Dave Ramsey: You will either learn to manage money, or the lack of it will manage you!
Growing up my mom used to get a call from the headmaster at least once a week because my brother or sister would always get in trouble. So, you can imagine my mom’s shock when the phone rang and this time it was not about my brother or sister, it was about me. The headmaster told her I challenged one of my teachers and told them they were wrong, and her statement was stupid. It didn’t matter that I was right, and she was wrong I still got in big ole trouble. I remember the ride home that day at first it was silent and then my mom asked me what I was thinking. I explained the teacher said wealth was about having a lot of money and I told her that she was wrong and that was a stupid way of thinking. I told her wealth is about having a lot of options.” She just looked me dead in the eyes and said son you have always been a precocious young man but my curiosity and boldness is what was going to get me into trouble one day. All these years later, my mom was right!
When we moved to this country my kids went to public school, which was very different from our upbringing and the type of education we had. I quickly realized that the main function of the school boards was to provide local, citizen governance and oversight of education. School boards were responsible for employing the superintendent, developing, and adopting policies, budgeting, and overseeing facilities. I always wondered what the signs of an effective school board member are. One article I read said board members should have a clear vision for the district, have good communication skills, work well as a team, and be fiscally responsible in order to adopt a school budget. They must also be accountability driven and be a little tech data savvy nowadays.
I was a little shocked this week when a new local whistle-blower messaged us some tidbits on a candidate for the Frisco ISD school board. We did our research, and we were able to confirm what we had been told and we believe residents have the right to know.
Is Dynette Davis fiscally responsible, you decide. She was sued in Collin County Courts in 2022 (case # 004-02178-2022) by Jefferson Capital Systems, LLC for “BREACH OF CONTRACT” related to the purchase of a vehicle. It also noted that she resided in Plano, Texas. The paperwork notes that account was charged off on October 30, 2019, and as of the filing, there remained an unpaid balance of $20,835.37. Ms. Davis, despite being issued a demand letter has never paid on the account.
We thought surely this is a one-off situation and we all have tough times so grace should be given. Then upon further research, we learned that Estancia at Ridgeview Ranch filed eviction proceedings 14 times from 2013 to 2015. While each case was dismissed eventually because she must have paid the rent, to have 14 evictions filed on you is outrageous.
We also found Ms. Davis filed for Chapter 7 Bankruptcy in the Texas Northern Fort Worth court on February 10, 2014. She was appointed a trustee from Dallas and the attorney was Patrick Swindell. What is Chapter 7 Discharge it releases individual debtors from personal liability for most debts and prevents creditors owed those debts from taking any collection against the debtor.
Now my kids have been out of school for years but someone with this much of a financial hot mess probably should not be a board member with significant fiscal oversight or responsibility. Actions like this could get you removed from some boards of directors for companies. Why is someone who lives in Plano or has a Plano address running for the Frisco Independent School Board? Should residents be concerned about her disaster of a financial mess dating back years? Is this the person we want to have oversight of our kids? I don’t know much about any of the candidates but what I do know is that anyone we elect to the ISD or city council should have the qualifications and stability needed to be in a position like that. While I understand a financial hiccup, where there are this many one should stop and ask questions.
Benjamin Franklin once said these powerful words, half a truth is often a great lie. The Armstrong Lie is a powerful documentary about Lance Armstrong, a sports legend who won the Tour de France seven consecutive times from 1999 – 2005 after surviving stage 3 testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. Armstrong will go down in history for committing one of the best kept lies in sports history while he amassed a fortune from the sport and its sponsors. Over the years he was plagued with rumors that he was doping or using performance-enhancing drugs which he denied emphatically. Then a teammate became a whistleblower which caused Armstrong to be stripped of his titles, sponsors ditched him, and he faced several legal cases. So why did Armstrong lie? Why did he risk losing it all if it ever became public? Sports writers and enthusiasts have questions for years, but will we ever really know the truth?
The art of lying is among the most sophisticated accomplishments of the human mind. Children must learn how to lie, how to assess the reactions of the listener, and how to adapt a story to fit a believable narrative. Kids also need to learn how to decipher a lie to protect themself. Learning to lie during the impressionable years of our life is why some adults conquer the art of lying. But are all lies bad lies? Studies have been done for years to answer this question. I was blown away when I read one article that said there were 10 types of lies or deception. In Armstrong’s case he lied by omission (partial truth), used lies of falsification (lie to get attention or sympathy), told bold face lies (one tells a lie, and everyone knows it’s a lie), used lies of exaggeration (lies based on some truth), and he was a pathological liar (lies for no apparent reason).
Lies, regardless of whether they are big or small can cause a physical change in our bodies. It can trigger increased heart rate, high blood pressure, and elevated levels of stress hormones in the blood. It can also cause dry mouth, upset stomach, vomiting, sweaty hands, nervous facial twitches or hand twitches and can cause your skin to break out in a rash or turn red. I know what you are thinking right now, where are we going with this Shady Shit? Well forum after forum Mark Piland mentioned transparency and how he wanted to put in place an ordinance, like the City of Plano’s that said if you received over $1000 from any individual you could not hear any case or be involved in any discussion that could come before the council to avoid a conflict of interest or perception of wrongdoing. You can still accept large donations, but you just can’t be involved in items that come before the city – seems simple and common sense.
At one debate Cheney said campaigns are expensive and without donations it would be hard to run a campaign of this magnitude. This go around I have received a postcard, a magazine, and newspaper all with Mayor Cheney’s “Vote for Me” message. Unless you are living under a rock everyone knows who Mayor Cheney is, his record, and his accomplishments, so why is there a need to spend that kind of money? At the forum, Cheney responded and said Plano’s ordinance was put in place two years ago after all their developments were done or largely done. He said he spoke to a Plano elected official recently (no name mentioned) about their policy and the official told him that the ordinance is not even enforceable, there are no teeth to it, and it was put in place because of a political ideology in their community who was having a tough time getting traction for their candidates that they wanted to support. Now they have a situation where PACs and Super PACs along with other special interest groups lead the outcomes in elections. Watching the forum, I noticed Mayor Cheney would twitch his hands, blink his eyes and his face would turn red so it made me wonder, was he lying?
The morning after the forum I woke up, had coffee and white powdered donut (love those), and talked about the Forum with my wife. While we were perplexed we let it go and went on with our life because we did not think for a minute this was some smoking gun. Several days went by and we got an email from a follower who said they too were curious about Piland’s idea and Cheney’s response, so he emailed the Plano City Council. He forwarded us the emails and responses and that is when I the light bulb turned on. The whistle blower asked which one of the council members spoke with Mayor Cheney, could they confirm or deny his statements made at the forum, and what is their personal feeling regarding the ordinance. Surprisingly several responded and all of them had a similar consensus. We are publishing the first two responses in full below as we just don’t have time to post them all.
Shelby Williams responded, “the ordinance truly does have no teeth—that’s something I’d like to fix.” Williams went on to say, “ Whomever Mayor Cheney spoke to from Plano was not correct, A) The only political ideology that drove the campaign finance ordinance was the desire to rein in the massive amount of commercial developer money influencing Plano’s elections and B) while it was argued that the ordinance would cause PACs to dominate our elections, it never happened. After the ordinance was adopted, PACspending went down significantly. He also said he wrote about this in 2021 when the new council proposed to repeal the ordinance. Here’s my article from then, which includes links and screenshots to more data: https://shelbyhwilliams.com/campaign-finance-recusal-ordinance-up-for-repeal/.”
Anthony Ricciardelli (Place 2) responded, “I voted for the ordinance when we enacted it, remain a big fan of it, and believe that it is meaningful. I agree that there are still loopholes in it, unfortunately. I would like to close those loopholes. Respectfully, I don’t think it would be prudent for me to comment on something attributed to a different council member. I can tell you that I’ve never said anything like the statements that Jeff Cheney attributes to someone on the Plano City Council.”
Like we said earlier, lying is an art form!
TRUE: Mr. Cheney was correct that there is a loophole in the ordinance that needs to be fixed and they hope to do fix it in the near future.
LIE: Mr. Cheney said it was put in place by a political ideology in Plano’s community that was having a tough time getting traction for candidates that they wanted to support. Williams said it was to rein in the massive amount of commercial developer money influencing Plano’s elections.
LIE: Mr. Cheney said they now have a situation where PACs and Super PACs along with special interest groups lead the outcomes in elections. Williams said after the ordinance was adopted, PACspending went down significantly.
Martin Luther King, Jr., once said “A lie cannot live” and he is right. Lies may take care of the present but they have no future. If you tell one lie and get caught then all your truths become questionable. I have always believed that when someone lies to you what they are really telling you, is that you were not worth the truth. That is a slap in the face, it tells you what they think of you and how little they value you or think you are worth to them. In the end we are left with one question, Mayor Cheney, who did you speak to on the Plano City Council that you quoted at the forum?
In the last week we have been sent a treasure trove of information from citizens who are “spilling the tea” and telling us they are tired of the Shady Shit happening all around Frisco. The note with this little tidbit read “my discussion with a builder rep out at The Preserve.” The builder rep talks about how some lots were held back then the rest of the lots were distributed to the builders which is what he has to sell. The builder rep says that the lots on the Golf Ridge and the Hilltop were part of a VIP Program. Upon more questions the builder rep says the VIP program was put on Jeff and the owner of the development. He says some of those lots still remain for example “JEFF HAS A LOT AND THE DEVELOPER THEMSELVES HAVE SOME LOTS.” He goes on to say “kind of like hold this lot for me because my family may want to build on it, maybe hold for a client.” Then the rep notes the development is owned by multiple billionaire families from Dallas and they reserve the right to hold some of those back, so in summation these will be held but they may fall out so stay close to the builders.”
Now we are pretty sure that Mayor Cheney said at every single debate or forum that he owns two pieces of property his personal home and one rental property. That appears to be true by tax records but if they are holding a lot for him isn’t that just semantics and slightly dishonest if he plans to build a personal home there next to his new friends the “BILLIONAIRE” families from Dallas.
Now you may ask who our source and we will just say another Frisco Whistle Blower! Thanks for tea friend! We have sent the rest on to a source in the local tv news since we learned Mitchel at the DMN omitted this from his Cheney story.
In the 1998 movie Primary Colors, John Travolta plays Governor Jack Stanton who is running for President, and he said, “I’m going to tell you something really outrageous. I’m going to tell you the truth.” It would be refreshing if more people would tell the truth. We laid out some cold hard facts about Frisco Registered Voters and Elections in Vote For Pedro that should scare the hell of those us who call Frisco home. Early voting starts in a week and out of a population of 218,314 people we can expect maybe 10-20,000 registered voters to turn out based on previous general elections.
We have some very important races that will directly impact our city and school district. It made me curious; how any registered voters can name all the candidates? Have you researched all the candidates? Have you checked out each candidate’s website to see what they are about? If you are one of those that say I am voting for Jim Bob because that is who I voted for last time, then please don’t vote. If you are one of those deciding based on a social media post that says “I am not voting for them because they are democrat, republican, left or right-wing extremist” then please don’t vote. If you are one of those who just blindly follow what everyone else is doing, then please don’t vote. If you are voting and you have not looked at all the candidates on an individual level to understand what they stand for then please don’t vote.
The world around us is changing every day and if we are going to vote we need to be responsible for our own decision. That means you need to research, watch the debates, go meet all the candidates even if you think I would never vote for them. Even if a candidate is unopposed learn who they are and what they are about. We must make educated decisions based on our own personal views, values, and philosophies after meeting all the candidates. You could surprise yourself and learn the one candidate you never thought you would vote for is the one you end up casting your vote for.
Below is information regarding the City of Frisco race and bond election as well as the Frisco ISD Board of Trustee race. Start with the simple question, who is running and for what office or position? We put these by place, then the order in which they drew for the ballot. All you must do is click on a person’s name and you can go their website.
City of Frisco
Mayor: Jonathan David Spencer (we could not find a website for him), Mark Piland, and Jeff Cheney
Proposition A: The issuance of $131,400,000 tax bonds for public safety facilities and equipment. taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds will be imposed.
Proposition B: The issuance of $240,000,000 tax bonds for street and road improvements. taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds will be imposed.
Proposition C: The issuance of $39,000,000 tax bonds for a parks operation center/building maintenance facility and a logistics equipment and storage building. taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds will be imposed.
Proposition D: The issuance of $43,000,000 tax bonds for parks, trails, and recreational facilities. taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds will be imposed.
Proposition E: The issuance of $20,000,000 tax bonds for a downtown parking garage. taxes sufficient to pay the principal of and interest on the bonds will be imposed.
We received an email today from a resident who said they are upset that their PIRs are being delayed. The resident asked for “All electronic communications via email for Project P117/ Universal from 1/1/22 – 2/27/23 amongst all city council members , Wes Pearson, Maria Row, Ben Brezina, Jason Ford.” We have laid out the timeline sent to us by the resident below and we are wondering why the city is trying to delay this information from being released until after “THE ELECTION” Feb 27, 2023: Resident files PIR request
March 14, 2023: Resident receives response that the documents will cost $72.36 (for labor)
Resident Makes Payment
March 20, 2023: Resident sends message asking when they can expect files?
March 23, 2023: Resident notices status change reads “sent to attorney” sends message asking when should they expect their documents? Then they ask why has it been sent to attorney?
March 29, 2023: Resident receives a response asking for them to clarify what information they are seeking from the city.
April 2, 2023: Resident replies asking them to confirm they are asking for clarification of the request after they charged the resident $72.36 for files. They state what they are asking for is very clear all files related to the Universal Project (code name P117 or US). They state all emails between council members, city management, and Frisco EDC, the developers Fehmi and Universal management. Travel Expenses for the 10 people who went to Universal Florida. The resident states how did you determine a price for labor if you did not know what I was asking for and why are you delaying the records release?
April 5, 2023: Resident writes to city again asking where are the files they have requested and paid for? They note they have been waiting patiently since Feb 27, 2023. The resident notes the games the city are playing by charging them, then asking for clarification, then sending to city attorney. The resident then asks how they can have a city council meeting, vote to releases records for a PIR request regarding a MAYORAL CANDIDATE and an article can be in the paper the next morning but they can’t seem to respond to others requests regarding Universal. The resident asks for a response in 24 hours.
April 18, 2023: Resident “FINALLY” receives an email that that they have released a few documents but the rest has been sent to the Attorney General in Austin, Texas due to “confidentiality” issues. The resident said he received travel invoices, 6 redacted emails and a Choose Frisco presentation. Is the city trying to say there are no emails regarding this project?
April 21, 2023: Resident calls AGO and asks the turn around time on approval or denial to the city’s request and how they can file a objection. They are told by the state representative it can take “UP TO 45 DAYS” for a response and gave the resident the address to mail a letter of objection.
QUESTION: HOW CAN THE CITY RELEASE HR DOCUMENTS ON A RETIRED EMPLOYEE AND A DMN REPORTER CAN HAVE AN ARTICLE IN THE NEXT MORNING PAPER WITH A FULL ARTICLE BUT THEY CAN NOT RELEASE DOCUMENTS REGARDING UNIVERSAL?
WHAT IS CONFIDENTIAL? WHAT IS THE CITY WITHHOLDING?
TO SUM IT UP – IT IS CLEAR THE CITY IS PLAYING GAMES AND DELAYING THESE DOCUMENTS UNTIL AFTER THE ELECTION AND WE WANT TO KNOW WHY? WHAT ARE THEY HIDING?
If you have filed PIR’s are getting the run around from the city we want to hear from you! Email us via our contact us page.
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