Transparency and ethical leadership are essential to good governance. What if I told you two candidates for Frisco City Council threatened to sue two residents because the candidates didn’t like what the residents were saying about them? It sounds outrageous that would happen, but facts are facts. It did happen.
What SHOULD happen is that candidates answer questions, and if someone says something isn’t correct, the candidates publicly state their position to correct any inaccuracies.
Not this time. Instead, a cease and desist was sent threatening a lawsuit.
I find it outrageous personally. The information speaks for itself. The video of the resident telling her story is below. The transcript of her comments are in the comments along with images of the cease-and-desist letter.
Oh, those two candidates got elected.
The subject matter of the cease-and-desist letter is a deeper story that I’ll cover at a later date.
PDF of the letter is here, images below.
This is the Transcript of Tracie’s comments:
Mayor, Council…My name is Tracie Reveal Shipman and I am a 30-year Frisco resident on Calvery Court. In that 30 years, I have been actively engaged in the city in numerous roles, from serving two terms on the City Council, including being selected as the Mayor Pro-tem by my peers for both Mayors Kathy Seei and Mike Simpson to being appointed to various city boards, including the Comprehensive Advisory Committee, Charter Review Commission, Citizen’s Bond Committee, Visit Frisco, and the Community Development Corporation. I have also volunteered in non-city roles on PTAs, the Heritage Association, Frisco Education Foundation, the Scooter Bowl, the Frisco Miracle League’s Turkey Trot, and Leadership Frisco Advisory Council – Shout Out to Class #27 BCE!
It is in the spirit of transparency and ethical leadership that I come to you tonight. As I was reviewing my notes for tonight, I realized that I have been involved in at least one political campaign locally every year since 1996! I also realized, as I was sitting in the work session that I have been on the opposite side of the campaign in every one of your races—I might be the only person in the room, and maybe in the city, who has been that person.
Some years, I’ve been on multiple campaign teams—either directly or indirectly. You might imagine that over those three decades of campaigning, I’ve seen everything. But it wasn’t until this past May that I had my first ever experience of receiving a Cease & Desist letter as part of my involvement in local campaigns.
On May 30th, 2025, while I was out of state working, I received an “immediate Cease & Desist letter” from local attorney Steven Noskin on behalf of his clients, city council candidates Jared Elad and Burt Thakur. I have a copy of the original, undated Cease & Desist letter available for all for you all for your records. In the letter, Mr. Noskin alleges that “false and misleading campaign advertising” had been disseminated against Mr. Elad and Mr. Thakur related to their affiliation with the Frisco Firefighter’s Association, the local chapter (#3732) of the IAFF union. Mr. Noskin’s allegation was untrue.
Over the course of the following week, between May 30th and June 5th, while I was still out of state working, I had to fight Mr. Noskin and point out that he was wrong about the law and the facts. Despite Mr. Noskin’s ongoing threats, he was advised that I was prepared to go to Court and seek sanctions against him and his clients, Mr. Elad and Mr. Thakur. Only then, did Mr. Noskin stop his harassing threats behalf of his clients, the day before election day in the run-off races for the City Council.
Steven Noskin served as the attorney of record for candidates Elad and Thakur. He is also currently serving as attorney for Frisco Chronicles Whistleblower, who I understand from court filings put up a representative who committed perjury and who was supporting Mr. Elad, Mr. Thakur, Mr. Livingston, and others on social media who hide behind fake profile names.
Here’s the bottom line… for at least the period of time of which I am aware, Mr. Elad and Mr. Thakur engaged the legal services of Mr. Noskin, incurring ongoing legal expenses as candidates for office. Yet, neither Mr. Elad nor Mr. Thakur have reflected ANY legal expenses in their campaign finance reports as of today. Nor have either of them included any “in-kind contributions” from Mr. Noskin in their campaign finance reports, in the event that Mr. Noskin provided his legal services pro-bono.
Considering Mr. Noskin would have had to consult with his clients, Mr. Elad and Mr. Thakur, on or before May 30th in order to deliver that initial Cease & Desist letter to my home on May 30th, Mr. Noskin’s legal services technically should be reflected in either their campaign finance reports ending May 28th for Mr. Elad or May 30th for Mr. Thakur OR for their reports dated June 30th. But none of their reports reflect ANY legal services provided by Mr. Noskin from the period.
So I say again, in the spirit of transparency and ethical leadership, I ask that Mr. Elad and Mr. Thakur amend their reports to reflect the legal services from Mr. Noskin. Like I said earlier… in my 30 years of being involved in local elections—in some very contentious races, by the way—I have never heard of this happening to anyone before. But just in case this is going to be a repeated behavior, I do have some unsolicited advice for future candidates. If you decide to use attorneys to try and quash someone’s rights, be sure to keep track of your receipts for your finance reports and report those expenses and contributions in a timely and accurate manner. Thank you.
