APV History

APV became a political special interest group in Frisco Lakes on 7/24/2016, but earlier events led up to that. Here's a brief summary of our history.

By Wayne Caswell with help from Sue Ann Tollett, 7/7/19 (updated 7/2/2011)

APV Presidents:

1. Ramona Thompson, 2016-2017

2. Bert Simon, 2018

3. Wayne Caswell, 2019

4. Rick Thomas, 2020

5. Curt Mooney, 2021

6. Helene Marlinski, 2022

This article describes the evolution of the Alliance of Progressive Voters (APV) and recognizes those who helped get us going. We started as the Frisco Lakes Democrats club and became a political special interest group on 7/24/2016, but earlier events led up to that. Later we had to change our name when Pulte Homes said it did not want Frisco Lakes associated with a political party, and that's when we chose the name Alliance of Progressive Voters.

As of this update, it seems Frisco Lakes will ban all political groups, at least prohibiting us from using the friscolakes.net website and email system. That's what prompted the creating of this new site.

Early Inspiration

Sue Ann gave the me a 1/31/2014 Dallas Morning News article about Julie Welch. Julie started a Democrat Club at Heritage Ranch, a senior community in McKinney. Because Sue Ann had family in Heritage Range, she wondered if we might be able to do that too, so she called to get help starting a group here, in Frisco Lakes.

Later that year, Sue Ann visited with John Dinneen and learned about a watch party so large that they had to find a bigger house – the home of Lola and Sam Prince. Later, she and Eilene Dinneen went to a Collin County rally for Wendy Davis, a well-known Democrat in the Texas Senate.

Meanwhile, Heritage Ranch was getting ready for a meeting of their Democrat group and invited some of us to come. Sue Ann went with Eileen and John and noticed that they had a full ballroom with the Collin County Democrat Chair and a candidate or two. They imagined Frisco Lakes with a club that could draw a crowd like that.

Just a few weeks later, on 11/4/2014, the Dinneens hosted an election watch party for Wendy. It had a good turn out and fanned that dream.

The Cruise Connection

Meanwhile, Ramona & Ron Thompson were on a cruise on The Liberty of the Seas, where they met Bert & Kathleen Simon. It was February 2016 when they had dinner on board and shared political views and frustrations with the fact that Frisco Lakes is so so deeply Conservative and they felt surrounded.

At the time, Texas was so red that few Democrats even bothered to run for office at the local or state level, and the only political club in Frisco Lakes was the Conservative Coalition. So Dems in our community kept mostly quiet and didn't even display yard signs or share their views – at least not until the Frisco Lakes Democrats group was formed.

Shortly after that cruise, Sue Ann was looking for the Democrat Precinct 1036 Chair. She learned it was Ramona and that she lived here in Frisco Lakes, so she called right away. As expected, Ramona knew many of the political players in Denton County. Ramona told her that Bert and Kathleen had previous political experience too. They were naturals to help form our group as the Frisco Lakes Democrats Club.

Frisco Lakes Democrats Organizational Meeting

Ramona facilitated an exploratory meeting on 7/10/2016 with one question. Was there enough community interest to start a Democrats group? YES!

Initial invitees were Ramona Thompson, John Dinneen, Bert Simon, Elvia Hernandez, Paul Lenchner, Barbara Mazzeo, Sylvia Mc-Clellan-Kolbe, and Sue Ann Tollett.

The main topics discussed were (1) HOA community rules for special-interest political groups, and (2) how to elect officers. Ramona spoke briefly, and she and Bert recruited a committee to recommend an initial slate of officers.

They already had learned about community rules from Frisco Lakes Community Manager Marty Whitaker and gained a better understanding of Party rules from Denton County Democrat Chair Phyllis Wolper. Ramona, Sue Ann and a few others then knocked on doors of people who had earlier placed Wendy Davis signs and invited them to the first meeting.

First Regular Meeting on 7/24/2016

By the time of our first regular meeting in July 2016, people they met door knocking offered all kinds of support. They brought food, napkins and cups, and at the meeting they elected officers, decided to hold monthly meetings on the 3rd Sunday at 3pm, and agreed to charge annual dues of $5.00. We’ve kept the meeting time the same but since raised dues to $10/year.

Also during that first meeting, they arranged to sell Hillary Clinton yard signs, talked about ways to increase voter turnout, and discussed the Republican platform and Democrat talking points. “What can we say to our Republican neighbors?” They also mentioned restrictions against inviting any speaker deemed political in nature. Original officers, elected then, were:

• President: Ramona Thompson;

• Vice President: Bert Simon;

• Secretary: Marilyn Curry;

• Treasurer: John Dinneen; and

• At Large Board Member: Elvia Hernandez.

According to the sign-in sheet, 36 people attended that first meeting on 7/24/2016. These original members helped make APV the fun group it is today, and we certainly appreciate their efforts. Of course many newer members have also played important roles too, and our membership has since grown into the hundreds, but this article is about our early history.

APV Growth

Thanks to so many, our group continues to grow and, at while writing this, our mailing list now has over 340 subscribers, with many households sharing the same email ID.

Still, Frisco Lakes remains an overwhelmingly conservative voting precinct, and we often feel surrounded by Republicans who make talking about politics difficult. But that’s why people leaning left are thrilled when they discover APV. “Finally, someone I can talk to.”

All of our members are decent, moral, respectful, inclusive, intelligent, informed and fair! And there are now enough of us in APV that other Democrat friends and neighbors are starting to come out to call themselves proud Texas Democrats. Yes, the more Democrat signs you see, the more you will see in the future.

Our First Two Years

With experience as Precinct Chair, Ramona led our group through its early days and stepped down a year later to run for office as a State Representative in the Texas House. It was a tough race for a new candidate and green campaign team, but Ramona almost won. That's a lot to be proud of.

Bert Simon took over from Ramona in June 2017. Marilyn Curry stayed on as secretary, John Dinneen continued as treasurer, and Wayne Caswell agreed to step up as vice president, eventually becoming president in June 2018.

Shortly after Bert took over (very shortly), we had our 1st Anniversary Celebration on 9/21/2017. We did it up big at the Frisco Lakes Golf Clubhouse with a special guest. Congressman Beto O’Rourke spoke and answered all sorts of questions and took pictures for about two hours. We had well over 100 people attend, and the parking lot was full.

Many people helped us get Beto here, but we mostly thank Elvia. She knew Beto personally. Before moving to Frisco, Elvia served on the El Paso City Council, a position that Beto eventually took over when she moved.

The Elvia-Beto story is a great example of the importance of state and local politics. Beto went on to become a Congressman, almost took down Ted Cruise in a tough Senate race, and then ran for President. APV has shown him strong support all along, and it’s important we do the same for other local Democrats.

Rick Thomas took over as APV President after Wayne stepped down, and he was then replaced by Curt Mooney who will complete his term at the end of the year.