In the intricate dance of politics, strategic maneuvering often extends beyond conventional means. Employing a political infiltrator to gain an advantage over opponents is akin to deploying a subtle, yet potent weapon in the arena of power. You are maybe thinking this does not happen in Frisco, right? We received several emails from readers and insiders saying it did. The Infiltrator Playbook can unearth secrets about your opponent’s campaign. The result can make a candidate alter their political narrative and potentially shape the very fabric of political dynamics.
We received an email about how the Frisco Safety First PAC (aka the city) sent insiders to a private event held by a Stonebriar resident for John Redmond, Mark Piland, and the Frisco Firefighters Association. It was like a meet and greet but at the country club open to residents who lived within the community interested in meeting the candidates. According to the sender, former Frisco Mayor Michael Simpson and former Frisco City Manager, George Purefoy showed up. Other guests included Dick Peasley whose name appears on the PAC paperwork and represents the city on the North Texas Municipal Water District for the last 10 years. Steve Trent attended who serves on the Visit Frisco Board. Next, you had representatives from the Pelham campaign including Linda & Ed Kelley and Ann Harris. Linda serves as Angelia Pelham’s current campaign manager and Ann served as her campaign manager in 2021. That is quite a list of the Who’s Who of Frisco!
Simpson, Harris, and the Kellys, qualified per the invite we received a copy of because they reside in the community. We were puzzled, why would they want to go to a meet and greet when they support Keating, Pelham, and Safety Frisco First PAC? Then you have Peasley and Trent who live in Frisco Lakes, and Purefoy who lives across the tollway who did not qualify per the invite. Peasley is on the Safety-First Frisco PAC paperwork and that is why we are confused. Call me stupid, but WHY WOULD YOU GO TO AN EVENT FOR CANDIDATES THAT YOU DON’T SUPPORT AND COULD CARE LESS TO GET TO KNOW?
According to the email someone from the club asked Purefoy, Peasley, and Trent to leave because it was a private event. The person close by heard one of them say, “We are with Mike Simpson and want to offer an opposing view.” I asked my wife if she would want to sit through a meet and greet for candidates, she had no intention of voting for? Her answer was short and to the point, “hell no!” Then she asked me if the party crashers invited the opposing FOR view to their meet and greets. She has a valid point.
We keep going back to WHY DID THEY COME? The only clear answer is to spy with their own little eyes, cause trouble, or infiltrate the event to hear what the other candidates had to say and to disrupt it with the opposing view which we find to be rude and classless. If they felt strongly about hearing the opposing view on the propositions, why didn’t the same people insist that the Frisco Chamber of Commerce invite the Frisco Firefighters Association to the Chamber community forum?
Next up we heard about the Frisco Firefighters Association holding an event at a local restaurant and they invited the community to come out and talk to them. My wife and I went to eat and check things out. As we sat there, I said to my wife, don’t those guys look familiar? We pulled up the email sent to us, and there were some familiar faces, Dick Peasley and his Vote No Friends.
We thought it was so nice of them to show up and offer so much support for the Frisco Firefighters (just kidding), but they were there to watch and listen to what was happening at the FFFA Meet and Greet. We are guessing they paid close attention so they could report back to Frisco Star Enterprise. Now it is a public restaurant, but it was no accident Dick Peasley and his friends showed up and kept trying to engage with firefighters. If we had to guess, they probably were recording them and everything they said to try and use against them later in the campaign.
If we were to ask Dick, why are you here? My guess is we would be told to make sure the “opposing” side was represented. How many times do you think the Frisco Firefighters, Piland, or Redmond showed up at their private events? Just a guess, but we would say zero! It was clear they would attend every event they could based on their orders from Frisco Star Enterprise. WHY WOULD YOU GO TO AN EVENT FOR CANDIDATES THAT YOU DON’T SUPPORT AND COULD CARE LESS TO GET TO KNOW?
The best one, we saved for last! We received an email tip that Keating may have put a plant into the firefighter’s campaign station at the polls. At first, this was a stretch even for us, but we kept reading. The email stated they had been at the Fire Station to do a few hours of poll greeting and noticed an older lady sitting with the firefighters. They stopped to say hi to them and asked if the stranger was one of their mothers out to help for the day. They responded no, she just came over and sat down with them and said something about she would not hold a Vote No sign and wanted to support the firefighters.
When their time was done, they went about the day when she realized one of her earrings was missing. She wanted to backtrack her steps and ended up going back to the fire station. She pulled into the parking lot and noticed it was empty except for two cars across the way from her. She recognized the “older woman” from earlier that day sitting with the firefighters and already knew who the man was from seeing him at the polls.
Well, who was it? Jason Zelovics, owner of Mustang Strategies LLC, a political consultant and guess who he represents, John Keating! In fact, Keating has paid Mustang Strategies over $85,446.50 from October 2023 to April 2024 for political consulting, mailers, signs, digital media, flyers, and polling expenses. Why was this woman talking and being so friendly with Zelovics, who DOES NOT support the firefighters? The email said, something felt off, so she started taking pictures and videos of them in the parking lot. She saw them exchange a little “black thing” and then after about 30 minutes they said goodbye and drove out of the parking lot.
Flustered, she forgot about her earring and drove home. Later that evening her husband shows her the new Safety-First Frisco post which talks about yellow firefighter shirts, and it has a close-up photo of the so called “union” logo. The next day when she went to complete her two hours at the polls and noticed the same woman wearing a “KEATING T-SHIRT” and holding a Re-Elect Keating sign. As she walked by the firefighters, she said hi and stopped to tell them what she saw, and they said they knew something was off by the questions she asked and because she wanted a shirt so badly. They seemed to blow it off, the writer said.
After reading her email and looking at the pics we thought, this woman was not crazy. That leaves us with one very important question. Did Keatings “political consultant” put a mole in with the firefighters to try to get a shirt, take pictures and record them? Did they use the little bit of info they obtained to adjust their communication talk track? The lady came back every day until election day, never talked to the firefighters again and held a Keating sign every time.
In closing, it was clear the Safety-First Frisco PAC, Keating and Pelham’s people were going to go to any lengths to win. There was a lot of “Fields Developer Money” at stake and expectations to pull off a win. We should all be asking the following questions: Why did Dick Peasley and his buddies show up over and over at both private and public events held by the “other side?” Why did Dick Peasley feel the need to berate the firefighters at the polls telling them they are overpaid and under worked? What level of desperation did you feel that you had to send a 70-year-old mole into sitting with the FFFA at the polls to gain intel? Is Keating proud of his Cheating (in many ways apparently)? We would also like to know if Keating will release the itemized bill from Mustang Strategies. Why, well something does not add up that he spent $85,446.50 more than any other recent local and even some state-run elections.
The coward must abandon his dignity before he abandons the field of battle – James B. Donovan
Ah, the City of Frisco elections, where candidates pop up like mischievous moles in a game of whack-a-mole. The battle in the whack-a-mole arena begins and the candidates are ready to take their swing at the other. It starts with the Whack-a-mole Forums, where they take a stance and tightly grip their mallet waiting for the right opportunity to smack down the opposing candidate. To everyone’s surprise, candidates just keep popping up somewhere else. It is a constant battle through the political season as you whack and jostle for position, each promising to fix the potholes, and lower property taxes while dodging the inevitable accusations of shady dealings. As early voting begins, you wonder if you’ve nailed down your opponent enough that they will surrender and retreat to the darkness of their hole. They surprise you and pop back up and are ready to battle to the very end. As election day draws to a close so does the delightful game of whack-a-politician and soon a winner will be given the gold mallet. If only it were that easy!
Now that the recent election is over, we want to look at the “Election Playbook” or tactics used because you may be surprised by some of the underhanded measures that involved active and former city officials. Then again maybe not! The first tool in the election playbook is the power of social media. The Safety-First PAC, run by an ACTIVE SITTING CITY COUNCIL MEMBER BILL WOODARD, took the “take no prisoners” rhetoric approach which means victory or supremacy at all costs without any regard to consequences.
One post talked about how when there’s a fire in the city, they don’t want to see the Frisco Firefighters sitting on the sidelines campaigning and playing politics. “Don’t claim the department is understaffed when 6-7 firefighters are sitting at each of the polls every day doing the Union’s bidding” the post said.
Residents were quick to respond that the post was appalling, arrogant, and ignorant. City Councilman, Brian Livingston responded to the post and said he was pretty sure firefighters get days off and if called upon would have been happy to assist. He specifically pointed out we can disagree on the props without personally attacking them. Sapp, President of the Frisco Firefighters Assoc was also quick to respond. He said, “to insinuate that our OFF-DUTY engagement in exercising our First Amendment rights suggests we don’t care about our department or our brother and sister firefighters facing a fire is GARBAGE! He continued, if the city had called for help, he could guarantee the polls would have been empty and every OFF-DUTY firefighter would have shown up.”
We quickly noticed each time a negative comment was made, the PAC just hid or deleted it, and then they swiftly blocked residents from the page to control negative opposition. These were the actions of councilman, Bill Woodard, and his city sidekicks. Wait, are you telling me the Safety-First Frisco PAC (aka the city) which fought so hard and nasty against the firefighters don’t believe in FREE SPEECH? You know your FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT! Ultimately the post was removed from the page probably because burning down the house (figure of speech) was not the best idea.
Another post called the firefighters association “soldiers without a war, and they follow a playbook of confusion, fear, and intimidation.” After talking to residents, we are sure the VOTE NO PAC put out the confusion, created fear, and used intimidation tactics with the DEVELOPER MONEY they had in their pockets. Over the next several posts they released several takeaways from Mayor Jeff Cheney’s conversation with Sheryl Sculley regarding the “big bad Unions!”
In the first video Mayor Jeff Cheney called his “BIG AHA MOMENT” related to the playbook of unions and how they operate. The first was that Associations/Unions try to pit citizens against their elected officials, city manager, and city government.
Then he goes on to say they intentionally put out misleading information. For example, the signs across town say Frisco Firefighters “really big,” and the “association” is very small. What we find interesting is that Mayor Cheney had no issue with the Frisco Firefighters’ signs when they endorsed him and put it on a billboard. We found this on social media, that says Frisco Fighters REALLY BIG, and where is the word association? Ouch, it hurts to look like a crybaby!
The next post was about the Cockroach Theory. We must assume since the video was posted that the Safety-First Frisco Vote No PAC agreed or endorsed Sculley’s comments. It starts with her claiming that the San Antonio unions during elections would tell candidates to give them what they want, or they won’t support them and will run someone against you.
What we find humorous is that Bill Woodard, Jeff Cheney, Laura Rummell, Brian Livingston, and John Keating have all WILLING APPLIED AND ACCEPTED the endorsements from the Association (OH SORRY, UNION), over the years. Since they supported another candidate other than the incumbent, we are now we are supposed to believe they are in a power struggle and blackmailing people.
She then goes on to say the machine of the Union has to keep the “PRESSURE ON” the council members, and once they have them under their shoe like a cockroach, they had to apply pressure and change their tactics to keep them reeling until the Union’s goal is achieved.
We see this very differently because it was the city’s Vote No PAC that sent multiple mailers with different messages, multiple text messages with different verbiage, and talked about higher taxes and outsiders. At one point we felt like if we voted FOR the proposition “outsiders” being Aliens might abduct us in our sleep and take us to their leader to brainwash us and intimidate us into voting NO.
The next post was a video of Sculley and Cheney talking about how you can love your firefighters and disagree about having a union in your community. We could not agree more with Mr. Cheney. You can disagree civilly, however, that is not what you, the council, city and former city officials, and the Vote NO PAC funded by your friends choose to do.
Would you like examples? Angelia Pelham personally attacked the Frisco Firefighters Association board members at a forum and threatened to oust the firefighters who spoke to her in private. Then the Chamber did not allow the firefighters to present at an educational community forum. Lorie Medina, your former Chief of Staff, and campaign manager repeatedly shouted that our firefighters were liars at the polls. Mr. Dick Peasley verbally berated them saying they were overpaid and underworked. Friends of the council in a large social media group then accused firefighters of setting the fire in Chappel Creek to help their cause for the propositions. The Vote No PAC constantly attacked the character, integrity, and qualifications of the Frisco Firefighters. It was “NASTY” Mr. Cheney but it was one sided and the choice was yours, the councils and the Vote No PAC on how that played out.
In closing, social media has serious fire power when it comes to getting out a message. Maybe that is why the social media appears to be scrubbed and cleaned up. We could not find any of the previous posts from Safety First Pac who deleted their page, or photos of the council holding the VOTE NO signs at the polls.
While residents were shocked by some of the posts, employees and former employees of the city were not, according to insiders who emailed us. One said, “That type of behavior is standard operating procedure for the city from the departments to the king of the hill better known as City Manager, Wes Pierson.” Another insider email said, “The only difference is now the residents are seeing what happens behind closed doors at all levels of the city.” They concluded by asking us not to use their name for fear of losing our jobs at city hall. Fear of losing their jobs is something we hear often from City of Frisco employees.
Diversity refers to the presence of a variety of people, cultures, races, religions, and more that make up a local community. Growing up in another country we traveled to many destinations and that allowed us to learn about diversity and different cultures in our early developmental years. It was eye-opening and breathtaking, and little did we know it was exposing us to the diversity in those local communities. My dad loved talking to the locals, eating local foods, and doing what the locals did. Those are some of the best memories that I carry with me today.
Now as a dad and granddad, I try to expose them to the same blessings bestowed upon me by my father. A few years ago, my grandkids said, Papa can we go to the event where they throw colors all around and get dirty? I explained to them that Holi or the Festival of Colors, was a religious Hindu event to mark spring’s arrival and the triumph of good over evil. I explained to them it was rooted in ancient traditions, and that it is one of the most prominent Hindu celebrations next to Diwali, the Festival of Lights. The kids were excited to learn more and understand it better and now we take them every year. By attending the event they had fun, made new friends, and learned that diversity in a community is a great thing.
Frisco is growing so much that in 2017, Mayor Cheney created an ad hoc committee on fostering communication between the city’s Asian Indian community and city leadership. The Frisco Indian Affairs Committee defined its mission through four pillars: community outreach, civic engagement, philanthropy, and events. At the time it was created, the Indian community was made up of about 35,000 residents and that has only increased with rapid growth in our region. With the rapid growth of the Indian American community comes a significant political constituency. An online survey conducted in September 2020 showed that while holding relatively liberal views when it comes to US politics, Indian Americans are conservative when it comes to issues back in India.
Over the last few months, we have received several emails from different followers living in our Indian American community here in Frisco. Surprisingly, they shared the same sentiment of concern over whether their community understands the effect of their voting power and how to choose the candidate who will best represent or include their community. They explained that the “leaders” of the community with a substantial presence generally “guide others” on who to vote for. They are concerned some leaders have ulterior motives and may not be doing what is best for the community, but what is best for them. So, we decided to investigate one.
One leader in the Indian American Community is Gopal Ponangi who currently sits on the Frisco Independent School Board. We pulled up his campaign finance reports for the period covering 01/01/2021 to 06/30/2021, expecting to see lots of donors but there were only three and each one donated $5000.00. The donors were Venu Bhagyanagar, Anand Chillappa, and Pavan Nellutla. Then one more donation for $500 from Dustin Paschal.
We pulled up his second campaign finance report from 07/01/2021 to 12/31/2021 and has a $200 donation from Angelia Pelham (current councilwoman), and $1000 from John Keating (current councilman). Under pledged contributions, you have Venu Bhagyanagar, Anand Chillappa, and Pavan Nellutla for $5000 each. Then there are several more from other individuals ranging from $50 to $1500.
Then we looked at his more recent campaign finance report for the period 7/1/22 through 12/31/22. We saw the same three names under pledged contributions: Venu Bhagyanagar, Anand Chillappa, Pavan Nellutla and each gave $5000 dollars.
At first glance, we notice several of his donations are from current or former members of city boards and commissions including Chinasatyam Veernapu – Parks and Recreation Board, Venu Bhagyanagar – Former Frisco Parks Recreation Board 2021, Pavan Raj Nellutla – Urban Forestry Board, Hitesh Naidu – Board of Adjustments / Construction Board of Appeals, and Venkat Mulukutla – Social Services & Housing Board. The other concern is the donations from Angelia Pelham and $1000 from John Keating.
Gopal appears to have a very vested interest in who he supports. Our question is, did Gopal Ponangi encourage his community to vote for the best candidates or the ones who donated to him? It also makes you wonder if his largest contributors sit on City boards and commissions, could that influence who he supports? Could it be a conflict if he wanted to endorse another candidate instead of the current sitting council members? Obviously, Gopal is not going to bite the hand that feeds his campaign contributions list.
Gopal was out at the polls on election day with Keating and he kept pulling people over and telling them how to vote. Then he had them take pictures with Mayor Cheney, which he later posted on his social media pages. We will talk more about that in another blog. More importantly, do these leaders show up throughout the year, or only annual events, and during election season?
They are dropping like flies now. Upper management leaving as fast as they can under new leadership.
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