In the intricate dance of politics, strategic maneuvering often extends beyond conventional means. Employing a political infiltrator to gain an advantage over opponents is akin to deploying a subtle, yet potent weapon in the arena of power. You are maybe thinking this does not happen in Frisco, right? We received several emails from readers and insiders saying it did. The Infiltrator Playbook can unearth secrets about your opponent’s campaign. The result can make a candidate alter their political narrative and potentially shape the very fabric of political dynamics.
We received an email about how the Frisco Safety First PAC (aka the city) sent insiders to a private event held by a Stonebriar resident for John Redmond, Mark Piland, and the Frisco Firefighters Association. It was like a meet and greet but at the country club open to residents who lived within the community interested in meeting the candidates. According to the sender, former Frisco Mayor Michael Simpson and former Frisco City Manager, George Purefoy showed up. Other guests included Dick Peasley whose name appears on the PAC paperwork and represents the city on the North Texas Municipal Water District for the last 10 years. Steve Trent attended who serves on the Visit Frisco Board. Next, you had representatives from the Pelham campaign including Linda & Ed Kelley and Ann Harris. Linda serves as Angelia Pelham’s current campaign manager and Ann served as her campaign manager in 2021. That is quite a list of the Who’s Who of Frisco!
Simpson, Harris, and the Kellys, qualified per the invite we received a copy of because they reside in the community. We were puzzled, why would they want to go to a meet and greet when they support Keating, Pelham, and Safety Frisco First PAC? Then you have Peasley and Trent who live in Frisco Lakes, and Purefoy who lives across the tollway who did not qualify per the invite. Peasley is on the Safety-First Frisco PAC paperwork and that is why we are confused. Call me stupid, but WHY WOULD YOU GO TO AN EVENT FOR CANDIDATES THAT YOU DON’T SUPPORT AND COULD CARE LESS TO GET TO KNOW?
According to the email someone from the club asked Purefoy, Peasley, and Trent to leave because it was a private event. The person close by heard one of them say, “We are with Mike Simpson and want to offer an opposing view.” I asked my wife if she would want to sit through a meet and greet for candidates, she had no intention of voting for? Her answer was short and to the point, “hell no!” Then she asked me if the party crashers invited the opposing FOR view to their meet and greets. She has a valid point.
We keep going back to WHY DID THEY COME? The only clear answer is to spy with their own little eyes, cause trouble, or infiltrate the event to hear what the other candidates had to say and to disrupt it with the opposing view which we find to be rude and classless. If they felt strongly about hearing the opposing view on the propositions, why didn’t the same people insist that the Frisco Chamber of Commerce invite the Frisco Firefighters Association to the Chamber community forum?
Next up we heard about the Frisco Firefighters Association holding an event at a local restaurant and they invited the community to come out and talk to them. My wife and I went to eat and check things out. As we sat there, I said to my wife, don’t those guys look familiar? We pulled up the email sent to us, and there were some familiar faces, Dick Peasley and his Vote No Friends.
We thought it was so nice of them to show up and offer so much support for the Frisco Firefighters (just kidding), but they were there to watch and listen to what was happening at the FFFA Meet and Greet. We are guessing they paid close attention so they could report back to Frisco Star Enterprise. Now it is a public restaurant, but it was no accident Dick Peasley and his friends showed up and kept trying to engage with firefighters. If we had to guess, they probably were recording them and everything they said to try and use against them later in the campaign.
If we were to ask Dick, why are you here? My guess is we would be told to make sure the “opposing” side was represented. How many times do you think the Frisco Firefighters, Piland, or Redmond showed up at their private events? Just a guess, but we would say zero! It was clear they would attend every event they could based on their orders from Frisco Star Enterprise. WHY WOULD YOU GO TO AN EVENT FOR CANDIDATES THAT YOU DON’T SUPPORT AND COULD CARE LESS TO GET TO KNOW?
The best one, we saved for last! We received an email tip that Keating may have put a plant into the firefighter’s campaign station at the polls. At first, this was a stretch even for us, but we kept reading. The email stated they had been at the Fire Station to do a few hours of poll greeting and noticed an older lady sitting with the firefighters. They stopped to say hi to them and asked if the stranger was one of their mothers out to help for the day. They responded no, she just came over and sat down with them and said something about she would not hold a Vote No sign and wanted to support the firefighters.
When their time was done, they went about the day when she realized one of her earrings was missing. She wanted to backtrack her steps and ended up going back to the fire station. She pulled into the parking lot and noticed it was empty except for two cars across the way from her. She recognized the “older woman” from earlier that day sitting with the firefighters and already knew who the man was from seeing him at the polls.
Well, who was it? Jason Zelovics, owner of Mustang Strategies LLC, a political consultant and guess who he represents, John Keating! In fact, Keating has paid Mustang Strategies over $85,446.50 from October 2023 to April 2024 for political consulting, mailers, signs, digital media, flyers, and polling expenses. Why was this woman talking and being so friendly with Zelovics, who DOES NOT support the firefighters? The email said, something felt off, so she started taking pictures and videos of them in the parking lot. She saw them exchange a little “black thing” and then after about 30 minutes they said goodbye and drove out of the parking lot.
Flustered, she forgot about her earring and drove home. Later that evening her husband shows her the new Safety-First Frisco post which talks about yellow firefighter shirts, and it has a close-up photo of the so called “union” logo. The next day when she went to complete her two hours at the polls and noticed the same woman wearing a “KEATING T-SHIRT” and holding a Re-Elect Keating sign. As she walked by the firefighters, she said hi and stopped to tell them what she saw, and they said they knew something was off by the questions she asked and because she wanted a shirt so badly. They seemed to blow it off, the writer said.
After reading her email and looking at the pics we thought, this woman was not crazy. That leaves us with one very important question. Did Keatings “political consultant” put a mole in with the firefighters to try to get a shirt, take pictures and record them? Did they use the little bit of info they obtained to adjust their communication talk track? The lady came back every day until election day, never talked to the firefighters again and held a Keating sign every time.
In closing, it was clear the Safety-First Frisco PAC, Keating and Pelham’s people were going to go to any lengths to win. There was a lot of “Fields Developer Money” at stake and expectations to pull off a win. We should all be asking the following questions: Why did Dick Peasley and his buddies show up over and over at both private and public events held by the “other side?” Why did Dick Peasley feel the need to berate the firefighters at the polls telling them they are overpaid and under worked? What level of desperation did you feel that you had to send a 70-year-old mole into sitting with the FFFA at the polls to gain intel? Is Keating proud of his Cheating (in many ways apparently)? We would also like to know if Keating will release the itemized bill from Mustang Strategies. Why, well something does not add up that he spent $85,446.50 more than any other recent local and even some state-run elections.
The coward must abandon his dignity before he abandons the field of battle – James B. Donovan
Ah, the City of Frisco elections, where candidates pop up like mischievous moles in a game of whack-a-mole. The battle in the whack-a-mole arena begins and the candidates are ready to take their swing at the other. It starts with the Whack-a-mole Forums, where they take a stance and tightly grip their mallet waiting for the right opportunity to smack down the opposing candidate. To everyone’s surprise, candidates just keep popping up somewhere else. It is a constant battle through the political season as you whack and jostle for position, each promising to fix the potholes, and lower property taxes while dodging the inevitable accusations of shady dealings. As early voting begins, you wonder if you’ve nailed down your opponent enough that they will surrender and retreat to the darkness of their hole. They surprise you and pop back up and are ready to battle to the very end. As election day draws to a close so does the delightful game of whack-a-politician and soon a winner will be given the gold mallet. If only it were that easy!
Now that the recent election is over, we want to look at the “Election Playbook” or tactics used because you may be surprised by some of the underhanded measures that involved active and former city officials. Then again maybe not! The first tool in the election playbook is the power of social media. The Safety-First PAC, run by an ACTIVE SITTING CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BILL WOODARD, took the “take no prisoners” rhetoric approach which means victory or supremacy at all costs without any regard to consequences.
One post talked about how when there’s a fire in the city, they don’t want to see the Frisco Firefighters sitting on the sidelines campaigning and playing politics. “Don’t claim the department is understaffed when 6-7 firefighters are sitting at each of the polls every day doing the Union’s bidding” the post said.
Residents were quick to respond that the post was appalling, arrogant, and ignorant. City Councilman, Brian Livingston responded to the post and said he was pretty sure firefighters get days off and if called upon would have been happy to assist. He specifically pointed out we can disagree on the props without personally attacking them. Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Assoc was also quick to respond. He said, “to insinuate that our OFF-DUTY engagement in exercising our First Amendment rights suggests we don’t care about our department or our brother and sister firefighters facing a fire is GARBAGE! He continued, if the city had called for help, he could guarantee the polls would have been empty and every OFF-DUTY firefighter would have shown up.”
We quickly noticed each time a negative comment was made, the PAC just hid or deleted it, and then they swiftly blocked residents from the page to control negative opposition. These were the actions of councilman, Bill Woodard, and his city sidekicks. Wait, are you telling me the Safety-First Frisco PAC (aka the city) which fought so hard and nasty against the firefighters don’t believe in FREE SPEECH? You know your FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT! Ultimately the post was removed from the page probably because burning down the house (figure of speech) was not the best idea.
Another post called the firefighters association “soldiers without a war, and they follow a playbook of confusion, fear, and intimidation.” After talking to residents, we are sure the VOTE NO PAC put out the confusion, created fear, and used intimidation tactics with the DEVELOPER MONEY they had in their pockets. Over the next several posts they released several takeaways from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s conversation with Sheryl Sculley regarding the “big bad Unions!”
In the first video Mayor Jeff Cheney called his “BIG AHA MOMENT” related to the playbook of unions and how they operate. The first was that Associations/Unions try to pit citizens against their elected officials, city manager, and city government.
Then he goes on to say they intentionally put out misleading information. For example, the signs across town say Frisco Firefighters “really big,” and the “association” is very small. What we find interesting is that Mayor Cheney had no issue with the Frisco Firefighters’ signs when they endorsed him and put it on a billboard. We found this on social media, that says Frisco Fighters REALLY BIG, and where is the word association? Ouch, it hurts to look like a crybaby!
The next post was about the Cockroach Theory. We must assume since the video was posted that the Safety-First Frisco Vote No PAC agreed or endorsed Sculley’s comments. It starts with her claiming that the San Antonio unions during elections would tell candidates to give them what they want, or they won’t support them and will run someone against you.
What we find humorous is that Bill Woodard, Jeff Cheney, Laura Rummell, Brian Livingston, and John Keating have all WILLING APPLIED AND ACCEPTED the endorsements from the Association (OH SORRY, UNION), over the years. Since they supported another candidate other than the incumbent, we are now we are supposed to believe they are in a power struggle and blackmailing people.
She then goes on to say the machine of the Union has to keep the “PRESSURE ON” the council members, and once they have them under their shoe like a cockroach, they had to apply pressure and change their tactics to keep them reeling until the Union’s goal is achieved.
We see this very differently because it was the city’s Vote No PAC that sent multiple mailers with different messages, multiple text messages with different verbiage, and talked about higher taxes and outsiders. At one point we felt like if we voted FOR the proposition “outsiders” being Aliens might abduct us in our sleep and take us to their leader to brainwash us and intimidate us into voting NO.
The next post was a video of Sculley and Cheney talking about how you can love your firefighters and disagree about having a union in your community. We could not agree more with Mr. Cheney. You can disagree civilly, however, that is not what you, the council, city and former city officials, and the Vote NO PAC funded by your friends choose to do.
Would you like examples? Angelia Pelham personally attacked the Frisco Firefighters Association board members at a forum and threatened to oust the firefighters who spoke to her in private. Then the Chamber did not allow the firefighters to present at an educational community forum. Lorie Medina, your former Chief of Staff, and campaign manager repeatedly shouted that our firefighters were liars at the polls. Mr. Dick Peasley verbally berated them saying they were overpaid and underworked. Friends of the council in a large social media group then accused firefighters of setting the fire in Chappel Creek to help their cause for the propositions. The Vote No PAC constantly attacked the character, integrity, and qualifications of the Frisco Firefighters. It was “NASTY” Mr. Cheney but it was one sided and the choice was yours, the councils and the Vote No PAC on how that played out.
In closing, social media has serious fire power when it comes to getting out a message. Maybe that is why the social media appears to be scrubbed and cleaned up. We could not find any of the previous posts from Safety First Pac who deleted their page, or photos of the council holding the VOTE NO signs at the polls.
While residents were shocked by some of the posts, employees and former employees of the city were not, according to insiders who emailed us. One said, “That type of behavior is standard operating procedure for the city from the departments to the king of the hill better known as City Manager, Wes Pierson.” Another insider email said, “The only difference is now the residents are seeing what happens behind closed doors at all levels of the city.” They concluded by asking us not to use their name for fear of losing our jobs at city hall. Fear of losing their jobs is something we hear often from City of Frisco employees.
We have wondered for years how these political endorsements and donations work in the City of Frisco. We have pointed out that council members donate to each other, that they take rather large donations from developers, and that it all gives off the wrong appearance to the public. We have been met with such resistance to the suggestion that this city is bought and paid for, and the victims are the residents, just living their lives paying taxes. All we have wanted is for the residents to have a voice and a right to vote for what they want in this city, something that terrifies our council and city management. So how are things bought and paid for, well grab some popcorn because we are about to tell you.
Let’s start with Safety First Frisco, a PAC, set up to oppose Proposition A & B for Civil Service and Collective Bargaining put forth by the men and women who serve our city in the Fire Department every day. The PAC was set up by members of our city council (Bobblehead Bill Woodard), Former City Manager George Purefoy and Mike Simpson, Dick Peasley, and many more of the Cheney klan. Then add to that our current council members (minus Brian Livingston) who are out block walking, holding community events, and taking to social media to oppose the propositions and take jabs at our firefighters while trying to tell us how to vote. Yes, I know they will say we are crazy!
Well, this morning we pulled down the Safety First Frisco campaign finance report which was filed 3 DAYS LATE. What we saw was chilling, appalling, disturbing, and intimidating. We talked about how the PAC was set up in our earlier blog, The Secret PAC. Today’s campaign finance report shows that from 1/1/2024 to 3/25/2024 the PAC took in $105,201.32 which breaks down to $22,950 in monetary political contributions, $12,251.32 in non-monetary contributions (in-kind), and $70,000 in monetary contributions from CORPORATIONS OR LABOR ORGANIZATIONS. Stop and read that again and let it percolate that in 2 months a PAC took in $105,201.32.
Where, oh where, did the monetary political contributions come from:
Bill Woodard For Frisco: $1000.00
Craig and Kathryn Hall (Hall Group – Developers): $10,000
Jeff Brawner and R.J. Grogan (Law Partners): $500 each
Kyle Wilks – President Wilks Development of Firefly Park Project: $10,000
Where, oh where, did the non-monetary (in-kind) contributions come from:
George Purefoy, former City Manager: $4000 for Polling Expense
Bill For Frisco Campaign: $8000 for Polling Expenses, and $54.92 for Printing Expenses, $39.50 for Website Expenses, $206.22 for Printing Expenses, and $59.53 for Website Expenses.
Where, oh where, did the monetary contributions from a CORPORATION OR LABOR ORGANIZATION come from:
Mario Sinacola & Sons Exc, Inc: $10,000 (they have active contracts with developers & the City of Frisco)
K-N Ventures (aka Fehmi Karahan of Fields Development): $10,000
Columbus Realty Partners (aka, Staubach, Richard Reupke, Robert Shaw & Fields Development): $10,000
Rudco Land, LLC (aka Trey Sibley III or Hillwood Properties – Fields Development): $10,000
Hunt Funding Group (aka Hunt – Fields Development): $10,000
CrossTie Capital (aka Philip Rose – Fields): $10,000 *click the name to read our last blog.
Chief Partners III, LP (aka William Vanderstraaten – Fields): $10,000
It is important to note that any of the names above that are underlined, DON’T LIVE IN FRISCO. Yes, they have a development here, but they are not Frisco Residents.
What does all this money mean? It means Frisco was bought and paid for by DEVELOPERS!!!! These same people who run the same corporations have donated to almost every one of our council members, some more than others (meaning Cheney). Just look at Keating and Pelham’s current campaign finance reports, the same names appear across the board.
Ask yourself, why are current council members so OPPOSED to the Frisco Fire Fighters Association, which has been around since 1997, but they all took ENDORSEMENTS & MONEY OR IN-KIND DONATIONS from them when running for office? The firefighters spent about $10,000 on Bill Woodard and about $8,000 on Laura Rummell. They have paid for signs and billboards for the candidates they have endorsed. Now, they want you to believe the Frisco Fire Fighters and the ASSOCIATION are trying to RUIN AND DESTROY FRISCO?
We have been to a few events now and the message from the Fire Fighters has been consistent at each one. If you don’t like Prop B, then don’t vote for it, but please understand why they are pushing for Prop A and consider voting Yes for Prop A. They also have said that come May 5th when the election is over, they will still show up at your door and be here to service the citizens of Frisco the same way they have all these years. That begs the question, how is our City Council serving the citizens? Wait, they don’t care about what citizens want. Yet when you follow the Safety-First Frisco website or Facebook page all they have done is attack with absolute hate and anger our firefighters, our former Fire Chief, and yet they claim they love them. It feels very personal, to be honest.
They are serving themselves! Bobblehead Bill wants his bikes, trikes, and trails. Tammy wants her performing arts center. Keating stands up for Veterans which we respect but outside of that he is just there for the photo opp and to be a cool kid. Laura Rummell claims to be the pet advocate, yet she has done nothing. Brian maintains his concerns about density and resident welfare. Lastly, for years, rumors have followed Mayor Jeff Cheney or should we say Real Estate Broker Jeff Cheney that he has used his position as Mayor to further his own business and personal wealth. For years, Jeff Cheney has denied over and over any wrongdoing, favoritism, or personal benefits from his relationships. All his loyal subjects fall in line and defend him and say it is just a COINCIDENCE.
In closing, we saw a post from Brian Livingston earlier about how he is not very confident that his discussion regarding lobbying restrictions will pick up any traction, well duh! He is not sure why the transparency of money movement between lobbyists, clients, and politicians is a concern for some people. We assume that “some people” he is referring to is the Frisco City Council and City Management. The same council member who when he endorsed Mark Piland for Mayor in 2022, was later removed from all committees as well as his campaign manager. Revenge or just COINCIDENCE.
Ask yourself one question, who is the real bad guy here?
It is election time in Frisco! Different groups and organizations over the next two months will hold candidate forums which are an excellent way to help voters learn more about the candidates on the ballot. It gives Frisco residents a chance to learn more about key issues and allows us to ask hard questions of those who want our vote. The truth is that democracy works best when we “ENGAGE” with it because it fosters important dialogue about the everyday issues that affect our lives.
The first local forum of the season was the Islamic Center of Frisco (ICF) Candidate Forum. The forum was for both City Council races and ISD races. Our kids are grown, and we don’t pay as much attention as we should to the ISD races so this was the first time we got to hear about ISD issues. We couldn’t watch the debate live because of streaming delay issues so my wife and I caught it the next day when it was uploaded to YouTube. There were some moments worth talking about so if you have not watched it, get some popcorn and buckle up!
Each candidate got an opening statement. John Keating, The Statesmen, started by asking who was in charge of the time because he could go on for 10 minutes right now. Sir John, while we know you like to hear yourself, others don’t. Then he said the most dangerous intersection in Frisco is standing between John Keating and a microphone. While I am sure he practiced his opening icebreaker joke at home in front of the mirror while flexing it was not met with laughter by the audience.
John Keating said his job is to be “available to you” and he has done that time and again for the citizens. We would beg to differ, remember that little Universal Kids Park that came before the council from Jan 2023 to March 2023, we do! The night of the vote, Keating cried and said how emotionally impacted he was by P&Z Commissioner Cone’s words that evening. Wait, what, Commissioner Cone’s words? Where was his emotion for the residents who had stood before him pleading to save their neighborhood, and maintain their quality of life? Oh yeah, he went to the beach on vacation and never met with the residents of Cobb Hill. Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya, Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama, Key Largo, Montego Baby, why don’t we go anywhere other than Cobb Hill? AFTER THE VOTE he asked to meet with residents of Cobb Hill in the cul-de-sac to hear from them, but we are curious how it helps to listen to those you serve “AFTER THE VOTE?”
At one point, the city council candidates were asked about the discussion of unionizing our police and fire departments and where they stand on the issue. John’s response to this question is he served 13 years in the military; we are curious about what job he held the other 25+ years. Oh, that’s right he was a househusband. He said these are the men and women who wear our city’s uniform and go into harm’s way every day and unionizing that oh my God just seems awful. Then he turns to John Redmond who is running against Angelia Pelham and says if you are not sure John, if you are that uninformed then you must reach out to someone, call your Fire Chief. Then he said the reason we have all these problems is because the prior Fire Chief didn’t do his job properly and the unions saw that and said the door is open and we can run into Frisco. He said this push is from outside of Texas, this was not an internal ask, and it happened because of the perceived weakness in our fire department left behind by our former Fire Chief. Then he said the new Fire Chief Lee Glover is amazing.
Where do you begin to break his comments down? Again, I thank Keating for his service to our country and I appreciate all Veterans but that still does not exempt him from being called out. Maybe someone who has been a househusband most of his life served as a member of his kid’s PTA and on his HOA board and spent many of his days working out to build his big-boy muscles, might not be the best person to ask about unionization. While I am sure he liked the single PTA Moms, he has never had to be the breadwinner of his family. Our former Fire Chief whom Keating defamed and ridiculed has spent 40+ years in the Fire Department and has an impeccable record (we know because we filed PIRS), Porter who left to go to Little Elm FD has had a lifetime of service, and Cameron Kraemer who they wrongfully fired spent 27+ years in the fire service. That means they have worked and run into harm’s way and risked their lives a lot longer than John Keating has.
Next, Keating went after John Redmon (Angelia Pelham’s opponent) saying if he is concerned call your Fire Chief. We have done that in the past and we have been told we have to file a PIR for such information and then the city sends it to the AG to delay turning over the documents. Yes, they are very TRANSPARENT as a city! To think any citizen could call the Fire Chief and Police Chief for a meeting and they are going to talk to them about the inner workings and issues within their department is just downright ridiculous.
Lastly, he said the reason the Fire Association is doing this is because of “OUTSIDE FORCES” due to a bad former Fire Chief. Didn’t the Fire Association just endorse that former Fire Chief last week over you? We took Keating’s advice and just asked several firefighters why they were doing this and guess what it has nothing to do with their former Fire Chief. The reason given to us over and over for why they went this route for civil service and collective bargaining, is because the city management and city council hired a new Fire Chief even though that candidate (Lee Glover) had a 90% ‘NO VOTE OF CONFIDENCE” by those he would be managing.
Remember in 2011/12 when the climate survey showed the “CULTURE” of the Fire Department was horrible and the only way to fix it was to get rid of the management and start over with a clean slate. The city council at that time forced George Purefoy, our City Manager, to remove Borchardt. George Purefoy turned in his resignation letter threatening to leave if the city forced him to do that. The consolidation made was to retire Borchardt as Chief of the Fire Department, but then George Purefoy hired his best buddy as a “CONSULTANT” for the city and he is on the payroll making over $200K per year, driving a city vehicle and consulting for other cities making money on the side. I am a taxpayer, and I would love to make $200k after being forced out of a job because I was such a bad leader. As for Lee Glover the Assistant Fire Chief at the time he remained in his position under the new Chief Mark Piland. The city kept him even though the 2011/12 study said he was part of the problem.
Then they promoted Glover in 2022/23 right after the Association had just taken a survey showing Lee Glover had a 90% plus “No Vote of Confidence” from the fire department.
This was not an external force, Mr. Keating, the local fire association pulled the trigger because of the city’s constant slap in their face. It is because of Wes Pierson the City Manager, Lee Glover the new Fire Chief, and the City Council that this is happening. Keating considers himself a man of integrity, a veteran, and a champion for others, but the reality is he had no educated answer to the question, no facts to spew, so to deflect the fact that he doesn’t understand the issue, he attacked two other candidates. The last person who should be hanging someone out to dry or judging someone is John Keating who likes to go in the pool with women who are not his wife.
The next question for the candidates was “National and international politics have had an increasing influence on local elections, how do you address issues outside of your authority but are top of mind and concern for residents of this city.” Keating again stands up and talks about his 13 years in the military and how he has seen firsthand the devastation of warfare. He went on to say he could not be more proud of the young people who have come before the council and shared the emotion in such an articulate fashion of what they are experiencing through their loved ones overseas. The young people he is referring to, are those at the meeting to speak out on behalf of Palestinians and want a proclamation to condemn Israel.
He continues that the best peace treaty and proclamation is prayer. And that the Council could issue a proclamation, but it is not like it is a big deal. Then he says he doesn’t want to belittle the proclamation process; however, he just did. In a nutshell, if you got a proclamation from the city, Councilman John Keating thinks IT’S NO BIG DEAL. Pray on that!
The next question was, with all the development recently focused on tourists, what are we doing to prepare for the traffic and what projects coming up are focused on or for residents? Keating pointed out we had 7 million tourists visit Frisco last year and yes there is a little traffic congestion, but he thinks traffic runs pretty smoothly in Frisco.” He also said we used to be reactive to traffic, and today we are proactive to traffic, with over 200 million dollars going into roads. To point out the obvious, Keating has never worked an 8 to 5 job which means he has not had to spend countless years facing rush hour traffic in Frisco. He does not spend over 30 minutes at DNT/Main or DNT/Eldorado trying to get through the lights so in his mind traffic runs smoothly. I am not sure where Keating has been for the last 5 years, but traffic is horrible in every part of this city, and it gets worse every day. In summary, he listed nothing specifically being developed for residents which means the 7 million tourists are more important than the 230,000 residents who call Frisco home and pay taxes here.
Keating was asked, if you are anti-union, why do you ask for the Fire Association’s endorsement every election? Keating quickly responded he does not ask for the endorsement every election and he is not sure where that notion comes from. He said when talks of collective bargaining and civil service began, he stepped away or stepped back from that. He continued; that he still fills out the questionnaires sent out by the association to keep communication open, but he put on there “THAT HE IS NOT SEEKING THEIR ENDORSEMENT.”
We reached out to the Frisco Fire Association to ask for a copy of the questionnaire and a copy of all the candidate’s responses. The email we received back said the board would have to review that request but we did find a copy of one on Facebook that been posted in 2021. We also asked if Keating clearly stated that he was not seeking their endorsement as he stated at the forum. The association’s email stated Mr. Keating “DID NOT PUT ON HIS QUESTIONNAIRE ANYWHERE THAT HE DID NOT WANT TO BE CONSIDERED FOR AN ENDORSEMENT.” We also asked the association if it is clear to candidates that filling out the form is part of the endorsement process. The association responded, “The email to all candidates regarding the questionnaire is very generic. It says hello our time to gather questionnaires for a potential endorsement and to fill out the questionnaire if you want to be considered.”
Another audience question was related to how many years he has served on the council. The terms are typically three years in duration. Keating served on the Frisco City Council Place 4 from 2010 to 2016 for 2 terms or 6 years. After a short break, he ran and was re-elected in 2017 for an open seat that had one year left on the term. Then in 2018, he ran for Place 1 where he has served since 2017 to the present. Keating is now running for his final 3rd term (3 years). That means by the time Keating is done serving he will have been on the council for 16+ years if he is reelected. He noted he will be the longest-serving council member. No wonder Keating does not want to come right out and say how long he has been on council.
It was finally closing time for the forum and Mark Piland called Keating out and said if they were giving out Pinocchio’s Keating would have a basket right in front of him. Keatings face turned red and was hot to trot to respond to his opponent. He stood up buttoned his jacket, huffed and puffed, and said “You were fired as the former Fire Chief. Two independent investigations, not by the city council, not done by the fire department. This man cannot be trusted, he does nothing but lie, and blame others as you’ve seen him demonstrate tonight. It is absurd and I am going to move past that and say my record speaks for itself.” He talked again about his military time, his 7 years on the PTA and time on the HOA board, and 16 years on council and that politicians don’t last, leaders do. Men and women of their word last, people who lie, cheat, steal, and blame others don’t last.”
We sent a PIR to the Fire Association and asked if they believed Mark Piland, the former Fire Chief, was fired. We also asked if they felt the investigations mentioned by Keating were “Independent’ and fair. Per the email we received, from a representative for the association, “No, I do not believe Piland was fired. I believe clearly he RETIRED.” As for the investigations, the representative for the association said, “I believe the investigation into the Mayday report was independent. I do however they took liberties and investigated many things that were not involved in the complaint. As for the second investigation, I would not call it an investigation, when you only talk to one party and not the person that’s the source of the investigation. In this case Piland!”
As for the “Two Independent Investigations” Keating mentioned, it was the head of HR Lauren Safranek who oversaw those. The same head of HR changed the FD job descriptions and failed to have the department head; Chief Mark Piland sign off on the changes. Instead hoping no one would notice she used his previous 2017 signature on the document. She didn’t expect a firefighter to ask questions which brought to light her and her department’s forgery. To hide her fraud, she used the investigation to find something about the current Fire Chief at the time to use it to fire him or make him retire. However, after she spent over $100k of taxpayer money to fund a false investigation she didn’t like the results too much. If you want to learn more about the whole cover up just read our blog Day 12: Tangled Web of Lies.
Mr. Keating let’s talk about your record. Yes, you served in our military, and we are all grateful for your service to our country. In the same way, we are grateful that Mr. Piland has spent 40+ years serving as a first responder. Your website says Promises Made, Promises Kept, but have you? In an email we received from a pet advocate, you stated if an animal shelter made it to the bond by the citizen’s bond committee, then you would support the residents having an opportunity to vote for it. However, that night you agreed in lockstep with your 4 other council members to remove the animal shelter from the bond. Promise Broken!
Then in 2021, you filled out the questionnaire for the firefighter’s endorsement, which we wrote about in our blog Jammed-Up John Keating, and you said you supported more staff (4 men trucks). You wrote Frisco is growing and we need to plan accordingly. You wrote we must budget for a new 14-day pay cycle, benefits, Fire Station 10, and personnel and equipment. Since being elected in 2021, you have not supported any of the items you wrote about and promised on the questionnaire. You signed your name to this document and turned your back on the first responders you said you supported. You are part of the reason the fire association today is going for collective bargaining and civil service. Promise Broken!
You have a total disregard for rules such as using the City of Frisco logo while campaigning. Do you believe the LEADERS OF ONE OF THE FASTEST GROWING CITIES IN AMERICA (in your own words) should post a picture of himself implying he is naked and holding a sign that reads “Get Naked!” Your judgment on that one sir, was way off for this conservative.
Before you stand at your pulpit and shout, “People who lie, cheat, steal, and blame others don’t last,” you might want to look in the mirror. You lied and cheated on your wife in the most public way possible, at the forum you blamed Redman for being ill-informed. You lied and said Piland was fired when even the city website says he retired. You lied about writing on the 2024 Fire Association questionnaire that you were not seeking their endorsement. You had total disregard for a whole neighborhood concerned about their homes due to a new theme park and felt your time was better spent on a beach somewhere. You continually blamed Piland at the forum when you didn’t have an answer for something to deflect your shortcomings.
Mr. Keating, you were right about one thing, it is time for a leader, and YOU ARE NOT IT!
Mack Borchardt began his career in the Fire Service in 1973 as a volunteer firefighter. In 1981, after serving with the McKinney FD, Borchardt became the city administrator in Frisco and the Fire Chief of the Volunteer Frisco FD. In 1987, Mack Borchardt had input on the hiring of the new City Manager, George Purefoy. Shortly after Purefoy became city manager he named Borchardt as Frisco’s first Fire Chief since the fire department had grown from a volunteer force to a department with 150 full time employees. You can imagine the loyalty these two have to each other, as they came up together in this city and worked side by side for years.
In 2011, Borchardt received the 2011 Fire Chief of the Year award from the Texas Fire Chief’s Association. That is why it is a little shocking that in the Fall of 2011 the city did a Climate Survey in the department that came out Jan 6, 2012. The report was not good, and it said in order for the “people issues” to be resolved the department needed to change from a negative, hostile, retaliatory environment to a positive, more supportive one that encourages communication. It said the city must make changes and it started at the top by bringing in new management.
The decision was made that Borchardt had to go, and a new Chief was coming. Borchardt turned in his resignation letter Feb 23, 2012, to his good friend George Purefoy. However, Borchardt was not going anywhere! His buddy and good friend George Purefoy created a position for him at city hall right next to him in the City Managers officer. In his severance agreement it states Borchardt on or before January 1, 2013, will be REASSIGNED by George from Fire Chief to Fire Programs Consultant reporting solely to the City Manager King George or his successor. The job was guaranteed until Feb 15, 2015. It is important to note he is still there today in a six-figure job doing who knows what with a city vehicle. King George his friend and confidant took care of him.
Why is the relationship between King George and Mack Borchardt important? When the city hired Mark Piland as Borchardt’s replacement it rubbed those loyal to Mack Borchardt in the department the wrong way. Folks like Assistant Chief Lee Glover and Barry Dixon in Fire Fleet Management. See their loyalty was always going to be with Mack which Piland did not know at the time, but it really left him a sitting duck.
Why are these relationships important to the Valve Report? Well, we are about to tell you. Snowmageddon 2021 was unforgettable for many Texas residents. Record breaking below freezing temperatures for nine plus days killed more than 200 people and resulted in millions being without power or water for days. In Frisco, starting February 15, the Fire Department responded to 162 calls in 7 hours which is 3 to 4 times more than the average call volume in a 24-hour period. Then came the news that Frisco FD was fighting the Circa Apartment fire that lasted over 36 hours. Over 260 units were affected by the fire, four Frisco Firefighters were transported to local hospitals with minor injuries. The FD had never experienced a fire of this magnitude, then add in record breaking temperatures.
As life started to return to normal the Frisco Fire Department had two parallel reports working in the department. The first was the Mayday Report which was supposed to be a learning tool for the department related to the Circa Fire. The other was a report called the Valve Report and if you are anything like us, you are asking the same question we did. What is a Valve Report? Well, during Snowmageddon several of the fire trucks suffered freeze damage to the valves, piping and pumps on the apparatus vehicles.
In an April 19, 2021, email to Henry Hill, George Purefoy the City Manager writes “I’ve heard that numerous fire trucks suffered freeze damage during the severe winter storm in February. It is my understanding that in the past, lines were emptied of water to protect the valves from freezing and the resulting damage; however, during this most recent event apparently that wasn’t done on the vast majority of the fire engines. I’d like to see a report which details the damage/cost to repair and, if accurate, what procedure(s) will be put in place to help keep this type of damage from occurring again.” Henry Hill replies we will investigate what occurred and get back to you. Then King George replies “It is my understanding that it was extensive and supposedly only one truck was drained as had been the practice in the past.”
To many, this might look like a normal email, but it is not! King George starts by saying I’ve heard…heard from who? Then he says it is his understanding that in the past, lines were emptied, how did he know that? How does he know what was or was not done in the most recent event? How would he know it is extensive and that only one truck was supposedly drained? How did he know the past practice of the department? The answer is Mack Borchardt, who was getting full reports and secret emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover. No wonder why Assistant Chief Lee Glover was put in charge of the Valve Report for the department.
On April 27, 2021, the first draft of the Valve Report was done, and several insiders told us Piland was not happy because Glover had not talked to anyone in operations before writing it up or sending it out. Piland felt the report needed to be fair and accurate which required feedback from those on the front line at the stations and those within operations, not just Fire Fleet Management, Barry Dixon (a Borchardt loyalist).
We were told from two inside sources Piland asked Assistant Chief, Cameron Kraemer to reach out to the stations and operations and get feedback on the original draft so that both sides would be represented. This report was emailed to Mark Piland on May 5, 2021. In fact, the report mentions the procedure for draining the pumps has been taught and successful for many years and is documented in an internal training bulletin in 2016. It also noted due to the high volume and the constant exposure these apparatuses had to history making extreme freezing temperatures contributed to the damage.
Then through our PIR we found two emails from Lee Glover to Mack Borchardt titled Pump Info. The first was on April 29 and simply says, “Enjoy the read!” Hmm, I wonder what Glover meant by that. Then the second email was on May 17, 2021, and has no message just an attachment titled Department Memo Fire Apparatus Valve Damage 04272021. So, two emails from Assistant Chief Lee Glover to his buddy, the man he considers the CHIEF which only undermines Piland.
Piland then asked Vetterick to take both drafts and merge them into one report so that all sides were represented in the report which created the final version that was emailed to Mark Piland from Deputy Fire Chief, Scott Vetterick on May 18, 2021. Was this report acceptable to King George and his minion Henry Hill, well of course not! That would be too easy.
Fast forward to June 25 King George sends out an email to a few different people asking them for feedback or advice on any changes. The first email was sent to Mack Borchardt and Henry Hill at 10:35 am and the second email was sent to Ron Patterson at 11:10 am. What could he possibly be asking for feedback on, well it is a letter to Chief Piland. Interesting King George goes to his buddies, confidants, and everyone else but the active current Fire Chief himself, Mark Piland.
The email King George sent makes it clear he is not happy with the final memo submitted. Our guess is because it was not written by Borchardt. What does the final draft look like, well we can only guess like the one we attached. The damage was going to cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars between parts and hours to replace. A few insiders told us Glover did a hastily report that put the blame on the fireman. We asked them why Glover would do that, and we were told to protect Barry Dixon (Borchard/Glover loyalist). According to a fleet expert it was Dixon who wanted steel and brass ball valves which were known to freeze. We were also told Glover sent his report to Borchardt and Purefoy instead of proper channels through the Fire Chief, Mark Piland . Why? Because he did not like that Piland asked him to get more perspective for the report.
Add to that we were told a complaint was filed against Barry Dixon in Fleet Management some time ago for falsifying records and for filing a false complaint on a fire captain. According to several inside sources Dixon was caught red-handed, but Glover came to the rescue to SWEEP, SWEEP, it under the Aladian flying carpet.
In closing, what did we learn from the Valve Report? It was another tool to try and undermine, discredit, and lay blame on Fire Chief, Mark Piland. Other than that, we learned nothing. One thing is clear, Mark Piland had a hard time because he was never going to be given the respect from the Frisco Insiders at city hall. He simply was not Mack Borchardt and from everything coming out it appears there was a concentrated effort to undermine him and disrespect him from HR all the way to the City Manager’s office. A city insider told us Purefoy never wanted Piland or any other Fire Chief there, he wanted Borchardt, but his hands were forced.
The question we have is WHAT DOES MACK BORCHARDT ACTUALLY DO? We know he played Fire Chief behind the scenes of the actual Fire Chief while Piland was there. My guess is he is doing the same with Glover. He was supposed to be over Exide and well that has not gone well. So, what is he making $200K+ dollars a year doing for the city? Now that Glover is Fire Chief do you think he enjoys happy hours with Borchardt? We are betting they do! The good old boy network is very alive and well at city hall. Just look at George Purefoy now, he has opened a consulting firm with Ron Patterson.
The season 7 opener of the tv show The Office was an episode entitled Nepotism. What is that? Nepotism is the practice among those with power or influence to favor, show bias, or give preferential treatment to relatives, friends, and close associates. The episode started off with everyone returning from summer to the office to find a new office assistant named Luke. It quickly became clear to those who worked at Dunder Mifflin that Luke liked to goof off, deliberately mess up food and coffee runs, and had a poor attitude that led everyone to quickly not like him. When complaints were made to Michael Scott (the manager) he was quick to defend Luke and soon it was revealed that Luke is Michael’s nephew. He had hired him in hopes that would end the bad relationship he had with his half-sister. After the staff’s concerns were ignored they found packages in Luke’s car that he never mailed and because of it they were losing customers. They went to the CEO of the company Jo Bennett and she called Michael the manager in and quickly told him to deal with the situation. During a team meeting later that day, Luke pulled out a laser pointer and started to annoy people so a frustrated Michael ended up spanking Luke in front of the entire office and Luke quit and ran away crying. Due to his actions of assaulting a coworker, Michael was sent by HR to six hours of counseling. After watching the episode, it is clear why Nepotism has no place in a work environment for everyone’s benefit.
If you really want to know what’s going on in the City of Frisco, be sure to tune in to the Consent Agenda for each City Council meeting. Consent Agenda items are considered routine in nature and are considered non-controversial and can be acted upon in one motion. I am curious who determines what is “routine in nature” and “non-controversial” before it is approved to go on the consent agenda?
On June 20, 2023, my wife and I noticed Item 22 on the Consent Agenda for the city council meeting. It read, “Consider and act upon adoption of an Ordinance approving the revised Nepotism policy and the revised Employee Code of Conduct policy. Nepotism? We thought it was such a random and odd change that left us with questions. Why is the city wanting to revise the Nepotism policy? How often does the city’s HR department go to the council to ask them to revise the Employee Code of Conduct Policy?
As you know the city’s Code of Conduct policy has been a hot topic on FriscoChronicles and our Curious George mentality came out. This policy was originally developed in 2006 so why now in 2023 are we suddenly changing it? We started with doing a meeting search for the word Nepotism and what we discovered was the city had already set the stage and made some changes to the Nepotism Ordinance at the city council meeting in April 2023. Item 24 of the consent agenda asked to revise the Nepotism policy to remove the 3rd Degree of consanguinity (blood). They argued it could cause them to lose the opportunity to hire some dedicated employees. The revision ordinance 19-11-91 can be found in the City of Frisco Personnel Policies.
So why did they change it again two months later in June 2023? In a memo from Lauren Safranek, Director of Human Resources to the city council, she asked them to consider a revision to modify the employment relationship of a Department Director with other employees. In the past a Department Director could not have an immediate relationship with someone else in another department. Now, with the June revision, it allows for a Department Director to have someone by blood, marriage, cohabitants, or roommate to work in the city as long as they are not in the same department. They also took the step to add to the list of blood, marriage, cohabitants, and roommates. In Section 3: Definitions the city added and defined the terms Identified Employee and Director. Further down in the policy under General Provisions/Violations, Section A: Supervision, they added No City employee shall be employed in a department in which the Director is related within the prohibited level of consanguinity and/or affinity, a cohabitant, roommate (“Identified Employee”) as specified above. Why now? Why all of the sudden is the city changing the policy 2x in a year, not even 2 months apart when it comes to Nepotism?
After talking to my wife, we thought the only reason to change the policy is if you wanted to promote someone to Director, want to hire someone, or have hired someone that violates the Nepotism policy. The first question we asked ourselves, who are the most recent new hires announced by the city in the last year? The second question we asked ourselves, who has left the city and did they leave because Nepotism was an issue? Wes Pierson was named our new City Manager, and he has since hired two new Assistant City Managers Rob Millar and E.A. Hoppe. We looked at all three and could not find any issues of Nepotism in our research.
The biggest loss for the city this year was Jason Cooley who served as Frisco’s Chief Innovation Officer. He accepted a position with The City of Allen, but we don’t think he left due to Nepotism as we could not find anyone he would potentially be related to working in the city. Cooley was the primary person who taught employees about Frisco’s Core Values. Frisco has a set of core values? Yes, they are Integrity, Outstanding Customer Service, Fiscal Responsibility, Operational Excellence and Our Employees. Ironically, they lead with, “Integrity is honesty, trustworthiness, ethical behavior and always doing the right thing. Integrity matters because we are entrusted with building and maintaining our community. Integrity is the foundation of all other core values.” Hmmm….
Next, we came across an article in Government Technology from July 19, 2023, talking about how the Chief Information Officer in Dallas County was leaving to go lead IT operations in Frisco, Texas. It stated Melissa Kraft made the announcement via her own recent social media post. The article stated that the Frisco FY23 budget included funding for a server and wireless refresh, disaster recovery expenses, switch and network replacements and a Police Department firewall refresh. It also planned to add a data governance program, according to budget documents. Kraft is so new she is not even listed yet in the online city directory, but she is listed on the FY24 Annual Draft Budget. Interestingly in our research we learned that Cory Kraft works as a Sergeant in the City of Frisco Criminal Investigations Unit. Could they be related? Both Melissa and Cory live at the same address, and we believe they are husband and wife which would prevent her from being hired under the Nepotism policy. Has Sergeant Kraft stepped down? Not according to the city’s online directory. Now it is starting to make sense why they made the June 2023 change to the Nepotism policy. Hiring Melissa Kraft would have violated the policy because she would have been a director. So, the city changed the rules to hire her, the pieces are starting to come together.
Now, one would have to wonder what Susan B. Olson, who is currently the Assistant Director of Information Technology, felt about this announcement. Olson has over 20 plus years of employment with the city and sources tell us she applied for the position. Sources also told us they believe she was not considered for the new Chief IT Director because of a “relationship” as defined in the city’s Nepotism policy and Employee Code of Conduct. Did the city of Frisco use the old Nepotism policy to push Susan Olson out and then change it to allow this new hire? If the information we have is correct, and I were Susan Olson I would be furious.
While looking at the Police Department directory we noticed Animal Services was listed. My wife and I were surprised that in a city of 200k+ people it would fall under Frisco PD as we thought it would have been its own department. We noticed from the directory that the Animal Services Supervisor was Steven Lerner who has served the city for 16 years. The positions of Supervisor and Director have two very different pay scales and one would think Steve Lerner would want to be a Director for the pay increase, as long as it didn’t violate the policy. We searched the directory and found a Shelby Lerner who is a Sr. Environmental Health Inspector and the two share a home address. According to the Nepotism policy, Steve Lerner could not have been the Director of Animal Services (if it was its own department) while his wife worked for the city. That means Shelby Lerner would have to step down, or should we say, “retire” as that is the Frisco way.
We connected the dots to the change of the June 2023 Nepotism policy, and we could have stopped here. Something was nagging at me and this time it wasn’t my wife. It was the lingering question, why did they make a change to the Nepotism policy in April 2023? What was happening in April to warrant a change then to the 3rd Degree Relationship that they removed? That is when the alarms went off in my head that the city was going through the hiring process for a new Fire Chief and the acting Interim Chief was Lee Glover. We decided to look into Glover’s relationships and we learned through research that he is the nephew to Glenda Sue Hess, who is the sister of Alvin Lee Glover, Sr., his father. Glenda has two sons, Jason and James Darren Ponder. James has a son by the name Jarred “Daniel” Ponder who works in the city’s planning department. That means he is Lee Glover’s, second cousin.
We initially wondered why the city would choose Glover as the new Fire Chief after a recent association survey where he received an overwhelming vote of no confidence by the fire fighters. How was Glover promoted to Fire Chief when he has a second cousin that works for the city? Oh, that’s right, back on April 4, 2023, the city quietly eliminated the 3rd Degree relations of employees in the Nepotism policy via the Consent Agenda. The Nepotism policy should have disqualified Lee Glover and eliminated him from the “candidate pool” and in our opinion should have applied to him from the start of the search, just like it had for so many other city employees. But wait, there is more, should Glover have been named Interim Chief back in September 2022 while his relative was “pondering” in the city planner’s office? As Interim Chief he was running the department which is a clear violation of the Nepotism rules. I would even bet, with Lee Glover’s long history, we could find a few more “relatives, cohabitants, and roommates”.
Where there is smoke there is fire and in our research we found that Keith Siebert a Captain with the Frisco FD is the brother of Paul Siebert. Paul Siebert joined Frisco FD in 1991 and retired in 2017 and now works in Prosper FD. He applied in 2013 for the Frisco Fire Chief position which was later given to Mark Piland. Paul Siebert was more than qualified for the position but was eliminated from the running due to the Nepotism policy. We were told he could have given any candidate at that time a run for their money had he not been disqualified.
It really is some shady shXt if you ask me. A city insider confirmed our suspicions, telling us that there have been multiple other city employees disqualified or denied the opportunity to pursue director level positions within the city of Frisco because of this same policy. You know, the one that has been in place since 2006 and was used time and time again to control the candidate pool for years.
Remember Lauren Safranek told the city council in the original April memo that the reason they wanted to remove the 3rd Degree is they potentially could lose great candidates and future dedicated employees. Clearly the rules were changed for Melissa Kraft and Lee Glover. It also leaves us wondering did Lee Glover disclose his relationship or did city management and human resources already know this information? Either way they casually tried to sweep this nugget under the rug first in April and two months later in June, thinking no one would piece it together. How does the city determine who it will and will not bend the rules for? Is this more of the Frisco Way? The most important question we have for Ms. High Horse Safranek is don’t you think since 2006 we have lost many internal candidates who already were amazing employees due to this policy? Why didn’t you want to change it then? Why now?
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