were kids and I said I am going to marry that girl. My best friend Charlie said that would require you to talk to her and you don’t talk to anyone to which I looked at him and shrugged my shoulders. He had a point! You’re not that interesting when your passions are reading, writing, and movies.
As a teenager, I worked at the local library so it’s no surprise that as I became a young man I picked career paths that were secular or isolated. I was a braille proofreader for many years, then went to school to become a mortician. A what? In English, I was a funeral director, and it was great because none of my clients talked back to me since my primary job was to preserve bodies, plan funerals, embalm and cremate dead people. I went back to school during that time to become a coroner because performing autopsies on dead people seemed interesting and my audience was still dead. My wife then introduced me to a man she met through a random chance encounter and he offered me a job as a fortune cookie writer for $42,000 USD a year I thought this could be fun. It was the best move because it led me to my long-time career of being a movie critic and ghostwriter.
What is the point of me telling you about my crazy past, well, simply, I never aimed to be popular, so I have very few haters. It was Dustin Hoffman or Warren Beaty who once said in a movie, “Telling the truth can be a dangerous business. Honest and popular don’t go hand in hand. If you admit that you play the accordion no one will hire you for a rock ‘n’ roll band.” Dustin and Warren were right and we know from personal experience anytime you are dealing with shit, it is a dangerous business. My dad told me once as we drove in his truck that honesty is like a slap in the face and the receiver will only take kindly to getting slapped once, beyond that you better be ready to run or not be invited to their party.
You are reading this and probably thinking to yourself, how does it relate to Frisco? Frisco Chronicles is not very popular, and we are guessing we are not very well-liked, shocking right? How do we know this or how did we come to this assumption? We sent the incumbent Mayor Cheney and his opponent Mark Piland an email on March 24 with the same questions and to our surprise, neither of them wrote us back! We thought we had at least a .001% chance of hearing back from at least one of the candidates, but our hopes may have been set too high. It appears that they have a lack of appreciation for what we do and we can’t figure out why. As we sit here drinking our second bottle of vino feeling despair and being heartbroken, we at least have hope that “YOU” our readers appreciate us exposing the shady shit of Frisco.
Side Note: In all transparency we did not send an email to the third candidate who is most known for tempting women with his half naked 6 pack abs towel wearing, gun-toting, bible quoting, software selling, food sharing, book writing, bible study hosting, reincarnated Jesus ideology here to baptize his flock in his apartment rooftop pool. We figured he might be too busy with his kingdom of followers or a psychiatrist. Mental health is no joke and we strongly encourage anyone suffering from mental health issues to reach out to experts who can help!
Back to the point, we know you are thinking what in the bloody hell was written in the email sent to the candidates. Hold your horses, we are getting to it!
Good Day Mr. XXXX
We are the Frisco Chronicles and are putting together a write-up on each candidate running for the city council. We wanted to reach out to ask you a few questions and we hope you choose to respond. We will be emailing your opponent and plan to ask him the same questions.
- What do you think are 3 of the most important skills needed to be a good mayor?
- What are the top 3 most pressing issues facing the city today?
- Do you have any personal rules when it comes to campaign donations?
- What’s more important for our city right now: Building new homes and commercial space, rehabbing/expanding, and better utilizing our existing homes and storefronts?
- If you could change one thing in our zoning code, what would it be?
- How do you plan to involve the residents in the decision-making process in our town?
- Describe an ethical dilemma you’ve faced and how did you resolve it?
- How many hours a night do you sleep?
- If you had to pick one and only one – what would be your go-to restaurant in Frisco?
- We have so many great areas and neighborhoods in Frisco. In recent years both candidates have built and moved into new homes. How did you choose the area in which you wanted to live and what made you fall in love with your home?
Behind every man is great rockstar woman! - How long have you been married?
- What is the best piece of advice you spouse ever given you?
- Who can tell a better joke, you, or your spouse?
Two Fun Questions - What is your favorite color?
- What would be your dream vacation spot?
Thanks for your time and we truly do hope to hear back from you!
Sincerely
Frisco Whistle Blower
Frisco Chronicles Team
From our perspective, we thought that it was professional and courteous as well as fair since the candidates received the same questions. Robin Sharma once said, “leadership is not a popularity contest; it’s about leaving your ego at the door. The name of the game is to lead without a title.” We agree with that statement wholeheartedly and popularity should be no scale for the election of politicians. As Orson Welles said, if elections depend on popularity, Donald Duck and The Muppets would take seats in the Senate. The reality is that elected officials at the municipal, state, and federal levels are very focused on their pet projects, running a campaign or getting re-elected, and being the winner of the popularity contest. What is next up on the Shady Shit blog? Well since they did not respond we will just have to continue with our curiosity which leads us to ask is Cheney popular or a one or two-trick pony?
I seriously question and have apprehension concerning the incumbent Mayors manifesto he sent out earlier this week about how he has no skin in the game and that his real estate company somehow does not benefit from what is approve and zoned under his leadership as mayor and city councilman and that he is just a servant leader and that their is no conflict of interest of his business dealing to what is approved and pushed rapidly thru proper channels within Frisco.
As he said when the Universal deal was pushed on the citizens of Frisco in a world class corp. marketing campaign. I quote the mayor “Frisco is about winning” and being #1 whatever that means. I always thought living in Frisco the last 21 years is bout quality of life having good schools, reasonable taxes and raising a family in a safe traditional suburban environment. He sounds so much like “,chris chris” that Gordo imitates on the ticket sports station. I digress.
My question to the mayor is if he has no skin in the game and that he doesn’t benefit by the actions of his leadership as the mayor, why would he loan him self over $99,000 + to his campaign if he doesn’t get a Return on his investment? I understand the call to serve your community but when you contribute almost a $100K to maintaining his position as Mayor I question the sincerity of his statement and position he puts himself in. Make no doubt the actions of the council and cheerleading and leadership of the mayor allows him to benefit financially with his company. Might not be a solid line connecting himself to the activities as he states. There is no doubt he benefits. I for one am tired of local politicians who enrich themselves by the position they hold in public service. I will not be voting for incumbents who support the current mayor.