Over the past several years, Leander residents have been perplexed at proposals and decisions by elected officials, as well as by city administrators and staff, who have turned a deaf ear to citizen concerns. The results of the recent elections indicate citizens converted that frustration into effective grassroots action in the first phase of replacing the city council.
A review of publicly-available Campaign Finance Reports (CFRs) offers insight on some of the previous council and administrative actions that ran contrary to the best interests of Leander homeowners and taxpayers. Table 1 below contains data extracted from CFRs submitted to the City of Leander Secretary by the named office-holders and the unsuccessful mayoral candidate over the 2015-2018 time period. All but three of the individuals or entities who donated to the respective campaigns are outside special interests with non-Leander (city) addresses. Note: CFR data for Leander’s new mayor and council members is not contained in Table 1 but can be found in previous posts on LeanderLookout.com.
Table 2 contains a listing of a few entities from Table 1 which have received payments from the City of Leander between January 2016 and May 2018. Further research is required to provide context on those payments.
Table 1
| Campaign Donor (Past or Current Professional Affiliation)* |
Vic Villarreal 2018 Mayoral Campaign |
Former Mayor Christopher Fielder |
Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Seiler |
Place 1 Council Member Andrea Navarrette |
Place 3 Council Member Shanan Shepherd |
| Tommy Tucker (Crescent Communities) |
$100.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 | ||
| J.M. Herrington, Developer | $250.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 | ||
| Halff PAC | $250.00 | $250.00 | $500.00 | ||
| Bruce Nakfoor, Developer | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $300.00 | ||
| Thomas Arndt (Dannenbaum Engineers) |
$1,000.00 | $250.00 | |||
| William Pohl (Pohl Partners) | $1,000.00 | $2,000.00 | $500.00 | $500.00 | |
| Lance Hughes (Hughes Capital Management/Hero Way MF Inv.) |
$250.00 | $500.00 | $250.00 | ||
| Jeff Musgrove (American Realty) |
$500.00 | $250.00 | $500.00 | $250.00 | |
| James Plasek (Lookout Group) |
$1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | ||
| Texas Association of Realtors PAC | $500.00 | $1,500.00 | |||
| Texas Land Developer Assoc. PAC | $250.00 | ||||
| Susan Turrieta (Smith Turrieta Engineering) |
$500.00 | $150.00 | |||
| John Lindner (Walker Partners) |
$250.00 | $500.00 | $400.00 | ||
| Willis Connor (American Constructors) |
$100.00 | $100.00 | |||
| Kristiana Alfsen (Pohl Partners) |
$500.00 | ||||
| Carl Norman | $100.00 | $100.00 | |||
| Andrea Farr (Texas Pawn & Jewelry?) |
$200.00 | ||||
| Robert Cantwell | $500.00 | ||||
| Brad Pfluger, Architect | $200.00 | ||||
| Jim Powers (J.L. Powers) | $200.00 | ||||
| James & Christi Herrington | $250.00 | ||||
| Corbin Van Arsdale (Cedar Park Mayor) | $250.00 | ||||
| Curt Green Developer |
$250.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 | ||
| Blake Magee (Blake Magee Co. Developers) | $2,000.00 | $1,000.00 | |||
| Andy Pitts | $2,000.00 | ||||
| RPS Klotz PAC | $200.00 | ||||
| James & Shirley Dannenbaum (Dannenbaum Engineering) | $500.00 | ||||
| Vic Villarreal | $50.00 | ||||
| Mitch Fuller (J.L.Powers) | $200.00 | $50.00 | |||
| Martin Burger (American Constructors) |
$250.00 | $100.00 | $100.00 | ||
| Constructors Capital LLC (American Constructors) | $100.00 | ||||
| Jonathan Escalante (Chasco Construction) | $100.00 | ||||
| Mark Borenstein (HDR Engineering) | $300.00 | ||||
| John Thomas (Tom) Glenn (Leander Consulting) | $100.00 | $150.00 | |||
| Chasco Constructors | $250.00 | ||||
| Dale Murphy (K Friese & Assoc.) | $250.00 | ||||
| Pix Howell (Member Congress of New Urbanism) |
$200.00 | $250.00 | |||
| Tim Haynie | $350.00 | $400.00 | |||
| Joseph Cantalupo (K.Friese & Assoc) | $450.00 | ||||
| George Walker (Walker Partners) |
$250.00 | $500.00 | |||
| Thomas McFarling (M&S Companies) | $500.00 | ||||
| James Knight | $2,000.00 | $500.00 | |||
| Jody Giddens | $100.00 | $500.00 | |||
| James Giddens | $250.00 | $500.00 | |||
| AREA Leander LLP / Tynberg Family Living Trust |
$2,000.00 | $500.00 | |||
| Freese & Nichols PAC | $300.00 | $750.00 | |||
| Karen Friese (K Friese & Assoc) | $250.00 | $1,000.00 | |||
| HDR PAC | $1,000.00 | ||||
| Frederick Jay (Jay Engineering) | $500.00 | $1,000.00 | |||
| Mike Elmore, Developer | $3,000.00 | $3,000.00 |
Table 2
| Vendor | Payments to Vendor Jan. 2016- May 2018 |
Possible Affliliated Campaign Donors |
Vic Villarreal 2018 Mayoral Campaign |
Former Mayor Christopher Fielder |
Current Mayor Pro Tem Jeff Seiler |
Place 1 Council Member Andrea Navarrette |
Place 3 Council Member Shanan Shepherd |
| American Constructors | $3,907,418.00 | Martin Burger Constructors Capital LLC |
$250.00 | $100.00 $100.00 |
$100.00 | $100.00 | |
| Halff & Associates | $1,520,977.63 |
Halff PAC | $250.00 | $250.00 | $500.00 | ||
| Walker Partners | $802,622.40 |
George Walker John Lindner |
$250.00 $250.00 |
$500.00 $500.00 |
$400.00 | ||
| Chasco Constructors | $1,503,567.75 |
Chasco Constructors Jonathan Escalante |
$250.00 $100.00 |
||||
| Hero Way MF Inv. | $698,237.25 | Lance Hughes | $500.00 | $250.00 | $500.00 | $250.00 | |
| K. Friese & Assoc. | $719,264.91 |
Karen Friese Dale Murphy Joseph Cantalupo |
$250.00 | $1,000.00 $250.00 $450.00 |
|||
| Freese & Nichols | $596,343.72 |
Freese & Nichols PAC | $300.00 | $750.00 | |||
| HDR Engineering | $240,269.72 |
HDR PAC Mark Borenstein |
$1,000.00 $300.00 |
||||
| Jay Engineering | $247,711.40 |
Frederick Jay | $500.00 | $1,000.00 | |||
| M&S Engineering | $208,424.65 |
Thomas McFarling | $500.00 | ||||
| Smith Turrieta PLLC | $107,337.71 | Susan Turrieta | $500.00 | $150.00 | |||
| Bruce Nakfoor | $92,890.94 | Bruce Nakfoor | $1,000.00 | $1,000.00 | $300.00 | ||
| Haynie Consulting, Inc. | $179,228.00 |
Tim Haynie | $350.00 | $400.00 | |||
| Crescent Communities | $180,989.48 |
Tommy Tucker | $100.00 | $250.00 | $250.00 |
Copyright © 2018 Don Stroud