The Collin County Observer

This is the first year I can remember when both the Republican and Democratic Party Party county chairs faced primary opposition.

Races for the county chairmanship of a major political party get little media attention, but can have long lasting implications for the success of the local party. I suspect that most voters have never noticed that at the bottom of their primary ballot was a choice for the county chairman of their respective party.

Listed below are the candidates and some basic information about them.

Republican primary voters interested in learning more about their contested party chair race might want to attend the CCGOP Chairman Candidate Forum tonight (Jan. 21) at the Republican Party Headquarters, 8416 Stacy Road, Suite 100 McKinney Texas 75070.

DEMOCRATIC PARTY

SHAWN STEVENS
Mr. Stevens is an attorney and a long time Democratic activist. His recent filing with the Texas Ethics Commission lists:
Campaign Contributions: $0
Campaign Expenditures: $243.05
Camppaign Fund Balance: $0
Campaign Loans: $0

In a statement he sent to the Observer, he listed his Democratic Party involvement including:
• Voting in every Democratic Primary since 1988;
• Working for the election of Ann Richards as Governor in 1990;
• Initiating the registration of the Texas Democratic Party Internet domain in 1996;
• Establishing the first website for the Texas Democratic Party;
• Serving as the TDP's first webmaster from 1996 - 1998;
• Serving as a Precinct Chair member of the County Executive Committee of the Harris County
Democratic Party from 1996 - 2002;
• Serving as a pollwatcher and member of the Ron Kirk for U.S. Senate Campaign Legal Team in 2002;
• Serving as a Precinct Chair member of the County Executive Committee of the Democratic Party of
Collin County from 2003 - 2009;
• Serving as Vice-Chair & General Counsel of the Democratic Party of Collin County from 2003 - 2008,
etc.);
• Serving as Chairman of the Democratic Party of Collin County from July 2009 - present.

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YASIN ALI
Yasin Ali is a local Dallas businessman and Senior Consultant with US Department of Homeland Security, USCIS, and ICE on cases of Political Asylum, Amnesty, Immigration, and Religious cases. He moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex in 1972 to attend college, received a Business Law degree from Cornell University, and completed a Post-Grad Degree in Economics from Karachi University. He has been a naturalized US citizen since 1977, and a registered voter since 1978.

He works closely with many domestic civil organizations, such as American Muslim Caucus, Greater Houston American Muslim Assoc, India Assoc of North Texas, Islamic Assoc of North Texas, CAIR, and Ismailia Muslim American Assoc of Texas, etc.

His other accomplishments are: Marketing Head of AKDN Partner Ship Walks in Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Calgary & Vancouver, CA. This is to generate in-kind donations and funds for 3rd world developing countries for helping women & children to become self sufficient and live better lives. In Dallas 8500 people showed up, and raised $250K in 1 day and a LA Walk raised $400K where 20K+ people showed up.

A search of the Texas Ethics Commission record show no campaign finance filings for Mr. Ali.

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REPUBLICAN PARTY

FRED MOSES
Fred was elected County Chairman by the Republican Executive Committee in 2008. He is a successful Plano businessman and founder and owner of Telecom Electric Supply Company. In 2006, Collin College named Fred Moses a "Living Legend".

His recent filings with the Texas Ethics Commission list:
Campaign Contributions: $601
Campaign Expenditures: $401
Campaign Fund Balance: $200
Campaign loans: $0

Fred has an Associate of Science degree in Business Management from Housatonic Community College and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing from the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He completed the Advanced Management Education Program from the Kellogg School of Management in July 2007.

Fred’s leadership has been recognized by the Dallas Business Journal and he was also featured in Black Enterprise, a national magazine. He is the recipient of the Gladys Harrington Precinct Chair of the Year, the CEO Institute’s Christian Business Leadership Award, the Outstanding Texan Award from Texas Legislative Black Caucus. Fred has also served as Past Chairman of the Plano Chamber of Commerce and Past President of the Collin County Republican Men’s Club.

Mr. Moses website lists these goals for 2010:
* Implement Plans for continued success in the 2010 General Election
* Defeat Democrats in Collin County and promote Conservative values
* Promote true conservatism at all levels in Collin County
* Unify the conservatives under the Republican Banner
* Capitalize on Summer Festival Events and TEA Party enthusiasm
* Increase the Focus on Outreach and Visibility for the Party
* Use the technology in the redesigned County Party Website
* Apply technology to the County Database

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MANDY TSCHOEPE
Mrs. Tschoepe lists her occupation as homemaker. She is the Republican State Party Executive Committee member from Senate District 8. In a recent press release, she was quoted as saying, “With two decades of experience in the Republican Party, I have demonstrated the leadership that our local Party needs to continue to win in Collin County”.

Her recent campaign finance report filed with the Texas Ethics Commission lists:
Campaign Contributions: $1,593
Campaign Expenditures: $4,727
Campaign Fund Balance: $1,727
Campaign Loans: $5,000

On her website, Mandy explains why she thinks she is the best candidate for county chair:

"The Collin County GOP has to be more than just an organization built around events such as Lincoln Day and elections in even-numbered years. We have to develop a party structure that allows us to engage in the six principles outlined above on an ongoing basis and this means building our power. We have to engage our precinct chairs in the political process and the governance process of the party; demonstrate our principles through our actions, such as transparency; and we have to end the practice of depending on our elected officials and candidates to support the party – we exist to support them."

She lists her primary tasks, if elected, as:
Unite the Party - Leadership necessary to unite all of the groups and factions in the Party.
Grassroots Activist - We need to ensure our activists and precinct chair are trained and well organized.
Building the Party - State and national candidates look to Collin County to deliver the votes.
Conservative Leader - It’s about more than just winning all of our races, it is about our whole role

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Bill