Back in September we wrote our blog All in The Family which was about Nepotism which is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. Most companies have rules or policies about Nepotism in the workplace, including the City of Frisco.
The Employee Code of Conduct policy regarding Nepotism in the city has been the same since 2006. That is why we were intrigued in 2023 when we noticed the city made changes to the policy two times in a matter of months. Why did they change it? The reason for the change can be found in a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources. After reading the reason for the change it led us start investigating recent new hires and the possible relationships they had to someone in the city which you can read about in our September blog.
Several commented that we were making something out of nothing when in fact it was exactly what we suspected. The city was changing the Nepotism Policy in order to hire Interim Fire Chief, Lee Glover. On September 14, 2023, we filed PIR that stated we wanted all communications via email between city officials (for example HR, city manager’s office, and city council) regarding the change to the Nepotism Policy from 1/1/2022 to Present. Also, any emails regarding Lee Glover and Nepotism. We received a note back from the city saying they have released a few documents but that some of them were confidential and therefore they sent it to the Attorney General for an opinion.
What could be that confidential about a Nepotism Policy that a city would need to send to the AG? If you are willing to go on record and change the policy then why not be open and share why you want to change the policy? According to the letter the city sent to the AG they claimed a portion of the info contains confidential attorney-client information which was not intended to be disclosed to 3rd parties. Furthermore, a portion of the info involves interagency or intraagency communications which were intended to remain confidential.
This is where we have a huge problem with the city’s explanation and AG request. How can the city get a request or for an item, then go to a council meeting, have a discussion in executive session, come out and vote to release confidential HR documents on a retired employee who is under a gag order and is actively running as a political opponent against Mayor Cheney? Please note while Cheney recused himself from the vote 4 of the city council members who participated in the vote had already publicly endorsed Mayor Jeff Cheney. How is this is okay, but we can’t release documents about a Nepotism Policy? Why can’t the council vote to release the documents we requested? Are you telling me there is something SO CONFIDENTIAL in a discussion about policy change that it must be hidden from the public?
We went through the items the city “released” to us and the most exciting thing we found was the alert Dana Baird, Director of Communications received from our Twitter Post on September 13, 2023. However, the rest of it is just copies of the memos and policy changes. All we could do at that point was wait patiently for the AG to give their opinion to see if they would release the rest of the documents. We learned on 12/29/23 via an email from the city that the AG had ruled that the city may withhold the information they claimed to be confidential.
I am sure the city was very excited to learn they could withhold the rest of the Nepotism documents. That’s okay, because as you know we file many PIRs and early this year we filed one on Lee Glover which included an interesting email. We were sitting on a chain of emails waiting to see the AG’s response to the Nepotism PIR. The email subject line read “NEPOTISM” dated March 8,, 2023, that was from Lauren Safranek, HR Director sent to Wes Pierson, City Manager.
The initial email to Wes simply has a link to the Nepotism Policy. Wes Pierson replied to her a short time later asking her to clarify the following: 1) Interim Fire Chief Lee Glover has learned that he now has (as of when) a second cousin working in Frisco’s planning department. 2) Your understanding of our nepotism policy is that Lee would be ineligible to apply for the open Fire Chief position because of his relative who is now employed by the City (regardless of the fact that the relative works in another department and there is no reporting relationship). He ends with, am I correct?
Lauren replies that evening to Wes and said: Wes, As of October 2022, Lee Glover’s second cousin has worked for the City of Frisco as a Planner I in Development Services. Currently, as interim Chief, I would not consider this a violation of the nepotism policy. However, regarding your second question, the policy states: The hiring, transfer, and/or promotion, of Identified Employees shall not be allowed, even in different departments, if that action results in a violation of this Policy and/or creates a conflict of interest, or the appearance of a conflict of interest for the City as determined by the City Manager and/or his/her designee. When any relationship prohibited under this Policy and/or that constitutes a conflict of interest exists, the City reserves the right to take appropriate action to eliminate the violation, which may result in action being taken up to, and including termination.
Therefore, while Lee can apply for the Fire Chief position, the policy indicates he cannot be promoted because it would create a violation of the policy since the policy states that No Identified Employees of a Department Director may be employed by the City of Frisco after the effective date of this policy. We could enact Section V. Procedures which would allow 30 days for a resolution or the City terminates the employees with the least seniority. Identified employees are employees related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant or a roommate, as specified in the policy. I hope this answers your question. Please let me know if you have any questions.
After the communication on March 8, 2023, Lauren Safranek requested a change to the Nepotism Policy at the April 4, 2023 city council meeting which you can read about in this memo here. In a nutshell Lauren requested the Nepotism policy be revised to remove the Third Degree of consanguinity (blood). Her reason, “In today’s job market, by going as far as the Third Degree of consanguinity, we may lose the opportunity to consider some possible dedicated employees.” What she means is “if we don’t change it we cannot hire LEE GLOVER.” Obviously, this is probably what the city intended to hide from us went they sent it to the Attorney General!
It was clear in March and April 2023; the city had every intention to change the policy to hire Lee Glover! So, why did they spend money to hire an agency to do a search for a new fire chief? Also why did they do the dog and pony show of “MEET THE CANDIDATES” for the Frisco Fire Chief position, on June 1st? Does the city really think it is fair to these candidates to let them believe they even had an opportunity. These dedicated first responders took time out of their schedule and away from their job to interview, travel, and meet the public. The reality they were never going to get the job, the decision had already been made.
For all of those saying we are grasping at straws we have proven again that the city is
1) Breaking The Law because they did not include this email in our original PIR which clearly asked for emails regarding Nepotism & Lee Glover.
2) We said the city changed the policy to hire Lee Glover and the response from many is “oh the city would never do that” … BUT THEY DID EXACTLY THAT AND THE EMAIL BETWEEN LAUREN AND WES PROVES IT!
3) The fact the request to change the Nepotism came just 2 ½ weeks after their email communication and basically solved their problem, it only doubles down the confirmation we were correct.
4) The city changed the policy to hire someone and they have used the same policy to disqualify others in the past. It is not fair to change the policy at whim or when it suits you. That is not why polices are in place.
In closing we find it very interesting what the city deems confidential and not confidential. They will vote to release confidential information on a political opponent but they won’t vote to release the documents regarding the decision to change the NEPOTSIM POLICY? This is our plea to Mayor Cheney and the council to vote to release the documents for all the PIRS we have. Stop hiding behind the AG because it is clear every time you have something to hide and that is why something smells like SHIT in Frisco!
To see the full documents of the snap shots included, click here!
Russian Roulette is the practice of loading a bullet into one chamber of a revolver, spinning the cylinder, and then pulling the trigger while pointing the gun at one’s own head. It is basically a game of chance! When it comes to filing a PIR with the City of Frisco, it too is like a game of Russian Roulette. Will they provide the documents or won’t they? Will they do it in a timely manner or delay it by sending it to the Texas Attorney General for an “opinion.”
Since Whistleblowers’ inception back in February of last year we have continually addressed the issues of PIR GATE. In our April 2023 blog we talked about a PIR that FWB filed for Universal Theme Park / Project P117. An email came back from the city that the cost of the documents would be $72.36 and payment was made. Imagine FWB surprise when the city came back asking them to clarify what information they are seeking?
Problem 1: How did the city determine a price of $72.36 for the documents requested if they needed clarification of what was being requested?
THE CONCLUSION: Then on April 18th FWB receives an email saying they have released a few documents, and the rest has been sent to the Attorney General for an opinion. Well, 8 months after initially filing for the PIR the documents were finally released. Why did it take so long? What was it the city didn’t want us to find out about the Universal Kids project?
Now, let’s talk about the PIR we filed for any communications between John Keating or Angelia Pelham and Venton Krasniqi. When the city responded with no responsive records, we were curious, who is Venton Krasniqi? He is a mystery man who donated $10,000 to John Keating and $5000 to Angelia Pelham yet neither of them has shared a text or email with him? That sure seems strange since those are not small donations. Furthermore, we are now curious is this the same man listed in several lawsuits in Collin County regarding debts?
Then we talked about the PIR we filed in May 2023 in regards to the “Public Safety Study regarding the Police Department Staffing” that was funded by federal grants. The response was we could view the document only by coming to city hall because it was copyrighted. However, the organization who did this study has done many other similar studies and they are all published on the web. Why is Frisco’s copyrighted? What made Frisco’s study so special? We never went to view the report because we were contacted by an internal PD source who supplied us with a full copy of the study after seeing our blog. What did we learn after reading it? The city probably didn’t want the residents/public to know the city they claim to be one of the safest cities in Americas has a staffing deficiency in the PD department.
A few months later in October 2023, on a tip from a resident, we filed a PIR that reads, “We would like any emails regarding the flooding that took place on 7/3/23 near 2447 Sleepy Hollow Trail. Emails from PD, streets department, city management and city council. We would like any pictures taken by the streets department at the scene since they were called out by PD. We would like to know what caused the flood?” On October 23, we were surprised to see the status change to: Sent to AG for a Ruling.
WAIT A DAMN MINUTE, you are going to tell me a simple PIR about a street flood must be sent to the Texas Attorney General? The Conclusion: As of today, this still has a status of Sent to the AG for Ruling which means it has been open for over 2 months (about to be 3 months). Something smells like SHIT in Frisco.
If you remember in our Day 6 Breaking The Law blog, we explained how we filed a PIR on Fire Chief Lee Glover and were told no responsive records. In the case of this PIR, who is responsible for releasing those records? Well, that would be the Human Resources Director, Sassy Lauren Safranek, that’s who! Interesting how Sassy came up with the responsive records the second time around, AFTER WE TOLD HER WE ALREADY HAD A COPY OF THE LETTER AND A VIDEO CLIP.
We decided to file another PIR to broaden our search on November 22, 2023, that reads “Copy of all emails and documents related to Lee Glover over his career span with the City of Frisco relating to any job complaints both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. Any complaints received informal or formal even if confidential via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form, relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. Any Administrative Warning Letter issued to Lee Glover over his career with the Frisco Fire Department. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover over his career span with the Frisco Fire Department. Any emails between Lauren Safranek, Henry Hill, George Purefoy, Mack Borchard, Wes Peirson or Lee Glover regarding the hiring of Lee Glover going back to 1/1/2022 to Present. Feel free to redact personal numbers, birthdays, contact info, etc., allowed by Texas State Law.”
The Response: On December 14, we received a letter in which they located the responsive records and that they re-released at no charge the records because they had already been provided to us. However, that is not exactly true. What we asked for above is very clear so imagine our surprise when we find in the documents they sent back one titled Case 64. The Problem: Case 64 is related to a previous PIR request regarding HR Director Safranek falsifying documents which this document should have been included in, but it wasn’t which is more proof they are withholding documents. Why did we accidentally get the document in the current request, we have no idea. Secondly, it has the Fire Chiefs Candidate Binder that we didn’t ask for. Third it has the pay scale for the Fire Chiefs, which we didn’t ask for. It has the Appleton Complaint which we already know about and was in the previous PIR request. That’s it!
The city wants you and I to believe that Lee Glover has never had any other complaints, write-ups, warning letters, or has broken policies or procedures which he has been cited for over his entire career. Do you believe that? Well, you shouldn’t because we have evidence to the contrary. It leaves us asking, why has the city not released the information related to this PIR that we requested? Again, something smells like SHIT in Frisco.
The Conclusion: You may have guessed it; we filed ANOTHER PIR that said we want to follow up to clarify that Appleton and Mayday are the only two items in his HR file over the span of his career? We asked for anything starting from the beginning of his career in 1991 to the present: 1. Any job complaints, write-ups, or reprimands, both formal or informal (confidential) by equals, superiors, and subordinates. 2. Any complaints, write-ups, or reprimands received via the Frisco Fire Department Complaint Form that includes informal or formal even confidential 3. Any complaints, write-ups or reprimands relating to his breaking the Frisco Fire Department Policies or City of Frisco Code of Conduct or policies. 4. Any Administrative Warning Letters issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD. 5. Any Notice of Investigation issued to Lee Glover during his time at Frisco FD Are we to believe that since 1991 there have been only 2? We paid $30 plus dollars and want the full PIR as we already know of some that have not been included in the original PIR response.” It is currently in processing!
Lastly, we can’t forget Bobblehead Bill Woodard who went off halfcocked on Facebook defending the city’s decision to cut a lifesaving blood program that just a few years before the council praised from the top of the city council meeting pulpit. While Bobblehead Bill said folks could just email him and he would share the documents we decided to handle it the proper way by filing a PIR on 11/1/23. We uploaded images of his statements in the PIR and asked for the items he referenced. The PIR said,
1. On November 1st Bill Woodard posted on North Texas Politics page a response that talked about a 12-page report and posted a picture of a Section 2.2 Supply of Blood Products. He offers to email the 12-page report to anyone who emails him so we are requesting it formally and since he is willing to send it out freely to anyone who emails him we assume there will be no cost for it.
2. He also posted the following comment below: The blood transfusion program isn’t going away, in fact it’s expanding. We use data to analyze the best use of resources and right now the squad sits idle almost all the time. So that staffing is being divided up and assigned to the BC vehicles, along with the blood transfusion program. This will double (from one to two) the availability of this program on every shift, and better utilize personnel and equipment. In 2024 we expect to add this program to every ambulance we have further expanding the program, which necessitates the training of everyone on those pieces of equipment. We will also be doubling (from one to two) the number of safety officers on shift. This will allow for additional training and promotional opportunities. We would like a copy of the study and data used to analyze the best use of resources that reflect how this decision was made. We would like a copy of the new contract/agreement that the hospital and blood banks will supply the blood for all ambos now and going into 2024. We would also like to know the cost and how it will be funded to train everyone (as he states) on those pieces of equipment.
3. Bill Woodard also stated “We are putting the blood transfusion program on multiple vehicles. So yes it is expanding. And we have been working with our medical director (as well as any other required parties) to ensure the program is run appropriately and has all the proper staffing.” We would like to know how many vehicles the blood program will be on with trained personnel. We would like any emails between the city management, fire department and council with the medical director and required parties he mentions.
4. Steve Cone of P&Z also chimed in so we would like to see the numbers of how the proposed changes to Squad / Blood Program is better than the status quo arrangement. We would like to know the # of blood transfusions teams available per shift, before and after the changes to the program.
The Conclusion: Because Bobblehead Bill offered to send this to folk we assumed there would be no charge but guess what, the city charged us $90.00 which we paid, and we are STILL WAITING FOR THE INFORMATION. Now, they have updated the status to read “Sent to Attorney.” We are not holding our breath we will get the information back before the end of 2023.
In closing, we have a very important question for you to consider. How can the city get a request or for an item, then go to a council meeting, have a discussion in executive session, come out and vote to release confidential HR documents on a retired employee who is under a gag order and is actively running as a political opponent against Mayor Cheney? Please note while Cheney recused himself from the vote 4 of the city council members who participated in the vote had already publicly endorsed Mayor Jeff Cheney which means they probably should have recused themselves. The CHERRY ON TOP is a DMN Reporter had an article in the paper 12 hours later which in our opinion was a political hit piece! If all that can be done in a simple council vote how come they cannot do that for other PIR’s?
Why did the city not send the request from the media to the Attorney General like they do all other requests? Well because they have 30 to 60 days to respond with an opinion which means the election would have been over. At the time Mark Piland was gaining momentum on Mayor Cheney. Cheney and his big developer friends who have BIG INTERESTS in Frisco needed Cheney to win so they just did not have that kind of time. They needed a push in the polls so hence the vote to release the records. It is even more questionable that they didn’t release the full report only a subsequent report that was done related to the political candidate. Being that the vote had HUGE RED FLAGS pertaining to CONFLICT OF INTERESTS which is a great reason to SEND IT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL.
This is our public plea to the City of Frisco and the City Council Members, IF YOU HAVE THAT KIND OF POWER THEN WE ASK YOU TO BRING OUR PIRs UP FOR A VOTE. Then VOTE YES unanimously, JUST LIKE in April 2023 to release the following: 1. Universal Kids Documents 2. Documents related to Bobble Head Bills rant on Facebook regarding the Blood Program. 3. The entire HR file for Fire Chief Lee Glove and Mack Borchardt 4. Documents related to a simple street flood 5. All of Lauren Safranek emails for the last two years and 6. Any other open PIRs currently just for the purposes of being FAIR and TRANSPARENT
They would never vote to do that because it does not help them, but it possibly hurts them. The City of Frisco withholds documents, delays the process and flat out lies as to what they have and don’t have. Kristy Morrow is the City Secretary but we don’t think it is her decision on what is released. She sends the requests to the departments or individuals named in the PIR and they respond with the appropriate documents. So, if Sassy Lauran Safranek is colluding with Lee Glover do you think she is going to release the documents requested, probably not. It is a game of RUSSIAN ROULETTE, A GAME OF CHANCE OR TRUST. We DO NOT TRUST the City of Frisco – not one bit! We have proof they have lied and withheld information and that should make residents very wary and angry. This is our city, not their city. It is our tax-dollars!
What do you think of when you hear the word Human Resources? Are you one of those who thinks HR is your friend, and they are there to help you manage workplace misconduct and other issues? Maybe you fall on the other end of the spectrum and think HR is the hidden devil in the workplace and they are there to protect the company…not you. If you have ever seen the movie Up in The Air then you know Ryan Bingham, played by George Clooney, lives a life of constant travel and is a corporate downsizer. What is that? His job is to look at employees face-to-face and fire them delicately. In one scene he says “Natalie, what is it you think we do here?” Natalie replies, “We prepare the newly unemployed for the emotional and physical hurdles of job hunting while minimizing legal blow-back.” Ryan looks at her and says, “That’s what we’re selling. It’s not what we are doing. We are here to make limbo tolerable, to ferry wounded souls across the river of dread until the point where hope is dimly visible. And then stop the boat, shove them in the water, and make them swim.” Does any of their conversation sound like they are there for the employees, of course not!
After talking with several whistleblowers and reading the exit interview notes we filed a few PIRs, one specifically asked for information on the Job Descriptions and any complaints made regarding them being changed without approval. Interestingly we got back a document titled Case 64 – Hotline Web and it was titled “Falsification of Contracts Reports or Records.” We immediately knew Porter was on to something in his comments to Wes Pierson in the exit interview.
What was Case 64 about to unveil? Well, in the snapshot it says the call come in on 5/29/2023. The report goes on to identify the caller as an employee, who chose to remain anonymous. Under a section called “Case Information” it lists several questions the caller had to answer.
Question One: Please identify the person(s) engaged in this behavior: The caller identified HR Director, Lauren Safranek, HR Department, Lori Rutland, and Assistant Fire Chief, Lee Glover.
Question Two: Do you suspect or know that a supervisor or management is involved? The caller identified Deputy City Manager, Henry Hill.
Question Three: What is the general nature of this matter? The caller said HR Director, Lauren Safranek and Assistant Chief, Lee Glover have repeatedly altered documents to protect their personal job performance measurements and personal initiatives. Example of this include forcing employees to secretly alter job descriptions without notifying employees, deceptively altering policies without staff involvement, requiring employees to falsify signatures, taking actions to deliberately undermine employee grievance / complaint processes, and making slanderous statements of other Supervisors to facilitate personal gain.
Question Four: What do you estimate the monetary value of this matter to be? The caller said anywhere from $250,000 to $499,999 USD.
Question Five: Where did this incident or violation occur? The caller said FD Job Descriptions, FD Reports, Workers Compensation Policies, Termination Letters, Investigation involvement with a conflict of interest.
Question Six: Please provide the specific or approximate time this incident occurred? The caller said 2020 to 2023.
Question Seven: How did you become aware of this violation? The caller states they accidentally found a document or file.
Question Eight: Please identify any persons who have attempted to conceal this problem and the steps they took to conceal it. The caller states City Manager, Wes Pierson, Deputy City Manager, Henry Hill, HR Director Lauren Safranek, Assistant or Fire Chief Lee Glover, and HR Lori Rutland worked together to hide their various actions. It asked for details to which the caller said multiple staff and previous employees have been impacted by these actions and are aware they took place.
If you are anything like us our jaws dropped wide open, we could not believe what we were reading. We had to read it a few times and each time we asked why would an employee take a risk to make these accusations with the possibility they could be identified. This gave a new light to the Porter’s exit interview.
Then we noticed the report section titled “Assignments & Access” and it listed the case assignee(s) as none. Then it reads restricted access and lists Henry Hill. Then it has the case access list which names Hector Quiroga and Jacinta Shanks. It made us wonder what restricted access means. Was Henry Hill the only person with access or the only person restricted so he had no access to the complaint? If restricted access means no access, then why are Lauren Safranek, Lori Rutland, and Lee Glover also listed as well as they are named in the complaint?
There were no case notes, no synopsis, and no outcomes listed. Do you think they even investigated the claims made by the caller? Do you think this should have been reviewed by an independent third party since it involved city management? Remember in our blog about the ethics complaints the city attorney could not investigate as they are paid for by the city, to protect the city. Most of those in upper management have been there awhile and are probably too friendly with each other to be objective. The reality is these are very serious accusations and if true could leave the city open to potential lawsuits and if it happened the city should be firing several people from the top down.
We were determined to go through all the items now in our PIRs and start putting together a timeline from 2020 to 2023 to see what we could uncover. In our next blog we plan to lay out the timeline and our theory supported by evidence of what we believe happened. Our guess, you will be shocked!
When you say the 12 days of Christmas people immediately think of the song, but did you know there really is a period called the 12 Days of Christmas? According to vox.com The 12 days of Christmas is the period in Christian theology that marks the span between the birth of Christ and the coming of the Magi, the three wise men. It begins on December 25 and runs through January 6, also known as Three Kings Day. With the holidays around the corner, we thought we would share that little bit of info for fun.
Now we need to get back to ‘The 12 Days of MALFEASANCE!’ The Oxford Dictionary defines malfeasance as wrongdoing, especially by a public official. We dug a little further to see if there was more legal definition and we found the website for Cornell University, Legal Information Institute. Malfeasance is intentional conduct that is wrongful or unlawful, especially by officials or public employees. Regardless of how you define it, the word should not be thrown around loosely as it can easily destroy one’s reputation. We decided to write a song…
On the first day of Christmas
Our “Whistleblower” gave to thee
Notes from a recent FD employee exit interview.
On the second day of Christmas
The exit interview notes gave to thee
A lead that someone in HR forged documents and did not obtain updated new signatures.
On the third day of Christmas
The exit interview notes gave to thee
More tea on Mr. Lee…. Fire Chief, Lee Glover that is.
On the fourth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
Copy of an HR hotline complaint regarding falsification of contracts, reports, or records.
On the fifth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
A copy of the full Mayday Report.
On the sixth day of Christmas
A PIR gave to thee
A reply of no responsive records to our inquiry into a complaint against Fire Chief, Lee Glover
but wait, hold tight …let’s see.
On the seventh day of Christmas
A second filed PIR into the complaint gave to thee
The records we requested after we gave them one more chance to come clean.
On the eighth day of Christmas
The trail of details gave to thee
Malfeasance committed by public employees and officials throughout the city!
Every day we get emails, lots of emails! Some are from Whistleblowers and others are from those who say we are pieces of shXt for exposing the truth of what is happening in Frisco. The best one to date came from a man who is good friends with one of our sitting council members. He said that no one takes us seriously, people are laughing at us, and we are a bad joke. We laughed so hard because he was working overtime to make us think we don’t matter! I guess he thought he would hurt our feelings and it would make us stop uncovering the Shady Shit happening. News Flash…sticks and stones may break our bones, but your words will never hurt us.
Here is the thing, we do matter! Want to know how we know that? Well, it is simple. You are reading our page, you are thinking about us, you took precious time out of your life to focus on us, and you spent the time writing us an email. Another thing we should point out, we alerted the public to the glaring issues of John Keatings – KeatingForFrisco.com page it magically changed!
When we realized the next day his website changed we decided to scroll through and read the new content. First the picture of him and his wife that he cheat on is NOW GONE! We know Keating is narcissistic, loves himself and has an inflated idea of how good looking he believes he is, so we were not surprised to see he takes center stage on his new page.
The “About Me” section is interesting too! He claims to have worked on several of the important projects that brought some big-name businesses to town. One of them was the PGA Headquarters. To be clear, he voted yes for it, he went to the opening and took selfies, but did he help get it here? Mayor Cheney said during the vote that a very special thank you should be made to a local resident and father of two boys, David Ovard and to then councilman Will Sowell, who worked tirelessly on the PGA project. Funny, Cheney didn’t do a special shout out to Jammed-Up John Keating.
In fact there is a whole article in the DMN about Mr. Ovard and his push to get the Frisco PGA here and another article in D Magazine that talks about 3 Men, Blake Rowling (TRT Holdings), David Ovard (Frisco Resident) and Mark Harrison (Executive Director of the Northern Texas PGA), who scrambled to win the PGA Headquarters. None of the articles mentioned Jammed-Up John! As we said, Keating was there to vote Yes for the project, but I don’t think he did the behind the scenes work that brought the PGA Frisco here.
Next we noticed a picture of him and Mayor Cheney along with two woman wearing Fire Fighters Uniforms. We would have no issue with this if it was a social media post saying he participated in Citizens Fire Academy, but instead he used it as a political picture on his website. It gives you the impression he supports the Fire Department – which he does not! Next to the picture is verbiage about his goal to balance Frisco’s high level of amenities with low tax rates, talks about public-private partnerships, and corporate incentives. but he didn’t. The picture has nothing to do with the text on the page and clearly it was a rip off of what Mayor Cheney always talks about.
How do we know Jammed-Up John does not support the Fire Fighters and how do we know he is a LIAR? Let’s look at the Fire Fighters Association Candidate Survey he did in 2021 when he was running for re-election. It reads The National Fire Protection Assoc, recommends adequate safe staffing levels of a minimum of 4 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that the FD is currently maintaining staffing of 3 fire fighters on all fire suppression apparatuses. It says he understands that more citizens, increasing businesses and taller buildings require safe staffing levels. Lastly and most importantly, it says IF ELECTED TO THE OFFICE I WOULD SUPPORT REQUIRING A SAFE STAFFING LEVEL OF 4 FIRE FIGHTERS ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES.Signed by John P. Keating April 27, 2021
Jammed-Up John went on to leave comments on the survey that said, “AT THIS TIME, I SUPPORT FOUR FIREFIGHTERS FOR ALL TRUCK COMPANIES. FRISCO IS ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING CITIES IN AMERICA, AND WE HAVE TO PLAN ACCORDINGLY. WE HAVE TO BUDGET FOR A NEW 14-DAY PAY CYCLE, BENEFITS, FIRE STATION 10 (AND PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT), AS WELL AS ADDITIONAL FIRE FIGHTER PERSONNEL FOR ON ALL FIRE SUPPRESSION APPARATUSES, WHILE MAINTAINING OUR ISO-1 RATING.”
Jammed-Up John lied to the Fire Fighters Association to get an endorsement! As we have said before his ACTIONS don’t match his WORDS. Keating did not support Texas House Bill 471 which relates to the entitlement to and claims for benefits for certain first responders and other employees related to illness and injury. He has not tried to get the city to reverse its decision to fire Kraemer, an almost 30 year Veteran of the Frisco FD for running out of his medical leave, who recently won his workers comp case. He supported and shared comments by former City Manager, George Purefoy where he was calling the Fire Fighters self-serving, accused the FF of misrepresenting city staff and leadership, and saying they don’t have Frisco’s best interest at heart. HEY KEATING – DID YOU JUST CALL THEM OUT ON SOCIAL MEDIA FOR THE SAME THING YOU SAID YOU SUPPORTED ON THE 2021 CANDIDATE SURVEY? Who’s self-serving? Who’s misrepresenting the facts?
Jammed-Up John is proud of his military service which he displays on his website. He talks about the 13 years he spent in the Army, and it is captioned with a picture of him in his Army Camo. We thank you sir for your Service and we will always support our Veterans, but as we have said you are still accountable for your actions, choices and decisions. What if I was running for council and I wore your Army Uniform and talked about how I support public-private partnerships, low taxes and claim to have been a part of the team who brought the PGA here. Would you be offended if a non-service person wore your Army Uniform? Would you be offended if it was for a political ad that mislead folks? I don’t think the Fire Fighters want you to discredit their profession or uniform with your lies and naked body pictures, then turn around and wear their uniform in a political website ad.
Next up his page regarding “The Mission!” He talks about how he supports Public Safety, and he will fight to ensure the men and woman in uniform have the resources they need. Maury said the lie detector shows, “THAT’S A LIE!” Then he claims to support fiscal responsibility but goes on city trips that cost taxpayers thousands of dollars to look at parks, art installations and streets. Then he says he supports creating jobs standing next to the H-E-B Red Ribbon opening. Pretty sure H-E-B created the jobs and that all you did was Vote Yes at a city council meeting. He says he supports Accountability and Transparency, since when? Just look at his own website, he has not been transparent at all. We could go on, but we have already thrown up in our mouth twice so just visit his page and look for yourself.
In closing, the haters can say we are a joke, and no one is watching or reading our site, but we know they are from our own analytics. Oh, and because Jammed-Up John changed his website. He stopped lying to people that he was happily married Christian man and just started lying about how he supports public safety. Guess what is glaringly missing from his KeatingForFrisco website. You, me, the citizens! He never once mentions how he is here to help serve the citizens he represents.He never says how he is here to do what is best for Frisco Residents and Taxpayers. He proved that during the Universal Theme Park vote when he looked at a room full of residents worried about their homes and property values and said, sorry I didn’t make it out to speak to you before the vote tonight. With his vacation red lobster peeling skin he looked at them and said, I had this Rotator Cuff thing and had to have surgery and well needed a vacation. Yes, he went to the beach instead of listening to THOSE HE SERVES. Jammed-Up John is committed to one person and that is big boy Mayor Jeff Cheney, his democrat partner in crime Angelia Pelham and well…..HIMSELF! Oh, did we mention, Keating has his Texas Real Estate License now, guess he is following his buddy down the road of Real Estate.
The time leading up to an important election can seem more like a sports or entertainment show. You have journalists and pundits dissecting each candidate as far as their speech, appearance, or analyzing what they do right or wrong. In the end, the goal is to find the most authentic candidate that will represent you or be the Stateman or woman for your community. According to Cambridge, a statesman is a skilled, experienced, and respected political leader or figure, known for being versed in the principles of government and for displaying good judgment.
Recently, we came across The Art of Manliness which had published an article about the 4 Qualities of a True Stateman. The first quality is a bedrock of principles, which means a platform or a foundation of firm, unchanging, fundamental truths. These are things they believe to be the core of their being. The second is a moral compass, which is rooted in a sense of absolute right and absolute wrong. The third is vision. Statesmen must be able to see problems on the horizon and they must be able to come up with solutions that are good for both the short-term and long-term. Lastly is the ability to build a consensus which means they must enlist those they serve within in government to support their initiatives to achieve their vision.
We have long argued that John Keating does not meet the definition of a Stateman. What are his “Bedrock of Principles,” you know the foundation of what he believes to his core? We started at KeatingForFrisco.com where the landing page is a picture of Keating with his family. The same family he stepped out on in 2021 with another woman. Caught red handed, over a holiday weekend in a public community pool with Kristen Grammer in several compromising positions. Later they returned to her home in the community where he remained for a couple of hours. It is our understanding from friends who know the Keatings, that Ms. Keating was blindsided by her husband’s behavior, and they have since separated and they are working through the process that leads to divorce. His website however shows them happily married and implies everything is A-OKAY in Shaddock Creek Estates.
Then his page has a large blue banner that says “Public Safety is Job #1. It reads, provides our first responders with the equipment, training, and leadership they need to keep Frisco families safe.” If this is true, then how could he support City Manager, Wes Pierson when he hired Fire Chief, Lee Glover? At the time Glover had a 90+% no vote of confidence from over 210 firefighters and they made it clear to the council they did not want Glover as the next Fire Chief. How could he oppose House Bill 471 which protects first responders in Texas and how could he call Firefighters selfish on George Purfoy’s Facebook page? How could he support a leader who in a 2010/11 report was said to be toxic and the city needed to clean house of management in the department (referring to Mack Borchardt and Lee Glover)? How is Public Safety #1 when the President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association in Jan 2023 stood before him at citizens’ input begging for the council to hire more staff and provide them resources to do their job? How can he support the city and how they have treated Cameron Kraemer a nearly 30-year Frisco Fire Fighter for the city when they fired him for running out of medical leave? He later won his worker’s comp case.
Keating is a Veteran of the Army which he makes very present on his page. We along with many others have complete respect for his service to our country. We are grateful for him and all the other veterans, but it does not excuse them from things. If you visit the Army website, they list their values. One is Integrity, to do what’s right legally and morally. Stepping out on his family does not display Integrity. Another is respect and the website says,” And self-respect is a vital ingredient with the Army value of respect, which results from knowing you have put forth your best effort.” We would say posting pics implying you were naked or using half naked photos flexing in a bathroom for social media or dating apps don’t show much self-respect, nor does it show respect for others who have to see it and can’t unsee it. Lastly your actions over and over don’t show respect for the citizens who voted for you to hold the position of Councilman Place 1 Again, his LACK OF JUDGEMENT as a leader is questionable.
In 2021 before the “pool party for two,” John Keating posted a few photos for a scavenger hunt to his social media page. In the first picture, he is holding a sign that reads “Get Naked” and it appears to be covering his groin area. Now, behind the sign he had boxers on which you can’t tell, but we question his judgment and the others in the picture. He is standing next to Mayor Cheney, First Lady Dana Cheney, and Councilman Bill Woodard, who appear to either be appalled or laughing at a 60-year-old man pretending to be naked. You are the LEADER or STATEMAN of FRISCO! Do you think this is how residents, who voted for you, want to see you? At the same event, you posted a video jokingly of the Mayor, First Lady, and Councilman Woodard tying up Angelia Pelham, our new councilwoman as they chant tie her to the tracks. In our opinion – NOT THE BEST JUDGEMENT!
Now after the “BIG Universal Announcement,” Keating heads out on a date, which is fine if he is separated from his wife. However, if he is not separated well then Houston we have a problem! Why is Keating choosing to show such a public display of affection at Grandscape, a place where there are families all around for the holidays? It is called, get a Room! Again, it is his JUDGEMENT or lack of that we are questioning. Take your date to Addison, downtown Grapevine, or somewhere in this large metroplex – other than your own backyard to show some respect to your family, to your constituents, and the families around you.
Mr. Keating, what you display via your website and the truth are very different. The fact that you continually display questionable or bad judgment, then want to ask voters to again come out to the polls to re-elect you as one of our Statesmen for this city is ridiculous. One thing is clear, you think very highly of yourself because you are continually without clothes or in compromising positions. It is great that you are in good shape, fit, and healthy but that does not mean you should post text, or tweet photos of yourself that should probably be on your Only Fans page. Last we checked you are 60+ years old, so PUT SOME CLOTHES ON AND ASK YOUR DATES TO PUT SOME CLOTHES ON. You have a choice to make, be a Statesman for Frisco or be a Baller aka Player, and move out of office and into your PRIVATE LIFE. As of now you consistently show LACK OF JUDGEMENT AND BAD DECISIONS… ONE AFTER ANOTHER. Whatever you decide, if you want to remain a leader in this city then ACT LIKE IT. We deserve better!
I went to her to ask for help with an issue my child that was getting nowhere with the school,…
So whatever became of the $17 million dollars that the city council gave the Mayor to beautify a drainage ditch?
At last count, there are 3 different "spa/massage" businesses in the small office park at the northeast corner of John…
I literally just saw this. Yeah, she used to forward everybody’s emails behind their backs.
You're dropping truth bombs! These mom and pop shops are what should be the least of Karen's worries. If they…