Auburn Journal: The Plot Thickens. Developer gives $100,000 to Simmons

By: Gus Thomson, Journal Staff Writer
Wednesday, May 31, 2006 11:26 PM PDT

Funds are flowing to Placer County supervisor candidate Jerry Simmons from the powerful Tsakopoulos development family of Sacramento, with the latest donation reported Wednesday in the form of a $100,000 check from AKT Development president and CEO Angelo Tsakopoulos.

Simmons, an education attorney whose elected post on the Sierra College board is the target of a recall effort, is challenging incumbent Supervisor Robert Weygandt, who's seeking a fourth term as District 2 representative.

Simmons had reported raising $388,000 in campaign donations by Wednesday, with a flood of money -- $174,000, including the Tsakopoulos donation -- coming in over the past week.

Weygandt had $333,000 in donations by Wednesday -- including a $50,000 campaign contribution reported last Thursday in a late filing from the United Auburn Indian Community, owner of the Thunder Valley Casino.

The Tsakopolous donation is believed to be the first six-figure donation by an individual to a supervisorial candidate in a county where election campaigns rarely raised more than $100,000 a decade ago.

"After Robert Weygandt took more than $80,000 from Thunder Valley Casino, I asked Angelo Tsakopoulos for help in my campaign so I wouldn't be significantly outspent," Simmons said. "I've been a strong supporter of the Tsakopoulos family's dream of bringing a private, four-year Christian university to South Placer County and I'm willing to accept donations from anyone who shares my vision for the future of Placer County irrespective of whether they're Republicans or Democrats."

But a leading Republican said Wednesday that the unprecedented support from the Tsakopoulos family represents a developer's unwanted meddling in an election to gain undue influence at the Board of Supervisors level.

Ken Campbell, former Placer County Republican Party chairman, said the donations from the Tsakopoulos camp -- which also include smaller donations from several people connected to the developer, including $11,000 from AKT Development executive Mark Enes of Sacramento, and $11,000 from Sacramento homemaker Kristin Enes - show Tsakopoulos has "bought" Simmons as a candidate.

Weygandt deflected questions on the alliance between Simmons and the Tsakopouloses, saying the two would be better able to answer why they're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars in the election to defeat him.

Weygandt said the United Auburn Indian Community contribution is the largest he's received during an election campaign. In total, the tribal contribution to Weygandt this year and last is $84,000.

Weygandt said the United Auburn Indian Community donation is an example of the broad-based funding support he has from groups and individuals he's worked with as a supervisor.

In the case of the 3-year-old Thunder Valley Casino, Weygandt said that he relied on an opinion backed up in the courts that the casino would be allowed and, on that basis, worked with the tribe on land-use issues.

"I've voted against many supporters but they know I'll give them a fair shake," he said.

Simmons said the Auburn Indian Community contribution illustrates the support Weygandt has given the casino, while donations to his campaign from the Tsakopoulos camp show the lack of support his opponent has provided the university development.

Simmons' efforts to defeat Weygandt have also been bolstered by spending totaling $126,000 by Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, Angelo's son, for cable TV ads and mailers to voters critical of Weygandt. Those expenditures were detailed in late independent spending reports submitted by Tsakopoulos

to the Placer County Elections Division between May 22 and May 25.

Adding the Simmons donations and Tsakopoulos independent expenditures up, opponents have raised $514,000 in an attempt to unseat Weygandt on Election Day this coming Tuesday.

Tsakopoulos, 80, has been the Sacramento area's biggest developer for more than two decades. He's founder of AKT Developments. Kyriakos Tsakopoulos, a Granite Bay resident, manages family land holdings in Placer County.

Weygandt said Kyriakos Tsakopoulos and Simmons are both "extraordinarily ambitious" and the stepped-up rate of late filings indicates a "stealth delivery" of their message to voters.

Weygandt said that his campaign has yet to file all its late contribution reports but that he doesn't expect anyone who hasn't already donated to make a major donation.

Campbell said he resigned as chairman last summer after it became apparent to him that Tsakopoulos - a Democrat - had found the Placer County Republican Party willing to take contributions to endorse a ballot measure last November that was clearly a veiled attempt to push the KT Communities' agenda. The university project faces concerns about using groundwater instead of treated water and creating a buffer between the development and nearby agricultural land.

The project - what is termed a regional university - is located on land owned by the Tsakopouloses and other investors in the unincorporated area of Placer County, near Roseville.

"Everyone knew the feud was going on between Weygandt and Tsakopoulos," Campbell said. "Tsakopoulos was openly looking for a candidate to run against Weygandt."

Others said 'no' but Simmons bought into the promise of power and position, Campbell added.

Simmons said the allegation that the Tsakopolous family bought him as a candidate doesn't take into account his stance that "no amount of campaign contributions would ever cause me to vote in a way that did no align with my principles."

"The Tsakopoulos family is supporting me because I support building a private university in Placer County," he said.

During a campaign for the advisory Measure H vote, filings with the election division show Kyriakos Tsakopoulos spent $222,000 in independent expenditures similar to funding being spent against Weygandt. Simmons was a major backer of the Measure H campaign.

"Tsakopoulos displayed Simmons prominently in his Measure H mail pieces," Campbell said. "Later, Tsakopoulos took Simmons around and told people Simmons was his candidate for Placer supervisor and they needed to give contributions."

The Placer County Republican Party took the step this spring of endorsing Simmons over Weygandt. Both are Republicans. Simmons is the Republican Party secretary.

"The bottom line is everyone has known for a while that Tsakopoulos has bought himself a candidate who would salute him and he was buying an election," Campbell said.

Simmons said that he has made clear to Angelo Tsakopoulos that he would not support any new major development that doesn't address traffic or quality-of-life issues in Placer County.

On the groundwater issue, with the Placer County Water Agency adamant that the university development should pay for piped, treated water, Simmons said that it wasn't a quality-of-life issue.

"Certainly all projects would need to meet the county's stringent approval criteria," he said.

Campbell said that Simmons has previously brushed off questions on the connection with the area's biggest developer, saying Tsakopoulos had never given him a cent.

"That was technically correct but it was Tsakopoulos who instructed people to donate to Simmons," Campbell said. "Now the connection is undeniable."

Kyriakos Tsakopoulos was unavailable Wednesday for comment.

The Journal's Gus Thomson can be reached at media.com.