Ping Pong with Campaign Money

by | Feb 18, 2024 | Angelia Pelham, Bill Woodard, Brian Livingston, Campaign Donations, Campaign Finance Reports, City Council, Elections, John Keating, Laura Rummel, Mayor Jeff Cheney, Politics, Safety First Frisco PAC, Tammy Meinershagen, Venton Krasniqi

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.  

City of Frisco & the Secret PAC

by | Jan 5, 2024 | Bill Woodard, City Council, Civil Service and Collective Bargaining, Frisco Fire Department, Politics, Public Safety, Safest City, Safety First Frisco PAC

The holidays are over and 2024 is here and we have continued our deep dive into the misdealings of the City of Frisco.  We keep finding these little or maybe not so little nuggets of information that are cause for question and concern. Perhaps this will tie you over as we continue to investigate and verify our new leads.

In 2023 we saw several posts about the Frisco Firefighters Association regarding staffing, Assistant Chief Kraemer being fired after 27 years with the city, and the filing for Collective Bargaining and Civil Service.  To say our interest was piqued is an understatement, we knew we had to investigate.

We decided to go back and read some of those old posts by the city and the FFA but we were surprised to see…many of them disappeared.  We don’t know if anyone else noticed, but the Frisco Communications Dept. took down the city’s posts and propaganda videos that were paid for by taxpayers’ dollars, and the council’s open letter to residents damning the Frisco Fire Association for daring to gather signatures to place Civil Service and Collective Bargaining on the May ballot.  They even deleted citizens’ comments in the posts from the late summer and fall.  

Now, the naysayers will say the city didn’t delete anything, but they did.  The proof is in the city’s posts where the links no longer work.  For example, John Keating posted, “This isn’t a political battle or one for financial gain. It’s a powerplay by those who serve themselves, and do not have the best interests of Frisco at heart. They have misrepresented our city staff and leadership and our beloved Frisco Fire Department!”  Then you have George Purefoy’s statement with a link that reads “unavailable.”  Even Bobblehead Bill Woodard had to get in his two cents.  

According to insiders the FFA never wanted to go in this direction, but they feel the city management and the city council didn’t follow through on the promises they made to silence them.  In the past, the FFA threatened similar action when they felt that their concerns for safety were being ignored.  Fast forward to today, what has changed since then?  Insiders tell us they don’t trust Fire Department leadership, the city, or the council.  On top of breaking promises, ignoring the results of climate studies done over the years, many feel the city used the FFA to oust the Fire Chief and an Assistant Chief who were threatening to file complaints on the city.  The cherry on top is when the city ignored the Mayor’s Study asking the FFA if they would like Interim Chief Glover as their permanent chief. Despite the over 200 firefighters that said NO, they still hired him. This is the same chief that the city sent down to Austin to speak AGAINST Texas House Bill 471, protecting our first responders.

Now we know, you are wondering, why are we going over this again?  Well, we learned the city HAD TO TAKE DOWN the propaganda they posted because it was a No-No (illegal) so they scrubbed their social media. What would they do?  How would they fight against civil service and collective bargaining?

Well, we found a new nugget which is quite disheartening. On November 8th, papers were filed for what they call a Specific-Purpose Committee or PAC—Political Action Committee. It appears the city recruited former Mayor Mike Simpson (who endorsed Mayor Cheney) to appoint Richard Peasley as treasurer of a PAC called Safety First Frisco. The description reads, “Citizens opposing Civil Service and Collective Bargaining in Frisco, TX.”

This smells like shit and is clearly a move by the City of Frisco to get a highly respected Frisco resident to spin their story. I’ve met Mayor Simpson a couple of times. He wouldn’t remember me and my wife, but I certainly admired his leadership back then. I can’t help but think he might change his tune if he really knew the whole story. Can someone send him a link to our page?

Before deciding either way at the ballot box, talk to the Frisco Fire Association.  I am generally not for unions and civil service, but learning most of the cities around us are Civil Service and that collective bargaining is the only thing that will protect them from a corrupt city making decisions that can literally kill them. My wife and I will be voting YES for them.  Either way you can bet we will be following the campaign contributions for this NEW PAC! I have a feeling that is going to offer up a lot more nuggets.

Other Links and Info For Reference:

Frisco Fire Association Staffing Video

According to Star Local Media, here are what those terms mean, according to state law:

  • Civil service: A system with a three-citizen commission to assess the hiring, firing and promotion of firefighters. Under Frisco’s current system, city officials have that power.

“What civil service does is eliminate favoritism,” FFFA Secretary Treasurer Dustin Allen said.

  • Collective bargaining: A system allowing both the fire department and the police department to become their own bargaining agents when it comes to agreements on wages, staff numbers and recruitment.

“That allows the [departments’] association to, as a collective, sit down and meet and discuss working conditions with the city or city management,” Allen said.