House of Cards

by | Mar 7, 2023 | Community Development Corp, Developements, Developers, Economic Development Corp, Politics, Wade Park

Growing up my dad and his buddies would always have poker night in the basement that included cards, cigars, and liquor concoctions.  I used to sneak down the stairs to spy on them and was always intrigued by the deck of playing cards.  One night my dad told his buddies that a deck of cards is based on a calendar.  Fifty-two (52) cards represent fifty-two (52) weeks in a year and the card colors red and black symbolize night and day.  The four (4) suits represent the four (4) seasons. There are thirteen (13) cards in a suit to match the number of lunar cycles and twelve (12) court cards that represent the 12 months of the year.  A standard deck of cards has four suits: hearts, clubs, spades, and diamonds and the original card suits were based on classes and can be traced back to France in the 1400s.  Suits include spades ♠ (royalty), clubs ♣ (peasants),  hearts ♥ (clergy), and diamonds ♦ (merchants). 

Once the night was over I would gather up all the cards and the next day I loved to try and build a house out of the cards. Then my brother would come by like a gust of wind and knock it over which always upset me, but I started over each time. House of cards is a metaphor for the instability of the inner workings of what appears to be the perfect partnership, structure, plan, institution, or organization.  In a house of cards, the inner workings are always weak, fragile and in constant danger of failure or collapse.  Watching Frisco grow, I have wondered are some of these developments too good to be true.  Underneath the pomp and circumstance are they just another house of cards?

In August 2014 a crowd gathered including Frisco leaders and officials from Thomas Land & Development for the groundbreaking of the $1.6 Billion, 175-acre Wade Park mixed-use development.  Excitement rumbled among residents when they learned the initial phase would be anchored by a Whole Foods store. Jim Newman, of Newman Real Estate, brokered the land deal for the project and he told the Frisco Enterprise that “having sold and developed land in this city for over 30 years, nothing in North Texas comes close to the future development.”  He went on to say it was difficult getting the Wade Family to sell the land but when they found a partner they could trust like Thomas Land Development they couldn’t be happier.  

In January 2015, the Frisco City Council, Frisco EDC, and Frisco CDC approved $122.75 million in incentives for infrastructure improvements which would be paid from revenue generated by the proposed development as the city collects taxes.  In return, Wade Park agreed to deliver a portion of the development by the end of December 2017. It wouldn’t be long before all that excitement started to dwindle when Frisco learned Thomas Land Development ran out of money and failed to secure additional financing.  Construction froze as contractors began placing liens against the development for unpaid bills and by early 2018 the future of Wade Park was up in the air and Frisco was left with a hole in the ground that locals nicknamed Lake Lebanon. 

Were any alarm bells that the city should have been concerned about so we could have possibly avoided the headache of Wade Park?  A simple google search into Stan Thomas, CEO of Atlanta-based Thomas Land Development is alarming.  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported back in 2009 that Stan Thomas had three major projects in bankruptcy protection, and he narrowly averted foreclosure on The Forum Peachtree Parkway development in Atlanta.  He also had projects in London and Orlando that were virtually dead until he could find financing.  He had been sued by former partners and vendors for nonpayment and dozens of liens against him.  His company had gone from 750 employees down to just 50 employees.  Thomas had two other projects in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection which included The Rim in San Antonio, Texas, and Prospect Park in Alpharetta, Georgia. In 2019 a CBS news story pointed out that while Frisco city officials publicly expressed optimism for the project the I-Team had learned behind the scenes there were concerns early on.  They reported the developer Stan Thomas had a reputation for taking on massive debt to develop massive projects.   The report also talked about how Thomas had plans to turn a development in Sacramento into a multi-billion dollar development but it fell through when he could not pay his loans on the project. 

Again, we ask the question was the writing on the wall the whole time?  Could we have avoided the headache of Wade Park with a little more due diligence?  Was Lake Lebanon avoidable?  How do we avoid doing business with companies that are really House of Cards?  How many other projects are just another house of cards?  

Funny Side Note: While it has nothing to do with our story we wanted to share that in 2015, Universal Orlando acquired 475 acres of land for $27.5 million for a future Universal theme park.  But the previous landowner Stan Thomas (mentioned above) sued Universal claiming he still owned rights to enforce private deed restrictions.  The parties settled in April 2018 but it just shows it is a small world after all since now Universal is looking at Frisco.

Back to the point of our blog, we decided to investigate some other local developments and what we found should have Frisco residents concerned. In 2012 Forest Park Medical Center at Frisco Square opened.  The developer was Neal Richards Group which at the time had developed half a billion dollars of healthcare real estate.  At some point, the company kicked off its first physician-owned project called Forest Park Medical brand. NRG became collateral damage in a fraud scandal involving two of its co-founders who were among 21 people indicted in a $40 million kickback scheme that ran from 2009 to approximately 2013 and generated an estimated $200 million in revenue for Forest Park.  It is complicated to understand but to put it in layman’s terms, the hospitals were set up as out-of-network facilities which allowed them to set their own prices then shell companies were opened to funnel millions in bribes and kickback payments in exchange for patient referrals.  Make sense?

In 2018, Philip Carter, the principal of Texas Cash Cow Investments and North Forty Development LLC who had developed Preston at Wade Crossing was arrested. In November 2018 Carter was facing state fraud charges in connection with defrauding nearly 100 Texas investors out of $17.5 million and in May 2022 he was sentenced to 45 years in state prison. 

Then in September 2022, Tim Barton of JMJ Developments was indicted by a federal grand jury on nine felony counts, including securities fraud and wire fraud.  He is accused of defrauding Chinese investors out of $26 million and if convicted could face up to 60 years in prison.  JMJ Developments purchased 4.5 acres of land in 2020 from Invest Group Overseas (IGO), the master developer of The Gate in Frisco’s North Platinum Corridor.  At the time JMJ officials boasted how it would be “the tallest building in Frisco” and was set to open in 2024.  Barton sold the property in The Gate to Petra Development LLC in December 2022 for an estimated $9 million.

We could make our own movie and instead of calling it The Wolf of Wall Street, we should name it The Wolves of the Frisco or The Wolves of the Dallas North Tollway.  Are we the only ones who are curious why so many of the developments in Frisco are somehow connected to shady businessmen or developers?  Maybe we need to hold our city management and the developers they choose to do business with to higher standards so shady shit stops happening.  

Field of Dreams

by | Feb 19, 2023 | Campaign Donations, Cheney Group, Fehmi Karahan, Fields West, Matt Sapp - President of FFFA, Omni PGA Resort, PGA Frisco, Politics, The Preserve & Fields

Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Curiosity is lying in wait for every secret.” One of the driving forces behind human discovery is curiosity. What if Galileo never bothered to look through his telescope? He would have never observed celestial bodies proving that there were objects in space. A person’s curiosity to look at something and then want to know the story behind it is what changed the world thousands of times. I am no Galileo, but my curiosity is what drives me to investigate to find the truth.

For years drivers along the DNT, Panther Creek and 380 roadways wondered “what will these fields develop into one day?” I don’t think Frisco residents ever expected 3 world-class developments centered around the PGA & Golf. There is no doubt about it, the deal is a win-win for Frisco and its residents. The portion that intrigued me was Fields, a 2100-acre master-planned community. Plans for villages (neighborhoods) and a network of trails built around the natural topography sound brilliant! It soon became clear with the Cheney Group announcement of being the Fields experts, that he had access to information, homesites, and builder information before anyone else in real estate and that was a red flag for me.

I am not the first to ask questions or have the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Take a moment and browse social media and you will see residents ask questions in regard to Cheney profiting personally from his position as Mayor. In May of 2018, Texas Scorecard released an article by Ross Kecseg asking will the Mayor profit from the PGA deal. On June 25, 2018, Texas Scorecard writer Ross Kecseg released another article regarding the Frisco mayor lashing out at PGA deal coverage and that he has threatened to sue Texas Scorecard to uncover their sources. The articles questioned the conflict between Stillwater Capital, The Associates and the closely tied relationship to Cheney.

In going through documents from a PIR request, I came across a series of emails. The first email was August 1, 2019 and it was written to Mayor Cheney from Holly McCall, Admin Assistant to the Mayor & Council. It reads
On Thu, Aug 1, 2019 at 11:23 AM Holly McCall wrote:
Mayor Cheney,
A gentleman named John Baumgarten, from (redacted) (investors group), came by the office this morning to invite you to attend a dinner on Sept. 10 at 6 pm at Del Frisco’s, Legacy West. Beau Welling plans to speak about building golf courses, including the PGA project. They would love for you to participate in a Q&A at the end if you are willing. Mr. Baumgarten says this is a group (of @ 25 investors) with an interest in golfing and the PGA Project, and that they “are not selling or promoting anything.”
They have also invited some of the Omni Group and Joe Trahan from Channel 8.
John Baumgarten
Principal, Private Wealth Management

The same day at 10:13 pm, Lorie Medina who was known as Mayor Cheney’s Chief of Staff responded. It’s important to note that Lorie Medina was not a city employee, she was paid by the Mayor $5000 a month from his campaign.

On Aug 1, 2019, 10:13 PM -0500, Lorie Medina , wrote:
Would you like me to ask Jon McCary about this firm? This could be a good discussion since we are trying to attract VCs and PE firms to Frisco for Inspire Frisco. Also, it might be good to include him at the meeting, if possible.

VC standards for Venture Capital Firm and they invest in industry startups and PE stands for Private Equity Firm and they buy companies and overhaul them to earn a profit. Capital for investments comes from outside investors. Inspire Frisco helps to build a network for Frisco entrepreneurs.

August 2nd the Mayor replies from his Cheney Group personal email where he was a Broker Associate with The Associates Realty and it reads
On Fri, Aug 2, 2019 at 12:58 PM Jeff Cheney wrote:
Would love his input if he thinks it’s a worthwhile use of time. I do not normally want to kill an entire evening unless necessary.
Jeff Cheney, CPA
Broker Associate
The Associates Realty
One Cowboys Way
Frisco, Tx 75034
www.CheneyGroup.com

Were the emails a big deal? We didn’t think so until we hit another email sent from John Baumgarten to Jeff Cheney on September 11, 2019. It reads

From: “Baumgarten, John”
Date: September 11, 2019 at 11:24:14 AM CDT
To: Jeff Cheney JCheney@friscotexas.gov
Subject: B & B dinner

Jeff,
Cannot thank you enough for carving out some time for us last night and sharing the history and vision of this spectacular project. Congratulations for putting this audacious project together.
As a small token of my appreciation, I would love to make a donation to a charity that is connected to this project – let me know what you suggest. I would also like to get on the unofficial lot list – let me know what is involved in that.
Thank you again. Maybe we can host another event as we get closer to the next phase being completed. Again, thank you for participating. My guests really enjoyed it based on the early feedback.
John

To understand why this email is important you must rewind to the Facebook post on 10/13/22 where the Cheney Group announced they had been working on something special for the last year. They were excited to announce the Cheney Group team were the Fields Experts and that The Preserve at PGA was teeing off and lots were going fast. The Perry Mason in me had some serious questions.

First, the email above was from 2019 and John asked how to get on the unofficial lot list mentioned at the dinner and what was involved in that. What unofficial lot list and were these lots for the Preserve village? Was Mr. Cheney the only one with access to sell these lots? How many of the unofficial lots were sold prior to the public announcement lots were available? The post said his group had been working for the last year, but the emails were from 2019 so did he work on it for more than a year?

Second, John also mentions making a donation to a charity connected to the project and we safely assumed he meant the PGA/Fields project. We were surprised that Mr. Cheney forwarded that to Lorie Medina to ask her thoughts. She responded with how about we send him to www.giveforfrisco.com and he can pick a charity of his choice. Wait a minute! Was the donation part of getting on that unofficial lot list? Was there an expectation that if a donation was made the person would have more access to the unofficial lot list? The fact that he forwarded the email to Lorie asking for her thoughts, does that display his willingness to accept a donation?

Third, the thank you email was sent to the mayor’s official email address. However, we did not see a response to it! Does that mean the mayor never responded to the gentleman’s two questions? Does it mean he replied through his private email since he knew any communication could be a public record? To give the benefit of the doubt, we are going to assume it was not included since it was out outside of the scope of the PIR.

Truth and Transparency are what residents want and it seems like we always moving in circles without an end or satisfactory answer. The emails by themselves seem like little concern but the emails as a whole have very shady implications. Even if nothing wrong took place, the appearance of impropriety is enough to cause doubt that shady shit is happening in Frisco.

Dynasty of A Development

by | Feb 16, 2023 | Cheney Group, Community Development Corp, Developements, Developers, Economic Development Corp, Fehmi Karahan, Fields - Brookside North, Fields - Brookside South, Fields West, George Purefoy, Hunt Realty, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Omni PGA Resort, PGA Frisco, Politics, Robert Elliott, Robert Elliott - The Associates, Stillwater, Taxpayer Dollars, The Link, The Preserve & Fields, Universal Kids

It started like any other January day residents across Frisco woke up and started getting ready to take on a new day. I stepped out of the shower and could hear the morning newscaster on the television giving the traffic report followed by the weather. The deep voice said, prepare for the warmest January day since 2009 because today we should hit a high of 83 degrees. Texans generally joke about how we hit all four seasons in one day.  Winter starts at 6 am, spring starts at 10 am, summer is at 2 pm and fall starts around 5:30 pm. 

Midmorning sitting at my desk I get a notification that Visit Frisco has gone live on their Facebook page so of course I tune in to see what is going on. Standing behind a podium is Mayor Jeff Cheney announcing all the officials and guests in attendance. He then goes on to quote Dr. Seuss and says “One Fish, Two Fish, Frisco has a new wish and that is to welcome Universal Studios and Universal Kids to Frisco, Texas.” I was thinking about why would we want a theme park, where would it go, and how did this development come about. Mark Woodbury, Chairman & CEO of Universal Parks & Resorts, share a rendering of a bright and colorful theme park geared towards young children with a hotel featuring 300 rooms. Page Thompson, President of New Ventures for Universal announced they just purchased land 97 acres east of the DNT and north of Panther Creek Parkway in the Fields development. Mayor Jeff Cheney takes his position back at the podium to thank Fehmi Karahan of Fields and Karahan Properties as well as Hunt Real Estate who brought PGA here and is now bringing Universal Theme Parks. 

In my head, I was thinking how did this dynasty development come about? The response on social media was swift and it soon became clear not all Frisconians were pleased about the park’s announcement.   Weeks went by and I passively watched everything play out online and at city meetings.  The key message being communicated by our mayor was how excited everyone was to welcome universal, and how the project had been fully vetted by the city and council. The key message from residents, they didn’t want the park.  I was just intrigued by how much our Mayor was trying to sell the project to residents and news channels, and how he advocated relentlessly for the development. 

Then one night while sitting in my recliner, I remembered back in October a post that I had seen from The Cheney Group that said his agents have been working on something very special for over a year now.  They were excited to announce The Preserve at PGA is about to tee off and if someone was interested in building their own custom home reach out to them asap.  He talked about early interest being historic levels and how they were the Fields Experts. My golf buddy in real estate around that same time was pretty upset telling me that The Cheney Group had snagged the exclusive to list The Preserve homesites.  He even showed me an alluring glossy mailer that he had received in the mail from The Cheney Group. The front talked about the residential communities of PGA, living at Fields with renderings of the development. It had an attractive picture of The Cheney Group in front of the Fields boxes we see along the feeder road of the DNT. The back talked about Fields West, from the visionary behind Legacy West referring to Fehmi Karahan and new communities The Preserve and Brookside.   

Growing up I always wanted to be like Perry Mason, Matlock, or Remington Steele probably because of my curious nature. It is that curious nature that leads me to ask how can The Cheney Group be the exclusive Fields Experts and now Jeff Cheney, acting as Mayor is advocating for Universal? Fehmi spoke twice at the February 7th, Special Meeting of the P&Z Commission and City Council meeting on behalf of Universal, so it is clear he has a personal interest in seeing Universal go through as it will be a part of the overall Fields project. I am no legal eagle, but I would think that if The Cheney Group is in any way financially benefiting from representing The Preserve for Fehmi Karahan which is part of the Fields Development then Jeff Cheney should recuse himself from any development talk regarding Fields and Universal as it is part of the same overall project. 

My curiosity had me wondering, is that why when several residents showed up to a city council meeting to speak at citizens input he responded to each of them like he was selling the features and benefits of the Universal theme park. Am I the only one who feels like the mayor is trying to sell this project so hard to the public? Am I the only one with these questions or think they may be a reason to be concerned? Am I the only one who thinks something feels shady about it? It goes back to that little word transparency, and the perception or appearance of a conflict of interest.

The Ethics Conclusion &  The Bogus Ethics Policy

by | Feb 15, 2023 | Current City Council, Ethics Complaints, Frisco City Secretary, Home Rule & City Charter, Politics, Public Information Requests, Taxpayer Dollars

After the council ruled on the complaints at the July 2021 council meeting, a resident came forward at the August 3, 2021, council meeting to speak during citizens’ input requesting an independent ethics committee.  Mayor Cheney responded to the citizen announcing the Governance Committee would be meeting later that month to review the current ethics policy and the citizen was welcome to attend and speak at that meeting.  He then said when it was first put in place that the city attorney told them it could be used as a political weapon against council members.   Then Ms. Rouse took the podium and spoke and Mayor Cheney responded to her red faced and with beady little eyes, that the city did not need to hear her complaints because they were not filled out correctly but he insisted they be heard because he wanted them dismissed since they were not factual and ridiculous.   

It made us wonder, what do other cities do?   The City of Denton has a Board of Ethics which was created in 2018 and their duty is to solely hear ethics complaints filed against city officials.  The city website thoroughly details the policy, procedures, and forms.  The City of Plano is much like Frisco in how they hear ethics complaints.  One interesting thing to note about their Code is Sec 2-109 which states the acceptance of a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 by any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety.  In a nutshell that means they must recuse themselves from votes that could benefit anyone who gave more than $1,000 to their campaigns.  The City of Dallas strengthened its code of ethics policies in 2021 and all complaints go before the Dallas’ Ethics Advisory Commission whose 15 members are appointed by the council.  We were surprised to see most cities have the same process as Frisco when it is clear there are major conflicts of interest involved.

Now that you understand the process, and we broke down one of the complaints, it is time to talk about a few reasons why the ethics policy is bogus.    

Reason 1:  Relationship Conflicts 

A conflict of interest occurs when an individual’s interests such as family, friendships, financial or social factors could compromise his or her judgment, actions, or decisions.  In this case, several conflicts of interest led to the whole process being bogus.

  1. If one of the fellow council members is indirectly linked to the issue then how could they vote on it?  In this case, indirectly, Angelia Pelham was named in the complaint.  The mayor campaigned for her, held fundraisers for her just months before the vote, and the alleged allegation in question is related to a post about her.  While Angelia is not accused of anything in the ethics complaint, and we don’t believe she had any knowledge of the mayor’s actions or what he planned to post she is indirectly connected to the complaint.  One could argue that she could not be impartial and should recuse herself.
  2. To have a council member vote against another council member whom they have served next to for some time and could be friends with smells like shit.  The whole thing is questionable and creates an appearance of impropriety.
  3.  One of the ethics complaints that evening was against Councilman John Keating for his alleged poor public display of public behavior. For Cheney to vote on Keating and then Keating to vote on Cheney, how is the public supposed to think they don’t have a gentleman’s agreement to not vote against each other?  Let’s also take into consideration they are neighbors, literally right next door/across the street from each other in the same cul-de-sac.

Reason 2: Campaign Donations

Did you know that for years those who serve on the council have donated to each other’s campaigns?    Some more than others but this is a time-honored tradition based on our review of campaign finance reports.

  1. John Keating over the years has donated $3500 to Mayor Jeff Cheney’s campaign, he also donated 477 dollars to himself, he donated $7000 to Angelia Pelham’s campaign,, $1000 to Bill Woodard’s campaign, and $1500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign.  Oh yeah, let’s not also forget Jeff Cheney and John Keating are neighbors (in the same cul-de-sac).
  2. Jeff Cheney along with his wife held a fundraiser for Angelia Pelham that was valued at $1556 bucks according to the campaign finance report as well as he publicly supported her during her election. Dana Cheney also donated 250 dollars to John Keating’s campaign.
  3. Bill Woodard donated $200 to John Keating’s campaign and according to his campaign finance reports he received a $100 donation in 2016 $100 from someone with the last name Abernathy.  Is that the same person who serves as the City Attorney?  We don’t know but it left us wondering.
  4. Will Sowell donated $450 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign, and $100 to Bill Woodard’s campaign.
  5. Brian Livingston donated $265 to Jeff Cheney’s campaign as a (food expense) and $500 to Laura Rummel’s campaign.
  6. Shona Huffman donated $100 to John Keating’s campaign.

With campaign finance donations going back and forth between candidates, there is no way the council could claim to be impartial.  Money flowing between candidates should be an immediate reason for recusal.  To one on the outside looking in a donation could be equivalent to a gift.  It could also be seen as reciprocal favor where there is an understanding with another person that official action will be rewarded directly or indirectly.  Regardless of the amount, a donation should automatically be a reason for recusal.   

Reason 3: The City Attorney

You are wondering, what the city attorney has to do with it being bogus?  The city attorney works for the city and his goal is to protect the city.  That means he advises them of the merit of the complaint and provides a written report describing the nature of the complaint and an assessment of the complaint.  What could influence the city attorney in how he does his job or the decisions he makes?   You know that thing you call a yearly review – where your company grades you on your performance which ultimately can affect your pay or your employment.  The city council and the mayor write the attorney’s yearly review every year.    That could influence anyone on how they do their job and the decisions they make.   

All residents want is transparency which is important when there is a perceived conflict of interest.  Pretend for a moment, everything is above board, and there is no shady shit happening but there is an appearance of wrongdoing, that appearance is just as important as reality in the minds of the public, citizens, and voters. 

A resident should not need an attorney to file a complaint against an elected official that was voted into office by the residents. The city should have the City Charter, Code of Conduct, and how-to instructions easily available on the website. It should be easy to obtain all the necessary forms from the city secretary’s office. Calling for a review of the Ethics Policy after complaints were made, gives the appearance of being shady.  The city should also consider adopting something similar to Plano, which states a campaign contribution in excess of $1,000 to any city council member(s) shall create a conflict of interest based on an appearance of impropriety.  Meaning Jeff Cheney and others on the council would have to recuse themselves from voting on developments where they have received large campaign contributions from those associated with the project. That would be a game-changer rule in Frisco and not one that you would see many on the council voting for anytime soon.

The conflicts mentioned above are glaring red flags and the residents of Frisco should be outraged.  We recommend you file your complaints with the Texas Ethics Commission or the Texas Attorney General because it is clear your voice of concern is not welcome in Frisco and that is some shady shit!

Public Information Act

by | Feb 14, 2023 | Current City Council, Politics, Public Information Requests, Richard Abernathy

What is the Public Information Act and what is a Public Information Request?  Well, the Texas Public Information Act assures that government entities give citizens access to information about what the public servants are doing on their behalf.  It is a way for citizens to hold their public officials accountable.   The Public Information Act Handbook can be found on the Texas Attorney General’s website and lays out the “how-to” to do open record requests. 

In Frisco, many of our city council members and mayor use their personal devices (cell phones) to communicate so the question becomes what is “public information” and what is subject to the act?   If information was made, transmitted, maintained, or received in connection with a governmental body’s official business, the mere fact that the governmental body does not possess the information does not take the information outside the scope of the Act.  Emails or text messages sent via personal email and personal devices if related to city business are subject to the act.  Why is this important in Frisco?  Several of our council members use their personal devices and personal emails regularly to conduct city business.  When a request comes in, the city sends it to the individuals named and say do you have anything related to this PIR, if so please send it to us.  It allows for dishonesty, if you don’t want someone to see an email you can simply not send it.  It’s the Honor Code system.

In the ethics complaint we reviewed, Cheney wrote in his social media post “As a leader of a council that upholds transparency and full disclosure, I will provide them here without edit as they would appear in our official city records” so we decided to investigate the official record and his claims.  We filed a PIR that read:

Per Cheney’s Facebook Post (Account: Mayor Jeff Cheney) dated May 25, 2021, he admits to sending an email posing a simple question to senior members of our Frisco City Staff: “In the runoff race which Place 3 candidates have asked to meet with you?”  Each staff member was questioned separately using electronic media making their response part of the official city record and subject to public information requests.   Based on that post I would like the following communications from May 23, 2021 – May 26, 2021 :

1. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and City Manager George Purefoy

2. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Police Chief David Shilson

3. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Fire Chief Mark Piland

4. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Henry Hill, Deputy City Mgr

5. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Ben Brezina, Asst City Mgr

6. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Jason Cooley, Ph.D. – Chief Information Officer

7. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Ron Patterson, President Frisco Economic Development Corporation

8. All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Marla Roe, Executive Director Visit Frisco

9.  All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and John Lettellier, Director of Development Services

10.  All Electronic Media communications (including email, text, Facebook/Facebook messenger from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s official account) and Paul Knippel, Director of Public Works

The response to our PIR was 7 pages, the first 2 were a copy of the post from his page and the remaining pages contained 4 text messages between the mayor and 4 senior staff members. Problem #1 it appears we received an incomplete PIR request from the city. So where are the remaining 6 text message communications?   Problem #2 Cheney quoted Marla Roe, Executive Director Visit Frisco on his social media post as saying “Just Angelia. Had a great conversation.  Henry was there.”  However, after receiving our PIR Marla Roes actual statement via text said, “Just Angelia.  Had a great conversation. Henry was there.  Will say Jennifer stopped by my house and I told her I worked for the city. Not much else.  With Angelia was via teams FYI.”  Why is this important, he left out that the other candidate had interacted with the city employee.  One via door knocking and one via Microsoft Teams.  Does not seem like a big deal but when it comes to transparency – it is a very big deal! 

We want to believe our elected officials are good people, honest people, and forthcoming.  The truth is we don’t know and that is why the act is so important because it allows us that transparency.   Transparency should never be based on the honor system.  Not everyone is honorable!   That is how they can hide the shady shit!

Analyzing an Ethics Complaint

by | Feb 14, 2023 | Current City Council, Ethics Complaints, Frisco City Secretary, Home Rule & City Charter, HR Department, Politics

In 2021 several Ethics Complaints were filed by residents involving those who serve on the city council.  One of those complaints was filed by Frisco resident Ms. Rouse and was against Mayor Jeff Cheney.  It alleged that the mayor used his city email for political campaign purposes to support then-candidate Angelia Pelham.  It pointed to a Facebook post by the Mayor on May 25, 2021, where he states he asked each senior member of city staff, “In the runoff race which Place 3 candidates have asked to meet with you?”   He then proceeded to publicly publish the responses in a Pro Angelina endorsement on his official Mayor Jeff Cheney Facebook page.

Review of Mayor Jeff Cheney’s Sworn Response:

Mayor Cheney states in his sworn response that the complaint does not comply with the requirements for filing a complaint and that Ms. Rouse did not provide a statement of facts but instead offered her statement of opinions, assumptions, and allegations, and none were not supported by facts or evidence.   FACT: First Exhibit A,  Ms. Rouse pointed directly to the mayor’s post on May 25, 2021, which that acknowledges on May 24th he used electronic media and sent a message to every senior staff member and then published their names and answers to his question. 

Second, he proceeds to state that none of the responses were a result of his city email (he texted them) so that part was factually false.   TRUE: He texted senior staff and her reference in the complaint was he used city email.   OPINION: One could argue the mayor tried to mislead the public in his social media post when he says he sent it via electronic communication because most would assume that he alluding to email.  

On his social media post, he notes that any city staff response is part of the official city record and subject to Public Information Requests.  In his written sworn response, he noted that he was not asking any of the senior staff to support a candidate.   TRUE: His social media post is correct in that Senate Bill 933 & 944 states work-related text messages sent by public officials (the mayor to senior staff) are a matter of public record even if sent from their own personal device or outside work hours.   OPINION: He said he was not asking them to support a candidate, but he did not explain why he was asking the question.  So the senior staff had no idea if it was a personal question if he was asking for city purposes, and/or asking on behalf of his position as Mayor.  The mayor did not tell them ahead of time he was going to use them in a social media post where he intended to support a candidate.  Had he been upfront with city staff about his intentions they may not have chosen to respond to his text. 

Third, he states in his response that the complaint on its face does not state a violation of the ethics laws.   FACT: Ms. Rouse in the third paragraph of her complaint stated the section and specific portion of the City Ethics Code she believed the Mayor had violated (Sections 6, 7, 8, and 9).  OPINION: Now we are common folk and no legal eagle but upon review, it is our opinion the Mayor most definitely violated Section 7 of the City Code of Ethics Section A (1) which talks about influencing subordinates and states a city official shall not directly or indirectly, induce or attempt to induce any subordinate of the Official to participate in an election campaign or to engage in any political activity related to a candidate or issue.  Also, it is our opinion he violated Section 8 of the city code of ethics which states a city official shall now knowingly assist or induce or attempt to assist or induce another city official to violate any provision of the Code of Ethics. 

In the mayor’s sworn response to the complaint, he said citizens were asking him if city staff had met with any of the candidates and argued they had the right to know.  OPINION: He is partially correct, and he should have told each resident they can file a Public Information Request (PIR) requesting that information from city staff, city management, and the city council.  However, say 5, 10, or even 100 citizens asked that question it does not mean the mayor should use that in a campaign support message for a candidate.  He did not post these responses in an FYI public information message.  He published these responses in a political endorsement for Angelia Pelham on his OFFICIAL MAYOR JEFF CHENEY Facebook page where he tagged the OFFICIAL Facebook page for Angelia Pelham for Frisco and in the last sentence he says make your voice heard, vote Angelia. 

Going back and watching the city video for this meeting, Cheney read the agenda item and then made a few statements.  Cheney started by saying the complaints should have facts, not allegations, and he denied any wrongdoing.  He also stated it does not allege facts sufficient to constitute a violation of the ethics policy.  Then he recused himself and Bill Woodard, Mayor Pro Tem took over.  They received advice from the city attorney, opened the public hearing for citizens’ comments, then some of the council gave feedback.  One member of the council noted that any complaint should have contained a sworn affidavit and that she needed to have a lawyer help her.  Then Bill Woodard (Mayor Pro Tem) said “I know every member up here has spent a significant amount of time reading these complaints over the weekend, discussing them with the city attorney, then discussing them tonight in executive session again with the city attorney”  – wait, what?  Bill Woodard admitted to discussing the complaints before the City Attorney would have met with them at the City Council in executive session at its next regular meeting to present a written report describing in detail the nature of the complaint, and the attorney’s assessment of whether the facts as alleged constitute a violation of the ethics laws.”   So that leaves us asking, who discussed it over the weekend?   How can we be sure there were no back-door deals made for a vote?  The issue is perception and transparency.  If the city does not follow its own process written in its Code of Ethics then how can we trust the process?   Why does a citizen with a true concern need a lawyer to file an ethics complaint, last I checked we the citizens voted you in and you work for us!  Now we have no voice without an attorney.

The council agreed in a 5 – 0 vote to dismiss the complaint.  Now let’s look at the shady shit that makes the Ethics policy bogus!