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By
Katy Moore
Staff Writer
Collin County will hold a run-off election April
8 for its Republican Precinct 1 primary
nomination process, where incumbent Phyllis
Cole, in office since 1991, will face Plano
resident Matt Shaheen.
Cole received 47.2 percent of the vote in the
March 4 primary, while Shaheen received 38.06
percent.
A candidate must win 51 percent of the vote to
avoid a run-off election in Collin County.
Third-place candidate Douglas Reeves received
14.73 percent.
“Anytime you have three people in a race like
that, there’s a strong chance you’re going
to have a run-off,” Cole said. “We’ve got
a good strong support base, and we’re going to
get our people back to vote.”
Cole originally won an unexpired term in 1991,
and won it again the next year.
Shaheen, a technology and management consultant
from West Plano, has run his campaign by touting
term limits for elected officials and lower
taxes. He pointed out he and Reeves collectively
won a majority of the vote, totaling 52.8
percent to Cole’s 47.2 percent. He’s hoping
some of Reeves supporters will cast their votes
for him.
“If you look at the election results, you see
that the majority of citizens in Collin County
want change,” Shaheen said.
Shaheen got support from Collin County Judge
Keith Self, who also has touted the need for
change and term limits for elected officials.
“The commissioners have lost touch with the
people they’re supposed to represent,”
Shaheen said. “They’ve done silly things
like giving themselves longevity bonuses and a
17 percent pay raise once they got rid of the
longevity bonuses. They ended up getting their
money, they just did it a different way. You
look at it and kind of shake your head, but
that’s just the kind of thing that happens
when you’ve been in office too long.”
Self is the newest member of the
commissioner’s court in Collin County. On
Election Day, he sent an email blast to his
supporters encouraging them to vote for Shaheen.
“I just think that what we’re proving is
that politicians do need to change over
occasionally,” Self said. “There’s a quote
by Ronald Reagan that said something like,
‘Politicians are like diapers. They both need
changing regularly and for the same
reason.’”
Self took office Jan. 1, 2007, after unseating a
16-year incumbent.
In another contentious race, Precinct 3
incumbent Joe Jaynes beat out his opposition,
Celina mayor Corbett Howard, who is another GOP
conservative who touted change at the county
level. Jaynes received 57.5 percent of the vote
to Howard’s 42.5 percent.
Howard blasted Jaynes for what he called
conflicts of interest in the days leading up to
the November transportation bond election, and
for voting to give himself a raise while he sat
as a commissioner. Jaynes said if elected, in
his next term he would help get a citizens
advisory board organized that would make
recommendations on the salaries of elected
officials. The idea came from Cole, who would
also coordinate an advisory board if elected.
“State law says that we have to vote on those
salaries, but it kind of leaves a bad taste in
your mouth,” Jaynes said.
Shaheen was not available for comment.
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