Frisco Politics

Video of Place 5 Runoff Election Forum Now Available

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Candidates for City of Frisco Council Place 5 Runoff Election joined Frisco PAC for a virtual Candidate Forum on November 18, 2020. Our candidates answered a range of questions, and their answers can be found at the time stamps shown below.

Candidate Questions

Below are the scripted questions asked of the candidates during the forum. The actual question in the video may be worded differently (the focus remained the same).

Q1.    When you are running for re-election in 2023 what is the ONE issue that you want to be able to tell voters that YOU successfully achieved?

Q2.    You both have stated that you support the arts. Both of you appear to agree that any direction towards a “quote” “unquote” Arts Center or District would best be achieved through a private/public partnership, which has been the model for many developments in Frisco. Understanding that this is a long overdue want for Frisco, can you tell us what your vision is for an Arts presence in Frisco during your first term? Who would be your ideal private partner to bring to Frisco for this project?

Q3.    For many Frisco residents on a Sunday morning will be stopped by off-duty police officers in uniform, and often with a City police vehicle stationed nearby, to allow traffic to flow out of churches. Some wonder why these vehicles shouldn’t deal with traffic like everyone else and wait for gaps to leave. City policy currently allows this to occur, and payments for these services are made to the individual, not the city. Do you believe we should be allowing the use of taxpayer resources for this kind of activity without receiving some financial contribution?

Q4.    This year – 2020 – will be remembered for many things, but one of these will be the incredible diversity of candidates running in our local elections. We had a record number of women, people of color and different cultures and faiths seeking office this year in both the school and council races. Our council is not currently reflective of the strong cultural and diverse community that lives here. The outcome of this election will not change the color of our council in any way. What do you say to residents who are not like you, to help them understand that you will represent their interests equally with those of other residents that may more closely align with your demographic?

Q5.    You are both here, obviously as the two candidates who received the most votes in the last election, but also because of the supporters that you have. A candidate in the other race has shared that they believe that this year has been the most divisive partisan race in Frisco’s history – mostly due to the national election. This runoff election doesn’t have the noise of national politics (well not too much), however we are continuing to see very divisive and partisan messaging from campaign supporters. I think I speak for many people when I say that we – the citizens – are sick and tired of the ugliness that our local campaigns have taken over the recent years. Speaking to your supporters of your campaign, what would you say to them tonight to ask them to do their part to not contribute to this ongoing ugliness?

Q6.    The City of Frisco has a very clear governance and management structure as it relates to those that work for our City. As a city council member you understand that on matters of employment – with few exceptions – the City Manager and his leadership team are responsible for staffing matters. The council sets the policy, and the city manager implements it. One of the greatest tools for employees to improve working conditions, pay or benefits, is to be given the right to organize (or unionize) and engage in collective bargaining with the City. Under Chapter 174 of the Texas Local Government Code, our emergency services employees are entitled to organize and bargain collectively if the City adopts this option under this chapter. Currently the city has not taken this step, and therefore these employees cannot organize or undertake collective bargaining. Do you support or oppose the City adopting Chapter 174 of the Local Government Code to allow emergency services staff to unionize and then seek to collective bargain with the City?

Q7.    Frisco has a long record of factoring in green space within our city and the communities that are developed to home our residents. As the earth continues to warm up as more and more green spaces succumb to development, what would you propose to increase the amount of usable and well-established green space throughout our city moving forward?

Q8.    There has been some debate of the City’s response to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. As of September 1st, this year, the city stopped providing cumulative data of COVID-19 infections to its residents. In the last month, Collin County also stopped providing COVID-19 case data to its residents. Denton County continues to provide data as of today and is reporting that there have been 1,183 cases in Frisco reported. The school district reports that there has been a total of 843 cases reported since the first day of school in August. Texas currently ranks as the state with the most confirmed cases in the country (exceeding 1.1 million). In the past two days, Collin County is reporting 318 new cases, and Denton County is reporting 243 new cases according to the state. Some of these cases are most likely affecting Frisco citizens. Today the US passed another milestone as we exceed 256,000 deaths from COVID. As the pandemic continues to ravage our country and our city, do you believe the decision to not report any data by our city continues to be the right thing to do given these numbers and what is happening?

Q9.    Follow up, as the safety and health of our citizens and families is a part of both of your campaigns, and will be a key responsibility for one of you as a council member, what will you specifically do to ask Collin County and their commissions to actually reinstate the available data so we that we – as a city in two counties – have access to the data.

Q10.  When the election is over on December 8th, what is the first thing that you will do on December 9th that you have not given as much attention to since campaigning began?

It Is Our Time Flyer

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A complaint was filed with Texas Ethics Commission in November 2020 following receipt of a flyer that was mailed to a number of voters in the City of Frisco that violated multiple sections of the Texas Election Code. The TEC has assigned this as Sworn Complaint No. 32011246 (see below).

Statement of Facts as presented to the Texas Ethics Commission

The attached flyer was received by postal mail today (October 30, 2020). It is purported to be a flyer promoting the candidacy of Sadaf Haq for City of Frisco election, which it is not. The flyer and the postage to residents of the city would exceed $500 (reference Sec. 255.001 (d)(3)).

The political disclaimer on the mailpiece is from “IT IS OUR TIME.” From my search of the Ethics Commission, the City of Frisco and the City of Houston, there is no registered Political Action Committee with this name. The intent of this mail piece is to injure a candidate and influence voters (reference Sec. 255.004(b)).

The flyer does not state a person’s name associated with this group (reference Sec. 255.001 (a)(2)(A)).

The mailing address used for this mailpiece is a UPS Store with mailbox rentals. The box number is not listed on the mail piece. The UPS store will not provide the box number or the registered user of that mailbox as they are a private company and have stated that they do not disclose that information. The intent for this vague mailing address is designed to hide the true source of the communication (reference Sec. 255.004).

The named individuals on the flyer are financial contributors to Sadaf Haq’s campaign, however did not authorize or were aware that their name would be used for this flyer. From my discussion with the campaign treasurer, some of the named individuals contacted have confirmed that they have no connection with the group that has produced and mailed this flyer.

In preparing this sworn complaint, I have attempted to learn the true source of the communication by contacting the UPS store listed as the address on the flyer to determine if the group has any contact information (they do not), searching the Ethics Commission website for registered political action committees to determine if they are registered (the do not appear to be), searched the City of Frisco and the City of Houston webpages for local references to this political action committee (they do not have these listed), and sought direct feedback from the candidate purported to be “supported” by this mail piece to determine her involvement, if any (she has stated that her campaign did not produce this mail piece).

I also contacted the Ethics Commission legal support line in relation to listing a name in the Respondent’s section of the complaint, as this is not known, for reasons shared elsewhere in this complaint. Following that call, I included the name of the Group in the last name field of the form, rather than leaving it blank, or listing this as unknown.

Specific Violations of the Texas Elections Code

This sworn complaint alleges that the following sections of the Elections Code have been violated, by the circulation of an election flyer mailed to residents of the City of Frisco, Texas purporting to support a candidate.

Sec. 255.001 Required Disclosure on Political Advertising

(1) The complaint does come within the Commission’s jurisdiction under subsection 255.001 (d), as the value of the flyer with postage exceeds $500; and (2) The referenced mailpiece does not include the “full name” of the person who paid for the political advertising (reference 255.001 (a)(2)(A))

Sec. 255.004 True Source of Communication

The facts will show that the true source of the communication has not been made available, and deliberately avoids presenting information to determine the true source of this violation.

Sec. 255. 005 Misrepresentation of Identity

(1) The referenced violation suggests that the mailpiece has been sent in support of a candidate, however it is not, and is designed to injure a candidate and influence voters in the City of Frisco election.
(2) The named individuals on the flyer were campaign contributors to Sadaf Haq’s campaign and were not asked to have their names listed on this flyer. It appears to add a sense of validity to the flyer, these names were extracted from the campaign’s reports, which would be a violation of this section as well.

SC-32011246-Notice-of-ComplaintDownload

Frisco Place 5 Runoff Election Forum – 11/18/2020

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Frisco PAC City Council Place 5 Runoff Election Candidate Forum

The Frisco PAC has announced our next Virtual Candidate Forum for the Frisco City Council Place 5 Runoff Election will be held on Wednesday, November 18, 2020 at 7:30 PM.

Both candidates – Laura Rummel and Dan Stricklin – will be joining us for this event, which will be conducted by Zoom, and live-streamed to Facebook (and/or YouTube). More details can found on the Frisco PAC Facebook Page.