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?
In an open letter to Frisco citizens on August 3, 2023, the Frisco City Council announced they “firmly oppose” the measures by the Frisco Firefighters Association to seek civil service and collective bargaining. The letter stated the department holds International Accreditation and Class 1 Public Protection Classification (ISO 1) from widely respected third parties, which distinguished the Frisco Fire Department as one of the top departments in the country.
Recently we read an article in the Dallas Morning News regarding Frisco voters and how they will soon decide on civil service and collective bargaining for fire fighters. It questioned if it was ethical for Council Member Bill Woodard, who opposes the measure to lead the PAC. The article points out that by law, Woodard is prohibited from speaking out against the measure that is on the May ballot.
In a recent announcement we obtained from a source, it showed that Woodard was set to speak on March 21st at the Frisco Rotary meeting to give an “explanation of the propositions.” How is he going to speak if it is prohibited by law from him speaking out against the measure? In the DMN article, Woodard said “that he can have both positions from two distinct capacities.” He went on to say, “I am doing this as a citizen, as a member of this PAC, and anything that I say is in no way representative of my position on council.”
Honk, Honk! Did you hear the horn blow? If Bill Woodard wanted to speak on these measures as a resident, then why did he use campaign contributions to help set up the PAC? Campaign contributions generally come from the public to help you fund your election for COUNCIL. Woodard donated $200 to help the PAC from his Campaign Contributions. It is noted as In-Kind Contribution at the UPS store for a PO Box for Safety First Frisco.
Is that all he donated? On the same campaign contribution report, he also shows an expense on 9/5/23 for $216.92 paid to Bluehost for webhosting. Then on 10/10/23 there is an expense to Google for URL registration fees in the amount of $196.91. Woodard terms out next year in 2025, so what type of website would he need to be buying and hosting now? Drum roll please…our guess is the PACs website. We did a search to see who is hosting the website and well, you guessed it, Bluehost and it was created on 10/18/23. That is just days after registering the URL’s.
Remember in the DMN article he said he could speak out as a citizen, so why not fund the PAC with his own personal money? Why not pay for it from his personal bank account? Why did he fund it from his political campaign contributions? How can he say now after funding it from his campaign contributions that he is just a REGULAR JOE citizen speaking out against the measures?
Next, we wondered how does the audience distinguish between Councilman Bill Woodard and resident Bill Woodard? Bill Woodard was elected to the Frisco City Council in June 2016 and his current term expires in May 2025. Bill Woodards name has been in front of residents as Councilman Bill Woodard for 8 years now. If an announcement says Bill Woodard is coming to speak and explain the propositions, as an audience member or a resident you are automatically going to make “the connection” to the Frisco City Council. The only way we could take Bobblehead Bill’s opinions from the perspective of a resident is if he was NOT AN ACTIVE council member or had never served on the council and then we would have never known who was anyways.
This is no different than the concern residents have had for years now with Mayor Jeff Cheney, wait should we call him Jeff Cheney Real Estate Broker, or resident Jeff Cheney. Do you see the confusion? Do you think Real Estate Broker Jeff Cheney would be asked to speak at Chamber events? We have never seen the Chamber invite any other Real Estate Broker to headline an event or win Executive of the Year. Do you think resident Jeff Cheney would be asked to the Dallas Cowboys Christmas Kick Off to speak at the podium? Probably not! When you hear the name Jeff Cheney, you immediately associate him with his position as Mayor of the Frisco City Council. So, resident Jeff Cheney could not speak at the Rotary either and be an independent resident in opposition to the measures. The audience does not make that separation.
We did notice one interesting thing today as we poked around. The Frisco Rotary website now shows two names speaking on the proposed measures. First up, “resident” Bill Woodard, followed by Matt Sapp, President of the Frisco Fire Fighters Association. At least the Rotary Club came to their senses and invited both parties to explain their positions. We wonder if the invitation to the association was extended after the original announcement, which is why they were not listed.
When is ENOUGH, ENOUGH? The city continues to play between the lines. They had published online and several other places where they were opposed to the ballot measures and had to take them down because it was illegal. Backed into a corner it now appears they are using Bobblehead Bill to speak against the measures. It is the “BACKDOOR” plan that teeters on legal vs illegal, or ethical vs unethical. It all comes down to the city, and the city council who think they are above the law, and they don’t have to be accountable to the residents. It is the “FRISCO WAY” they always talk about. When will someone, a reporter, residents, or maybe the district attorney, call them out on the Shady ShXt behavior they continue to display? This is an obvious “F U” to the residents and the fire fighters of Frisco.
We have spent quite a bit of time combing through the City of Frisco elected officials’ campaign finance reports and as we come across items of interest that seem questionable, we bring them to the public’s attention. In our recent dive, we came across the name Veton Krasniqi, and it appears he made two substantial donations to two sitting council members. We did a simple Google search of the name in Frisco, and we found a LinkedIn page with no details except self-employed.
The first time we come across his name is in John Keating’s campaign finance report for the period of January 16, 2021, through April 1, 2021. It shows Veton Krasniqi donated $10,000 to John Keating’s campaign on March 10, 2021. The report shows the address listed as 6400 FM423, #15109, Frisco TX 75026. Immediately we noticed a red flag, because the zip code for the address, 75026, is not a Frisco zip code. It is a Plano zip code located near the George Bush Tollway and Coit, almost near Richardson.
We searched just the address without the zip code which came back to a company called German All Construction, LLC according to Open Corporates. It shows the “Agent Name” as Veton Krasniqi and the agent address as 6400 FM 423 #15109, Frisco TX, 75036. We expected to find an office building but instead, we found the Courtland Apartments at Phillips Creek Ranch.
The registered address for German All Construction, LLC on opencorporates.com comes back to 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 402, Frisco TX 75034. We decided to google that address to see what we could find, and it came back to Lit Smoke & Vape. We don’t believe it was there in early 2021 but it did open later that year to some controversy which is detailed in a Frisco Enterprise and Dallas Morning News article. The article talked about how many parents and residents living in the area felt a Vape Shop at Stonebrook and Teel near an elementary, middle, and high school was inappropriate.
We decided to go to the Texas Comptroller to view the franchise tax certificate for German All Construction, LLC. It was registered on November 11, 2019, and appears to be active today. It shows the mailing address at 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 402, which is the Vape Shop, and the registered address appears to be the same apartments at 6400 FM 423. When we clicked on the Public Information Report for 2023 it came back with two addresses. The first address we have already seen in previous reports is 2552 Stonebrook Parkway. The second address was new and belonged to a 1.544-million-dollar home in Phillips Creek Ranch on Tailwater Trail. We decided to look the home up on Denton CAD which shows a Veton and Lena Krasniqi purchased it in August 2021. It appears to have been transferred to a Family Trust in June of 2023, then the trust sold the home in October 2023. Are you confused yet? We are!
We continued to look through more campaign finance reports for other council members when we saw the name Veton Krasniqi again. This time it was not Keating’s finance report, it was Angelia Pelham’s finance report. It appears Veton Krasniqi also donated $5000 to the Pelham campaign on May 15, 2021, just a few short months after he donated $10k to Keatings.
The original campaign finance report filed by Pelham has Veton’s name and email address, where there is supposed to be an actual physical address. We found an ethics complaint on file with the Texas Ethics Commission because report after report was inaccurate with emails instead of physical addresses which are required by the state election code. Pelham was ordered to fix the incorrect finance reports, and when she did, she showed Veton Krasniqi’s address as 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 302, Frisco TX 75034.
Immediately we had a red flag with Pelham’s corrected report because she listed the suite number as 302, which is different from Keating’s report which is 402. We Googled the address using suite 302 and it appears that is the Mexican restaurant Dos Amigos. We decided to look at Denton CAD and Viton Krasniqi is listed at 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy in suite 300B and the legal description says it is a restaurant.
Can you guess what we did next? Well, of course, we googled 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 300B and we pulled up a Community Impact article from Feb 2019 which reports the Berlin Café is now open in Frisco serving German-inspired cuisine. The article states the café opened in late December and is located at 2552 Stonebrook Parkway, Ste 300B in Frisco. We looked up the Tax ID for Berlin Café on the Texas Comptroller’s website which shows it was owned by Veton Krasniqi. Then we came across another article in Community Impact in March 2021 titled Berlin Café Rebrands as Dos Amigos in Frisco. We decided to look up Dos Amigos Frisco on the Texas Comptroller’s website which showed it was registered in November 2020, but the franchise tax involuntarily ended. According to OpenCorporates.com, it shows that on July 28, 2023, the restaurant filed for a tax forfeiture. The mailing address is 2552 Stonebrook Pkwy, Ste 302 but the registered office address is 6400 FM 423, which is the Courtland Apartments.
After all this research that left us completely confused, we were still wondering, who is Veton Krasniqi that donated $10,000 to Keating and $5000 to Pelham? We filed a PIR for any communications between Veton Krasniqi, Keating, and Pelham. We were shocked when we received notice that no sufficient records came up. Two council members, two large donations, and neither of them communicated even once with the donor, not even a thank you note. Um, we smell some shady shXt!
We decided to do a court record search for Veton Krasniqi and started in Denton, County. We found eviction case after eviction case for Veton and Lena Krasniqi starting in Dec 2018 up to June of 2023. Then we looked up court records in Collin, County and we found multiple debt cases from 2020 to 2023. One involves his company German All Construction and Italia Day & Night LLC, otherwise known as Italian Village, which is registered at 5840 Legacy Circle, Ste D100, Plano TX. Italian Village located in The Shops of Legacy was featured in D Magazine back in September 2021 if you are interested in learning more.
Veton Krasniqi had lots of problems that’s for sure, and just when we thought we had hit all the shXt we were shocked to find two very important lawsuits. The first was filed by Frisco Independent School District for a total sum of $24,093.74 in back taxes against Veton and Lena Krasniqi. It appears they didn’t pay taxes when living in the fancy million-dollar Phillips Creek Home. Remember, this is the same time they donated to both candidates’ campaigns.
With all the money issues the Krasniqi’s had, where did they find funds to be big spenders and donate to local political campaigns? Maybe, it was the money they ripped off from the United States of America (aka you and me and our tax dollars). Maybe the answer is in the case of the USA v. Veton Krasniqi filed In The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Sherman Division indictment on Jan 12, 2023. Krasniqi is accused of unlawfully and unjustly enriching himself by obtaining The Paycheck Protection Program, the Economic Injury Disaster Loan, and Restaurant Revitalization Fund loan proceeds through materially false and fraudulent pretenses, representations, and promises. NOW THAT IS A WHOPPER!
The indictment goes on to say the defendant (Krasniqi) used numerous restaurants and construction businesses including Berlin Café, Dos Amigos Frisco, German All Construction, Noahlena, and Foxtron to obtain multiple loans. It goes on to say he used his personal and business bank accounts to receive, deposit, and transfer the funds. It also accuses Veton of submitting materially false loan applications, lying about his qualifications, and intended use of the loan funds. It also accuses him of helping his family members and business associates in submitting false loan applications.
The indictment states that on April 28, 2020, he received his first PPP draw of $82,500 and on the same day he transferred $82,400 to his personal account. He then took out a cash withdrawal of $55,800, made approximately $15,000 in car payments, and transferred $9300 overseas.
The business closed at the end of 2020 and then he submitted a second withdrawal PPP application on Berlin Café. The indictment states on Feb 5, 2021, he received a SECOND draw PPP loan for $283,600 for Berlin Café, LLC which he claimed on the application would be used to retain workers, rent, utilities, etc., but the problem is Berlin Café had already permanently closed. The same day he transferred the entire sum to his personal bank account. We could go on and on but you get the drift the dirtbag was a fraud.
So how much did Veton Krasniqi defraud the US Government and taxpayers? Buckle your seat belt, because he obtained over $2.25 million in funds earmarked for emergency pandemic relief that real businesses in our community could have used. Let me summarize, he could not pay his school district taxes which hurts our kids, and he defrauded taxpayers (you and me), but he had money to donate $5000 to Angela Pelham and $10,000 to John Keating. As of today, neither of them has returned the money or offered to return the money.
This is not the first time John Keating has taken money from questionable donors. In October 2018, Keating took $5000 from Phillip Michael Carter who was convicted of bilking the elderly out 17.5 million dollars. It was not till March of 2019 when Keating and Cheney were confronted by the DMN asking if they would return the thousands, they received from a criminal that they both said they would be returning the money.
Why does this continue to happen, better yet how does this continue to happen to our council members? Cheney, Pelham, and Keating are all recipients of dirty funds. It is funny I saw an ad the other day on social media, and it was Pelham’s video where she says over and over “YOU KNOW ME” – yeah, we do! Then Keating boasts on his website Promises Made, Promises Kept which should read Promises Made, Promises Broken.
John Keating and Angelia Pelham, will you return the money to the federal government and taxpayers or return the money and give it to the school district towards his tax debt? Let’s see if they do the right thing!
In our blog Non-Partisan Politics. we asked if local municipal elections are as “non-partisan” as some want you to believe, and the answer is no. Then in our blog Go Fund Me – Campaign Edition, we asked if you would be upset to learn that a candidate whom you donated to, used their campaign donations to donate to other candidates that do not share the same ideology? We did a deep dive into John Keating, who is currently running for re-eleciton in Place 1 and is a registered Republican. Keating is also the #1 offender of transferring money between candidates both from his political campaign and personal pockets.
We wanted to look at other candidates’ campaign reports to see what stands out. According to Ballotpedia, Mayor Jeff Cheney is a registered Republican. In 2015, as Mayor Deputy Pro Tem, Jeff Cheney endorsed fellow republicans Chad Rudy for Frisco ISD Place 3 and as Mayor in 2018 he endorsed Angela Paxton. In 2021 he endorsed Angelia Pelham, a registered democrat, for city council. Mayor Jeff Cheney campaign reports might look boring at first glance; however, you have to look a little deeper and then you will discover some interesting things. We are guessing his endorsement of a democrat may be the reason Cheney was denied endorsements during his re-election for Mayor in 2023 by the Collin and Denton County Republican parties.
We also noticed from Cheney’s campaign reports that he received at least $4500 in personal contributions from John and Leslie Keating. As for others sitting on council, Cheney received an in-kind donation from Bill Woodard for $109 and Angelia Keating for $400. It begs the question, if an ethics complaint came before the council (which it has in the past) could Cheney be fair and impartial when Keating has given him over $4500?
Another name that appears over and over on his campaign report Lorie Medina. Not in the donations column but in the “expense” column. Medina, otherwise known as Cheney’s political consultant or one time Chief of Staff has been paid somewhere in the range of $191,500 over the last few years for her loyalty. Now, that is a lot of MONEY!
Lastly, as we have pointed out before, the majority of his donations are from developers with ongoing city projects. In 2019 Cheney accepted $15,000 from Phillip Carter which he later returned after public pressure because Carter was convicted of fraud. Another interesting name, Logan Anjaneyulu shows up in 2023 and he appears to be the founder of Alamo Equity, which owned the El Tropicano Riverwalk Hotel in San Antonio. In June of 2023 it was reported that the hotel had gone into foreclosure and was headed to the auction block by The Real Deal. The article stated the Alamo Equity founder and managing partner had been mismanaging the fund to limit his personal financial exposure. Should we be shocked, just a few months after his donation the developer is in the news for questionable business practices? Probably, but it seems to be a repeating pattern when you take money from developers.
Then we looked at Angelia Pelham who is running for re-election for Place 3. Since 2021, the Keatings have personally donated $8000 to the Pelham campaign. That is not chump change! Again, we pose the same question, if an ethics complaint came before the council against Keating (which it has in the past) could Angelia Pelham claim to be impartial when the Keatings have been her BIGGEST donor? Does accepting that kind of money when you sit next to the person on council create a conflict? Next Mayor Jeff Cheney and his wife Dana donated $1556.00 to Angelia Pelham as well as very publicly endorsing Pelham.
We also are curious if John Keatings conservative friends Jared Patterson, Drew Springer and Matt Shaheen (who was just at Keatings re-election kick off) would have a conflict with him donating that much or sending out a political mailer that shows an endorsement for a registered Democrat, who openly admitted on video she voted for Biden?
Pelham has received over $10,000 in contributions from Cheney’s developer friends since 2021. Should we be surprised? Her three largest donations were $3000 from the Williams family associated with LandPlan Development, $8000 from Keatings and $5000 from a Venton Krasniqi. Venton who? Remember that name as it is coming up in its own blog post soon.
Next, we looked at Bill Woodard and he likes to donate from his campaign to other campaigns. First, he donated $500 to Sean Heatley for Frisco ISD, $1000 in two $500 increments to Dynette Davis, a democrat for Frisco ISD and $500 to so called conservative Laura Rummel. Then he donated $1000 to Tracy Shipman, Dustin Paschal and Clint Bledsoe’s campaigns.
As far as taking donations from fellow council members we could only find that he took one donation in the amount of $1000 from John Keatings campaign. Again, we ask if the council members take money from each other, should we believe, they can be impartial when having to judge their co-council members of an ethics complaint?
Like all the other council members he took campaign contributions from the big developers ranging from $15 to $20,000. All in all, one might say his campaign list is pretty standard until we saw a recent donation from his campaign fund for $200 on November 6, 2023, to Safety First Frisco PAC. What is the Safety First Frisco PAC? It is a “Political Action Committee” started to work AGAINST PROP A & B, FOR THE FRISCO FIRE ASSOCIATION for their ballot measures for civil service and collective bargaining. Should a council member be giving to a PAC from his campaign fund (money you may have donated) to oppose our first responders? Bill advocates left and right for his trikes and bikes path and trails, but it is impossible for him to find money in the city budget for staffing and workers compensation. The city forced the Frisco Fire Fighters Association to the point of a ballot measure. I sincerely hope if anything regarding the fire department comes before the council that Bill Woodard recuses himself now that he has funded opposition to the firefighters.
Next up Brian Livingston, who is known as the most conservative of our council members. Most of his donors appear to be registered republicans. It is not a surprise that from 2020 to 2022 he used campaign funds to donate $3000 between House Rep Jared Patterson and Matt Shaheen. It also appears Patterson donated back to Livingston in the amount of $1000 when he was running for re-election. It also appears he donated to the Mark Piland mayoral campaign in early 2023 which is probably why the council removed him from all of his positions on different committees. Livingston also donated to several conservative organizations like the Denton County Republican Party for an event table in the amount of $1391 in 2021, the Frisco Conservatives in the amount of $400 in 2020 and the Republican Woman of Great North Texas in 2017. Lastly, he donated $1450 to the Americas Defender Foundation for the Thin Blue Line Ball in 2023. The interesting thing about Livingston is campaign donations aligned to his conservative values and within his political party lines.
As for council-to-council donations we found an in-kind donation in 2016 to Jeff Cheney for $265 itemized as food. He also has a campaign donation to Laura Rummel, which since being elected has towed the line of being a conservative. The one thing we did learn, is that Brain Livingston likes food, lots of food. He has several food related expenses on his campaign finance report at local restaurants. Like the others he has taken money from developers to the tune of about $5 to $6000.
Tammy Meinershagen, one of our newest council members, had a very short campaign contribution list. Craig Hall donated $2500 which kind of makes sense since he is into the arts and Meinershagen is poet and arts expert. She had three personal donations (not made from political campaigns), the first was $500 from Angelia Pelham. Then we found a $1000 from Dana and Jeff Cheney and a WHOPPING $5000 donation from the Keatings. Again, we ask the question if an ethics complaint came before the council against one of these 3 council members would Tammy recuse herself? Would she claim that she could be impartial?
What did we learn looking at these campaign reports? One, they all love developers, some more than others, which as a resident I will always find questionable. We also believe the constant back and forth between campaign donations and/or accepting personal donations from fellow council members gives the appearance that your vote or decisions could be bought and paid for. It also gives the appearance that you may be compromised should you have to be the judge and jury against your fellow council member if an ethics complaint were to arise. We also learned that John Keating and his ex-wife Leslie were the biggest donors to all the campaigns including his own. We are curious what Keatings conservative friends will think now that it is out that he gave over $13k to registered Democrats.
Here is the truth, we would love to believe local races are non-partisan, but that is simply not true. Who you donate to matters! Who you endorse matters! Who you align with matters! Just scroll through Facebook political pages and you can see the talks of partisan vs non-partisan and it always ends up in two sides bickering.
Ask yourself, if you are a conservative and you believe you are supporting a conservative but find out he has given $10,000 to registered democrats would you want to vote for that person. Same thing if you are a democrat and you believe you are supporting a democrat but find out they gave $10,000 to a conservative would you still support or vote for that person?
If you are a politician who has taken money from someone that you believed aligned with your party values but then learned, they donated to a candidate clearly aligned and registered with an opposing political party would you want to be associated with them? The point – know what you stand for and research your candidates.
A morning routine helps us set the tone for the day, better allowing us to control our schedules rather than our schedule controlling us. There are science-backed benefits of having a morning routine: Past research has shown that a consistent morning routine can reduce stress, boost your energy levels and improve your productivity at work.
My wife and I have a morning routine and my favorite part of it is sitting in front of our bay window reading the paper and having coffee. However, this morning my wife was not too happy when I spit my coffee out all over the bay window and her new cushions. What could make me do that? Well, it was the headline in The Real Deal, an online real estate newspaper that read, “Stillwater Files Bankruptcy on Highland Park’s Mondara Condos.”
What are the Mondara Condos? The condos were sold as a high-end luxury multifamily living project in the prestigious Highland Park area. Jess Hardin who wrote the article notes that today the community is at the center of a legal battle in which the developer, Stillwater Abbott Development, has filed for bankruptcy.
Harden writes, “The Dallas-based developer filed for bankruptcy protection in the Northern District of Texas on Jan. 12. The filing comes almost four years after the Mondara Condominium Association sued the developer – and related entities Stillwater Abbott Management and Stillwater Abbott Development – for construction defects. In the bankruptcy filing, Stillwater wrote that it had fewer than 50 creditors, less than $50,000 in assets and less than $50,000 in liabilities. The paperwork was signed by Robert Elliott, the manager of Stillwater Capital Investments.
Why would the association sue the developer? According to The Real Deal, in a 2020 lawsuit the association claimed the property was “negligently constructed!” Oh yeah, the lawsuit states it was poorly constructed causing leaks, floods, and was a fire hazard. The Real Deal also reported that the lawsuit alleged, “The roof, stucco cladding, windows, doors, fireplaces, interior and exterior walls, parking garage and courtyard must be extensively repaired or replaced.
You are probably wondering, what does this have to do with Frisco, Texas? If you read our blog Anatomy of a Friendship we did a very deep dive into the relationship of Mayor Jeff Cheney and Robert Elliott. In July 2016, Robert Elliott created The Associates, a full-service residential real estate brokerage that Mayor Jeff Cheney joined in November of 2017, right before the big “FRISCO PGA DEAL.” The same Robert Elliott who is a founding partner of Stillwater Capital. His own bio from the company’s website reads, “Through the company’s custom home building brand, Robert Elliott Custom Homes (RECH), Elliott leads one of Dallas’ premiere single-family builders.
In 2021, Clay Roby represented Robert Elliott and Stillwater Capital when asking our council to approve The Link project that connects to the PGA. At one point in the discussion it was clear Clay Roby was tired of the delays and truthfully they felt this should have been a no brain vote after what they did for us bringing the Frisco PGA to town. When the council members got caught up on apartment multi-family the Mayor Jeff Cheney tried to even redirect the conversation, saying what else will it offer?
Stillwater Capital has a large investment in Frisco starting with The Corvalla, The Link, PGA Frisco, Link Multifamily Phase 1, and Greenway Village at The Link. All the projects were approved while Cheney has been on council or up at the pulpit as Mayor. The projects Stillwater Capital pitched here are no different than the Highland Park project based on the pictures they presented to the council on the Frisco Cottage development was to look like. SHOULD WE BE WORRIED ABOUT THESE PROJECTS?
Our investigation into The Preserve at PGA Frisco has offered up a treasure trove of information over the last year. We first talked about this back in February 2023 in our blog Fields West Dynasty where we discussed the historic future Fields development and the woven professional relationship conflicts. We began to unravel our opinion regarding the conflict of interest at play for Mayor Jeff Cheney vs Real Estate Mogul Jeff Cheney and his relationship with the Fehmi Fields development. Just the Fields Frisco website was cause for pause – why is there a letter from Mayor Jeff Cheney on it?
Then in our Field of Dreams blog, we talked about how Texas Scorecard had questioned the same thing we did years earlier. We also shared an email by John Baumgarten to then-Mayor Jeff Cheney asking how he could get on the “unofficial lot list” for The Preserve and that he would like to make a “donation” to a charity involved in the development. We also pointed out there was no response to Mr. Baumgarten supplied in our PIR but there was a continuing conversation between Cheney and then Chief of Staff Lori Medina (MedinaUSA) on where the donation could be made.
We continued our questions regarding The Preserve and PGA Frisco in our blog, The Silicon Valley of Golf followed by our blog Dark Money where we pointed out some very questionable campaign donations from all these developers involved in future Fields / PGA / The Link. Then we laid out in detail the conflict of interest friendships Mayor Cheney vs Realtor Jeff Cheney built in our blog Anatomy of a Friendship.
Then we release our Breaking News: The Preserve Lots VIP Program blog where we have a recording of a builder rep telling local Real Estate Agents that Jeff Cheney has a lot in The Preserve along with other important people in the project, kind of like a millionaire or billionaire row so to speak of lots and future homes. Go listen to the recording you won’t be disappointed. Then we published the proof in Land Lies of the developer plot map which shows the names Cheney and Keating under a “Developer Hold.”
Why are we reminding you about this? You have to go back to the beginning to understand how what we uncovered today is concerning. For years now local Realtors have been questioning the potential conflict between Cheney’s role as Mayor and as Realtor/Broker of the Cheney Group. Questions also surround his convoluted relationship with Fehmi Karahan and the sale of the lots in The Preserve. Multiple times, Cheney has publicly stated he is not the Realtor of record for lots in The Preserve. He joked in front of a room of real estate professionals, please don’t call me as I am not the agent for these lots. Realtors questioned though how a majority of the lots were already sold before going public to real estate professionals.
With everything he has said publicly were surprised to see 3 lots worth over $2+ million for sale in The Preserve at PGA Frisco on his website. A few months ago it said it was listed by one of his agents but now according to the multiple listing service (MLS) the REALTOR OF RECORD IS JEFF CHENEY OF THE CHENEY GROUP!
In closing, we initially were doing research into some rumors about a possible shake-up or break-up within the Monument umbrella. That led us to these lots for sale which sparked us to look through public records, talk to some builder reps as we “house hunted,” and what we learned from our Realtor neighbor. The lots in question had been sold or contracted by other agents for client’s they had. So why are they for sale now? We can only assume the original buyers probably changed their minds or backed out for some reason which happens all the time according to my neighbor. If they were contracted by other agents, then why are those agents not selling the lots? Why are the lots now listed with the Cheney Group? Why is Jeff Cheney listed as the Realtor/Broker of Record? With so many questions, you can see we are still looking into this so stay tuned for more of what we uncover.
Everything you wrote is contradictory.... everyone knows it's SD who snitched on Tammy. An insider—tired of the two-faced politics, of…
Getting paid to not work for months? Yes that makes perfect sense. It’s all caught up with the city management…
Jared, Congratulations! Well done.
It’s looking like toxic Tammy is going to be defeated along with the go man! Woohoo!
This article is definitely not non biased regarding this nonpartisan election.