Why I'm Fighting So Hard
When I first realized that Jeff was being dishonest and manipulative, in early 2021, I reached out to the council for help. After some time without any assistance coming from the council I started to feel like I had to just let it go. I tried to convince myself that since the council didn’t care about it then I shouldn’t either, but I quickly realized that that just didn’t set right with me. I deeply felt (and continue to feel) that I had an obligation to the council, and by proxy to the citizens, to see that the SEDC was run with integrity, even if the council wasn’t as dedicated to that concept as I was. I had to lead with integrity as part of my obligation to the city in my role as the President of the Board of Directors.
I spent about seventeen years serving on boards for the city. By my estimate, ninety-five percent of serving on a board is easy. A lot of it is showing up to the meetings, rubber-stamping obvious choices, and debating particulars about minor issues that might make some difference to the citizens. I had never been tested the way that I was when all of this started in 2021.
Whether a person is serving in a leadership position or a lower role, serving selflessly with integrity isn’t about what you do when the choices and the situation are easy. It’s about what you do when the choices and the situation are difficult. I hope when the dust settles from all of this you will feel like I acted with integrity, even if you don’t agree with every decision I made along the way or you hate hearing about this issue over and over. As I said in an email to Councilman Cullen King in February of 2022, “When we get to the end of this, if you’re disappointed in my handling of this matter I would ask that you please try to have some measure of mercy in your assessment of my conduct. I’m just one man trying to find my way out of a horrible situation.” That situation was that I had knowledge and evidence of Jeff’s misconduct, yet I was being stonewalled by a council that repeatedly refused to address the problems his lies had created.
In the fallout of all of this, Jeff and his friends on the council removed me from my appointed position, but they haven’t removed from me the obligation that I feel to see that the EDC was run with integrity under my watch. That integrity was shattered by Jeff’s lies and manipulation, so I expect I will feel this obligation to stand up and speak about these matters until his lies and misconduct are properly addressed, either by the council or by the voters as the council refuses to act. I would hope that you would all expect nothing less from the city's board members and from the councilmembers. I won’t stop fighting for integrity because integrity is worth fighting for.
Since my removal, Jeff and his friends on the council have removed every other director from the board who had witnessed Jeff’s misconduct, not because they had done anything wrong but solely because they had witnessed his misconduct. These were good people, good servants of the city, who were removed so that the council could “move on” without having to address Jeff’s misconduct.
I am only one man, and I’m trying to stand up for what’s right in a system that doesn’t seem to care all that much about what’s right. I’ve failed so far, but I hope you can forgive me for that failure as fighting for integrity isn’t supposed to fall on the shoulders of any one person in the city. The council should have taken up the burden when I reached out to them initially, and they should have taken up the burden when I filed the formal complaint about Jeff’s misconduct. I shouldn’t have to carry this burden alone, and I’m very much hoping that others will stand with me.
In my emails to Matt and Lindsay I implored them to investigate this matter: “There is an objective truth about what happened and you should want to find it. Otherwise you are allowing yourself to be kept in the dark where you can be manipulated by lies.” As far as I can tell, they have both chosen the latter option.
The citizens of Sachse have the same options. You can demand that the councilmembers address this matter, or you can allow it to be covered up to protect dishonest people in the government. You can do something to shine a light on the problem, or you can let the problems fester in the dark. You don’t have to you to put 100% faith in me today, but I need you to start understanding that the councilmembers are hiding something from the citizens, and that should never be acceptable.
If anybody tries to justify to you why the council hasn’t taken up my complaint they are only trying to continue to cover up for his lies and misconduct. I can back up everything I’m reporting about this issue, and that is precisely why they won’t allow an investigation.