What happened
During my 2024 campaign for Spring Branch ISD School Board, an anonymous website — SaveSBISD.org — published a vicious smear campaign filled with defamatory claims. It was not "community debate." It was designed to intimidate, poison the information environment, and decide an election from the shadows.
SaveSBISD had operated since June 2021 as an unregistered political committee: yard signs without required "Paid for by" disclosures, mass text blasts to thousands of voters urging "vote no," and other activity that Texas campaign finance law requires to be reported. Violations cited include Texas Election Code §§ 252.001, 253.031, and 255.001.
In August 2024 I filed Matthew Cone v. John Doe, Cause No. 2024-52944, in the 189th Judicial District Court of Harris County, Texas. After months of litigation, attorneys at Scheef & Stone, LLP used subpoenaed records to identify the operator: Brian Muecke — former Mayor of Hedwig Village and self-described "Director of the Villages Intelligence Agency."
Muecke was simultaneously co-chair of the SBISD School Finance Advocacy Team — a position of trust — while funding SaveSBISD activity from his credit card (June 2021–June 2024). Publicly documented associations and records identify others involved in related smear and campaign activity, including David Slattery as a candidate and Jessica Colon, Ashley Zahn, and Emily Sperandio in supporting roles.
The problems extended beyond an anonymous website. On October 26, 2023, a private text message from Trustee John Perez to Superintendent Jennifer Blaine was leaked. The same information was allegedly passed to Muecke and Sperandio and used in an effort to intimidate Trustee Perez. Board Trustee Courtney Anderson is alleged to have read the text aloud to parents later that afternoon. Claims that the texts came through a completed Public Information Act process are inconsistent with the timeline: Sperandio’s PIA request was received around late October 2023; the district sought an Attorney General ruling on November 7, 2023; and AG decision OR2024-003486 issued January 31, 2024 — meaning no proper pre-ruling release could have occurred.
Brian Muecke’s wife, Jeannette Muecke, has served on the SBISD 2017 Bond Oversight Committee (approximately $848.6 million) and in 2022 bond oversight efforts — combined monitoring of more than $1.3 billion in public funds — while her husband’s unregistered PAC activity influenced district elections. That appearance of conflict is documented in full on The Desk.
On June 2, 2025, a Texas Ethics Commission complaint (SC-32505243) was filed against Muecke and SaveSBISD. The matter advanced to a preliminary review hearing under Government Code § 571.125, noticed for December 10, 2025, in Austin. Separately, Whitley Penn issued an unmodified (“clean”) FY2024 audit opinion presented to the Board on November 17, 2025; an open letter to the firm and a formal TSBPA complaint followed and are published under The Desk.
I own the SaveSBISD trademark. I am working with counsel to stop unauthorized use of that brand and to protect my reputation from ongoing falsehoods. This page is the authorized public summary of that record. For the complete narrative letter, see How We Got Here.
Trademark notice
SaveSBISD® is a trademark of Matthew T. Cone. The website at savesbisd.org is not authorized by, affiliated with, or endorsed by the trademark owner. Any association of that domain with legitimate district advocacy under the SaveSBISD mark is unauthorized.