Sassy Safranek’s Confidential Little Secret

In a city that prides itself on transparency, Frisco sure has a funny way of showing it. The departure of city employees should be a straightforward matter.  But nothing says, “honest government at work” quite like a settlement agreement wrapped in an NDA and buried beneath layers of off-limits files that are shadow labeled “confidential” and will only magically appear if someone knows exactly what to ask for. 

It’s almost poetic, really. City Hall bangs the drum of accountability every election season, even though they know the city turns around and stashes public records like they’re safeguarding state secrets.  One might expect this sort of maneuvering from Washington, where the filing system seems to be a combination of smoke, mirrors, and selective memory—but from Frisco?  The city that can’t even agree on a dog shelter without a special called meeting.

It is amazing what buried treasures you will find when reading through these settlement agreements the city has with ex-employees.  It is also interesting to see who is getting paid and how much!  For example, Elise Back, who worked for the Frisco Economic Development Corporation, agreed to accept a gross payment of $125,000 and Frank Morehouse accepted $112,500.  What and why are we paying this kind of money in secret NDA’s?

After months of whispers about “HR “mishaps,” and a public records chase that felt more like spelunking through a city-funded labyrinth, we now have a Settlement Agreement for the newly minted EX HR Director, Lauren “Sassy” Safranek.  Let me tell you finding this and getting our hands on this was tough and the city thought they had sealed it tighter than a Prohibition-era wine cellar.  And just when we thought we’d finally uncork the truth, out pop second files, “confidential” folders, and documents shuffled around like a crooked card dealer at a back-alley poker table.   But the saga of Lauren “Sassy” Safrenak takes the cake, the bakery, and the delivery truck.

Frisco’s leadership keeps insisting to the public this is all perfectly normal, nothing to see here, folks, but is it normal?  Is this just a standard, everyday NDA?  We decided to peal it back and unwrap the taxpayer-funded mystery treasure chest (I mean document).   Frisco, where transparency is optional, NDAs are fashionable, and the truth is apparently stored somewhere in File Cabinet B—the one nobody is allowed to open.

BACKSTORY

Lauren Safranek has had reputation in the city for years.  Management loved her!  Employees had great disdain for her!  Back in June 2023 I questioned why Lauren Safranek wanted to change the Nepotism Policy and revise the Employee Code of Conduct policy that had been in place since 2006.  We wrote about it in our blog All in The Family.  Then we wrote about the Workers Comp Policy Changes in our blog Sassy Safranek and the mean-spirited memo written by our Professional HR Director Sassy Safranek.  In December 2023 we did our 12 Days of Malfeasance blogs.  Day 3 was about the HR MALFEASANCE which was about good ole Lauren Safranek forging the signature of then Fire Chief Mark Piland to a document that would change the pay scale for an entire department.  Did she really think this would not raise any eyebrows and her forgery would be unearthed?  Yep, she really thought she was that smart!   

When she realized, she had gotten caught she kicked into overdrive to find a fake reason to investigate then Fire Chief Mark Piland and his staff.  We presented all the receipts in our Day 12: Tangled Web of Lies blog! 

If you forgot about all this drama you should go back and read it because this is the heart of why the city, the mayor and the cabal are trying to destroy one man who has a 40+ exemplary career years, plus positive job reviews in the city of Frisco year after year until Lauren uncovered some “malfeasance” in order to cover her own forgery of legal HR documents

SASSY SAFRANEKS LITTLE CONFIDENTIAL SECRET WRAPPED UP IN AN NDA

Remember transparency is supposed to be the heart of good government here in Frisco.  Truthfully it is more of a suggestion, something politically ignored much like turn signals on the Tollway side roads.  The Lauren Safranek NDA reads like a political thriller written by a board attorney on a Friday afternoon.  It has pages of legal yapping designed to make sure the public learns absolutely nothing about why the City’s top HR official suddenly needed to be paid nearly a year’s salary just to walk out the door quietly.

Is this a general release?  No, it is so sweeping it could double as a Tornado Warning.  Safranek isn’t just leaving her job, she’s legally erasing every single gripe, claim, concern, complaint, or whisper she ever uttered about the City.
Ethics Complaints filed against her? Gone.  Any HR violations she witnessed? Gone.
Any retaliation she alleged? Gone.  Potential whistleblower issues? Vaporized.

The Payout: A Golden Parachute Stuffed with Taxpayer Cash

40 weeks of salary.
40 weeks of COBRA medical, dental, vision coverage.
A lump-sum payout for her accrued leave that has not been used.
Payment by city for $1,716.65 for a conference she attended.
Payment by city for employees attorneys fee’s in the amount of $7,600.

City will compensate Safranek for time spent assisting with the defense in pending lawsuits at a rate of $100.00 per hour, such payment to be made in 30 days of submission. 

ASK YOURSELF: An at-will HR director being handed nearly a year’s pay to quietly resign is not “normal.”  It’s not even “Frisco normal,” and this city has normalized some Olympic-level gymnastics around accountability.

The Most Alarming Part: The Secret Second File

Buried deep inside the NDA is the crown jewel of municipal opacity: The City agrees to take all negative documents—complaints, investigations, findings, her ethics complaint, and more—and remove them from her public personnel file and place them in a separate, hidden, confidential file.

Transparency Hidden In – A literal second file. 

According to the NDA  “these documents will be agreed upon by Safranek and will include, at a minimum, the following: Shank’s complaint, Coulthurst’s complaint, investigation findings, employee’s ethics complaints,” the letter from the Deputy City Manager dated June 16, 2025 and this agreement.

It also notes that basically the second file the public will not see, that is kept “to the extent permitted by law,” which is lawyer-speak for “we’ll hide it unless someone catches us!”  WE CAUGHT YOU!

This is the Frisco leadership and government equivalent of cleaning your house by shoving everything into the garage and padlocking the door.  Frisco taxpayers deserve better than a filing system borrowed from Watergate.

The City Also Requires Her to Help Defend Them in Lawsuits

Safranek must cooperate in two ongoing lawsuits involving Cameron Kraemer and Jesse Zito, paid at $100/hour — and she gets to keep her notes connected to those cases.

A city that insists it did nothing wrong is apparently very eager to keep its former HR Director close at hand… just not on staff, not in the building, and not talking.

A “Neutral Reference” to Keep the Story Contained

If a future employer calls?  HR will give a bland, robotic response confirming her dates of employment.  Nothing more. Nothing less. Nothing truthful.

Because when you’ve spent thousands of taxpayer dollars hiding the mess, the last thing you want is someone in HR accidentally telling the truth.

City Admits Nothing, Explains Nothing, Accepts Nothing

As expected, the NDA contains the standard “we did nothing wrong” boilerplate.
The City denies all wrongdoing, says they’re settling merely to avoid “cost” and “distraction.”  Right — because nothing says “totally innocent” like hiding negative documents in a secret secondary file and giving your fired HR director 40 weeks of hush money.

Council Approval: Your Elected Officials Signed Off

Don’t miss this detail: The NDA was contingent on City Council approval at a public meeting which happened on July 1, 2025. This was the meeting that Burt Thakur and Jared Elad were installed as new council members. How much did they know about this agreement is to be seen.  We are curious how much knowledge Jeff Cheney, John Keating (mayoral candidate), Brian Livingston, Angelia Pelham, and Laura Rummel had. 

Fact remains, every elected official who voted “yes” signed off on lying to the public, a year’s salary and cobra benefits, withholding information from the public in a secret file, hiding negative or truthful reviews to a future employer and more.   Keating made the motion to approve, and it was seconded by Angelia Pelham. 

Crazy part is if you go to that agenda on the city website and click on Item 24 it has not documents attached to it.  Why because the city PLAYED HIDE AND HOPEFULLY, THEY WON’T SEEK!

The Bottom Line

You could hide a small nation’s war crimes under a release this wide. The Safranek NDA isn’t a routine HR separation.  It’s not a miscommunication.  It’s not an exit interview gone wrong. It is a coordinated legal shutdown, executed at the highest levels, designed to hide information from the public and neutralize the City’s own HR Director.

The City didn’t just settle a dispute. It purchased silence. It buried documents. It built a second file. It erased complaints. It sealed the story.

And they used your tax dollars to do it.

Frisco deserves transparency — not confidentiality closets, political NDAs, and under-the-table golden parachutes.

More to come.

Disclaimer: This blog includes satire, parody, and comic relief.  It contains summarized accounts created solely for humor and commentary.  Any resemblance to real events is either coincidental or intentionally satirical.  Reader discretion — and a sense of humor — are advised.

Walking Quorums and Wobbly Ethics?

When we dropped Part 1 about John Keating’s not-so-secret bid for Mayor, the inbox lit up like a Christmas tree in July. “Finally!” people said. “Someone’s talking about it!” Well, after a little digging, a little late-night reading of Texas law (because apparently someone has to), we have a few follow-up questions that deserve a big, neon spotlight:

Did our council members just break the law?

Let’s talk about the dreaded “Walking Quorum.” According to the Texas Open Meetings Act (TOMA), Section E, a quorum isn’t just when everyone’s packed into City Hall pretending to listen. Nope. TOMA makes it crystal clear that you can’t have a series of backroom, back-to-back, whisper-to-whisper communications about city business that add up to a quorum. Doesn’t matter if it’s by text, email, smoke signals, or gossip in the golf cart.

Section 551.143 spells it out: if you, as a public official, knowingly join even one of those off-the-books conversations, and the chain adds up to a quorum discussing city business? Congratulations—you’ve just committed a criminal offense.

ALL COUNCIL DECISIONS (LIKE MPT / DMPT) HAVE TO BE POSTED AND DISCUSSED IN PUBLIC.  To be honest, I am not even sure if it is allowed in executive session – we are researching that further!  Maybe the city puts it on the agenda under “Employee Deliberations” and the slip in the conversation that they should be having openly in the council meeting for the public to see. Who knows! 

Have you ever wondered why when the council comes out of “Closed Executive Session” which seems to take a long time now how they never have any discussions on some key decisions.  There was hardly any talk on the Dias about MPT/DMPT – they just went to a vote.  Why?  Because they had already discussed it!  We believe our city council could be using “Executive Session” to hide important conversations that should be PUBLIC.  It needs to be investigated by the authorities because right now it looks bad, very bad! 

Now, what does that mean in real life?

  • Official #1 chats with Official #2.
  • Official #2 slips it over to Official #3.
    Boom. Illegal. That’s how the law reads.

And here in Frisco? We’ve got text messages. We’ve got John Keating saying he’ll “talk to Angelia.” Funny thing: we never saw those texts. Where’s the paper trail? Did they hop on a quick phone call instead? Did someone “forget” to turn over their emails?

Then we have Keating chatting up Laura Rummel about votes for Mayor Pro Tem and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem. We know this because Rummel submitted her text message in response to the PIR Request. 

Question 1: Why didn’t John Keating turn over a copy of the communication with Laura Rummel.  It clearly meets the PIR request.  Laura Rummel turned it in!

Question 2: Where are the conversations between Keating and Pelham?  Clearly, they were talking about Mayor Pro Tem and Deputy Mayor Pro Tem but neither of them turned in any copies of their messages or emails.

Now add Livingston to the mix, and suddenly we’re not playing with hypotheticals anymore—we’re at four. Livingston, Keating, Pelham, and Rummel.  Keating led the charge, talking to Angelia and Rummel, and told Livingston he would talk to them.  So, it was clear conversations were happening with Keating being the one bouncing around to the other three. That’s a quorum, folks.

And according to TOMA, that’s not just bad optics—it’s a violation.

Which leads us to a very simple question: How can someone who wants to run for Mayor not know the rules of the Texas Open Meetings Act? And honestly, how can any of them sit on the council and not know this?

If you’re going to lead Frisco, maybe start with knowing what you legally can and can’t do. Just a thought.  But hey, we’re just the ones asking the questions.

Hopefully someone reading this knows the Texas Attorney General or Collin County DA because it should be investigated.  Stay tuned—because something tells us this story is only starting to unravel.

Link: Texas Open Meeting Act (TOMA)

Disclaimer: This blog includes satire, parody, and comic relief.  It contains summarized accounts created solely for humor and commentary.  Any resemblance to real events is either coincidental or intentionally satirical.  Reader discretion — and a sense of humor — are advised.

“Oaths, Secrets & Settlements: A Night of Swearing In and Swearing Off at Frisco City Hall”

Frisco Chronicles: What Lies Beneath … in the Agenda?

Every other week, like clockwork, the Frisco City Council releases an agenda packed with the usual suspects: zoning changes, budget adjustments, proclamations for pickleball appreciation month—nothing to see here, folks. Move along.

You ever hear that old saying, “The devil’s in the details?” Sometimes, here in Frisco, the devil doesn’t just visit the details—he rents a room in the city council agenda.  But this week is a little DIFFERENT!   Let’s Dive In!

First Up: Executive Session: The Vault

This is where transparency goes to die. Behind closed doors, council members discuss land deals, lawsuits, and personnel matters—away from public ears and cameras.  Yes, some of it needs to be private. But some of it? Let’s just say if the public heard the full audio, they’d be polishing pitchforks by sunrise.  So, what is happening during The Vault this week?  Agenda Item 2(C) is about Personal Matters, and it says they will “DELIBERATE THE APPOINTMENT OF MAYOR PRO-TEM, DEPUTY MAYOR PRO-TEM AND CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES.”   

The actual vote will happen under the “Individual Items” and our vote is for Brian Livingston for Mayor Pro-Tem and we encourage everyone to email you council members today and tell them to vote for Livingston for Mayor Pro-Tem for the last year of his term.

Second: Individual Items – Special Events

We expect the council chambers to be packed with supporters of Burt Thakur and Jared Elad on Tuesday night as they will be sworn in.  There has been a buzz in the air since the election night of the runoff race.  Seat will be filled, cameras will be rolling, and the room will be electric with that rarest of municipal emotions: hope.

Because Tuesday is not just another city council meeting it is changing of the guard!  With right hands raised and left hands resting on the city charter, Burt Thakur and Jared Elad will be officially sworn in as the newest members of the Frisco City Council. 

Why is this important, because they were not appointed to the seat, they were elected by you!  By the small business owners tired of red tape. By the residents who want Frisco to thrive, not just survive.  And they came in not to blend, but to stand.

The room will be electric, and you will be able to feel the shift in the room.  Smiles from supporters. Side-eyes from the establishment. A few city staffers quietly clutching their blood pressure meds.  It will end with applause. Loud. Sustained.

Welcome to the table, Burt and Jared.  Frisco’s watching!

Next up, The Consent Agenda: Where Democracy Goes to Nap

We have said it before, and we will say it again, the most exciting thing most Frisco residents glance over is the “DETAILS” in the CONSENT AGENDA.  If you stop, squint, and scroll past the “Consent Agenda” (which is code for “let’s pass this all without discussion”), you’ll find the real story. Because what lies beneath those bland agenda titles are buried treasures—or more often, ticking time bombs. 

This is where the “Devil Is in the Details!”  Basically, the Consent Agenda is where they stash the stuff they want to hide. Think of it like the junk drawer of city government—contracts, appointments, expenditures, land swaps, and sometimes even lawsuits—all passed with a single vote and zero debate.

The Devil is in Item 24: It reads, Consider and act upon approval of the Settlement Agreement and Release between the City of Frisco, Texas and Lauren Safranek and authorizing the City Manager to sign the same and take all steps necessary to effectuate the Settlement Agreement and Release. (CMO/HH)

After our blog “City Halls Troubled Sea’s” everyone was quiet about the mysterious disappearance of the HR Director and several others in her department.  In fact we have had PIR’s in for over a month a now and they are delaying them and going to the Attorney General. According to item 24 in the consent agenda they will approve a settlement agreement and release between the City and Sassy Safranek.  We will file a PIR for that settlement agreement.   

Yes, this is the same Lauren Safranek who led the witch hunt against Former Fire Chief Mark Piland and continues to oversee the court case against Assistant Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer.  She has spent hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars on unnecessary investigations to cover up her flagrant forgeries and other mistakes!   

What we find interesting is that the city could have settled with Cameron Kraemer, who WON his PTSD Injury Claim by the TDI Workers Compensation Division in Dallas.  You can read more about in The Local Profile, but instead, Safranek and the city pushed forward, continuing to spend taxpayer dollars on a losing case.  Something in the Council Chambers smells like the crap in Exide. Why will the City settle with Lauren Safranek and not Former Asst. Fire Chief Cameron Kraemer?  Demand answers, Frisco!

Learn more about Lauren Safranek in a few of our old blogs:

Breaking News; Big Time Casino Payout

Day 12: Tangled Web of Lies

Day 10: Dog & Pony Show

Day 9: Case 64 Responses

Day 3: Case 64 & HR Malfeasance

2023: Sassy Safranek

Last Up for The Night, The Regular Agenda – aka The Cryptic Language 101

Usually, items here are often worded in such vague terms that only a decoder ring or a PhD in municipal bureaucracy could translate it!  Most of the time this section can be pretty boring but NOT TONIGHT! 

Item 36:  Consider and act upon appointments to City Council Committees. (CSO/KM)

Remember when Brian Livingston supported Mark Piland two years ago against Mayor Cheney – well he was removed from all the committees he served on and so were many of his supporters.  Why?  They didn’t play Cabal Ball.  In the past, you didn’t walk away from that, like nothing happened.  No, instead you were punished!  Well tonight Livingston and hopefully our new council members will take their rightful place on these committees again! 

It’s time to speak up and demand changes not with our council representatives but what happens deep down in the city on these committees.   It is time for us to make our voices heard!  There are more Cabal Busters than Cabal God Fathers.

What Can You Do?  Read the agenda. Seriously, someone must.  Ask questions. Email your council members. Show up. Be annoying.  Speak out at Citizens’ Input, have your message included in the record. Demand clarity. If an item sounds vague, ask why. If they dodge, follow the money. Watch for patterns. When the same developer keeps getting breaks or the same contractor keeps winning bids, take note.

Help us!  Share what you find. That’s what we’re here for. To shine a flashlight into the shadows and say, “Hey… what the hell is this?”  Frisco isn’t just growing—it’s morphing. And what gets decided in those meetings shapes the city we live in, the traffic we sit in, and the taxes we pay.

Lastly, tomorrow you can bet some Cabal Godfathers will be upset.  Maybe one will write another HAIKU on her page full of hidden meaning and endless blah, blah, blah.  The Cabal will all respond to it on queue for sure as they are supposed to do.  Don’t worry, we know they are butt hurt but we are moving forward with change while they wallow on yesterday. Most of all remember, the next time someone tells you the council meeting was boring, just smile and say: “Sure… until you read what lies beneath.”

The $3,000 Question: What’s the Price of Consistency?

It’s a new dawn
It’s a new day
It’s a new life for Frisco Taxpayers
Woo-woo-woo-woo-woo
And they’re feeling good

Today I was thinking, it is the start of a new beginning and soon two new city council members will join the Dias.  Burt Thakur and Jared Elad will be sworn into office at the July 1st City Council Meeting.  We hope their supporters come out and support them during the swearing in at the start of the meeting.

But what is happening before the meeting?  Well, apparently there is a City Council Work Session on June 26th.  They just posted the agenda and it appears under the Regular Agenda they are going to do a traditional welcome, agenda overview and set the theme for the session.  Then they are going to discuss a book called Great by Choice.  Lastly they will talk about the traits of successful teams. 

After that they will break into “Closed Session” where they will “have a deliberation, regarding commercial or financial information that the City has received from a business prospect or to deliberate the offer of a financial or other incentive to a business prospect.”   What could that mean?  We have no idea!

Then they will convene back into the “Regular Agenda” and finish with a Review of Councils 2025 Progress Goals, have a discussion regarding the FY2025-26 Initial Budget Considerations and closed with a “Ted Talk” regarding 5 Bold Steps to a Bright Future.   Interesting!  This is where we have questions.

Outgoing council members Tammy Meinershagen and Bill Woodard will be there as they still hold the seats for city council until July 1st. and then Burt Thakur and Jared Elad are sworn in.   Because of the runoff Thakur and Elad’s swearing falls after the meeting, but “THE BUDGET” is a big discussion that the new council members may have questions or input on.  Here is what we are interested in;

1. Did the city extend an invitation to the two newest council members to participate and learn at this work session like they have done in the past.

2. Will they host the meeting live on Frisco TV so residents can watch and learn and be more transparent for Frisco Residents?

3. What is the social event they are going to afterwords at Perry’s Steakhouse and is that on taxpayer dollars?

Now many may say, they are not sworn in yet so they can’t participate but exceptions have been made in the past.  In our article No Business Like Show Business we told you about how in March of 2022, our newly “APPOINTED” council woman Tammy Meinershagen went on the Frisco Chamber of Commerce Leadership Exchange Trip to Cary, North Carolina.  Why was that interesting to us at the time?  Well, Tammy Meinershagen had NOT YET BEEN SWORN IN as a council member yet. 

In that article, we asked the question of how Meinershagens’ trip was paid for.  Did she pay for it – remember she was not a SWORN IN council member or did TAXPAYERS pay for it?   Then we laid out the emails showing that on March 3, 2022, Mayor Jeff Cheney sent an email to Holly McCall, and said Tammy has expressed an interest in going on the LEX trip.  Cheney thinks it would be good for her to join to get a head start on her development and start building relationships.  He specifically notes, I know she will still be a council member elect as the time so not sure what hoops we need to jump through.  McCall, the Sr. Administrative Asst. to the Mayor & Council responds, “I’m sure it will be fine to pay for Tammy.  We’re just waiting on confirmation/advisement from the attorney’s office before proceeding.”

Then on March 7, 2022, in an email from Tammy Meinershagen to Tony Felker, President/CEO for the Frisco Chamber she states it looks like she will be able to join “representing the city council” so can you let me know what you need from me. 

Tony responded with an email asking Jeff Cheney what the best way for her is to register and then Jeff responds Holly McCall, the Sr. Administrative Assistant to the Mayor & Council, can book it. 

McCall responds again that she believes it will be fine to pay for her to go but she is waiting for the official city approval.  Fast forward to the April 19th, council meeting, Item #20 under the Consent Agenda (remember that is where they hide things) there is an action to consider and act upon approval of the attached reimbursement request presented to the Mayor and Council.   The memo reads that the $3000 request was the cost for Tammy Meinershagen to travel to Cary, North Carolina for the LEX trip hosted by the Frisco Chamber. It states she is a ‘CANDIDATE FOR CITY COUNCIL RUNNING UNOPPOSED.”    It then reads, Minershagen will begin her term in May, but members of the council believe the trip provided knowledge and experience that serves the public purpose of the city and was beneficial to the duties of a city council member. 

Guess what, THE COST WAS APPROVED!

At the time we wrote this article in October of 2023, we said we were alarmed that she would be going representing herself as a councilmember – when she had NOT YET BEEN SWORN IN and taken her OFFICIAL OATH.  We were adamant that running unopposed or not should not matter – what should matter is she was not sworn in to uphold her official duties as a city council woman.  We still believe that today!   However, what we think about the situation and what happened back in 2022/23, is irrelevant! The City of Frisco, The Chamber of Commerce and our City Council “SET A PRESCENDENT” that you do not have to be SWORN IN to present yourself as a council member and have the bills paid for by the city if you are appointed to your seat. 

Fast Forward to 2025

How does that change when two council members, who have officially been ELECTED, and are less than 7 days away from being sworn in, when it comes to them participating in the Summer Work session, in meetings that affect their upcoming term, etc.?  The session clearly says it is Councils Goals for the remaining time of 2025 and the future Budget for 2025-26!  I am guessing if you ask the two future elected council members what they think, they will agree with us!

That is the problem when you set a PRESCENDENT like they did in 2022 with Meinershagen, because now to be fair to the newly ELECTED COUNCIL MEMBERS – the city needs to invite them, allows them to participate, talk to leaders and city management, for the “experience it gives them, for educational reasons and benefits it presents them,” as it will help them grow in their council positions the same way they did for Meinershagen in 2022. 

Now, we wait and see – what happens?  Better get the city attorney on the phone and make allowances for the same concessions –

at least allowing them to attend s work session, doesn’t cost taxpayers $3000 this time!

Fake Faces, Real Consequences: The Dirty Trick That Crossed the Line in Frisco Politics

Politics is nasty. No surprise there. It attracts the best and the worst in people—but mostly the worst when election season heats up like a June sidewalk in Texas. And while anonymous commentary has long been a staple of free speech (hey, Frisco Whistleblower isn’t exactly sending selfies), there’s a wide, dusty canyon between anonymity and outright impersonation.

Let’s make this clear: creating an anonymous account to voice your opinion is one thing. Creating a fake account using someone else’s real photo, name, and identity? That’s a whole other universe of dirty. And in that universe, you’re not just trolling your political enemies—you’re potentially slandering innocent people and opening them up to have their reputational ruined, legal jeopardy, or worse.

Case in point: a local keyboard warrior operating under the name Bryan Bridges III (sometimes known as Ezra Bridges) has been bouncing around social media like a pinball, slapping his name on some big accusations and slinging insults like confetti at a cheap parade. The problem? The smiling face on Bryan’s profile pic? That’s not Bryan. That’s James Bridges—a real man who lives near the Oklahoma border, works with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and whose wife of 36 years is a Texas schoolteacher. He is a father of two sons and a grandfather of four grandchildren. He leads Bible studies and hosts weekly FCA huddles.

We are guessing James Bridges is not the Frisco flamethrower or political hatchet man. We are guessing he is just a man, living his life, who probably has no idea his photo is being used to publicly drag elected officials, political candidates, and constituents through the digital mud.

We like to fact check, so we have reached out to James Bridges via email and will be reaching out to his wife as well.  We will of course let you know how he responds.  If he responds the way we think he might, it’s going to be a doozy.  We’ve taken all the screenshots sent to us of Bryan Bridges III comments and archived them as evidence. And if Mr. Bridges didn’t give consent for his image to be used in this toxic identity-theft theater, then “Bryan Bridges III” might be facing more than a few angry replies. He might be facing a libel suit. 

Let’s stop and think about this: what if James’s employer stumbles across these posts and assumes he’s the one spouting off? What if someone at his wife’s school district mistakes him for the venomous ghostwriter behind the name? This is the sort of stunt that doesn’t just smear political opponents—it scorches innocent bystanders, too.

There’s a word for people who do this kind of thing: cowards. Cowards with no moral compass, hiding behind stolen faces because they know that if they showed their own, they’d have to answer for the mess they’re making.  Maybe if they showed their face then we would know if they were the spouse of a council member, or a town bully, or maybe the sister of a political candidate.

Frisco deserves better than this kind of clown show. Say what you want, stand for what you believe—but do it under your own name or be completely anonymous.  But don’t put real people on the line who don’t even live in our town to carry out your devious acts.  Frisco Whistleblower has never claimed to be anyone but a resident of Frisco.  We are not portraying ourselves as anyone we are not, we are just not disclosing who we are.  Very different!

Because when you steal someone else’s identity just to hurl insults in a local election? That’s not speech. That’s sabotage.  And we’re not letting it slide.

Let us know what you think:

Should the Frisco Police investigate this? 

Should our city council members demand an investigation into this, the same way they did into the so-called “illegal recordings per Laura Woodward and Bryan Bridges III?”  If they would like James Bridges information, we are happy to supply it to them.