Following up on the failure of the Homeless Industrial Complex in Los Angeles where I stated the government dysfunction was worse at the California state government level, I wrote about the chicanery of Ricardo Lara, the Insurance Commissioner. That was not the end of it as another constitutional officeholder who wants to be the next governor has a different problem, but just as serious. This problem is a major conflict of interest that allows her to profit from her involvement in state government.
Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis (EK) is not exactly a household name. The good part about EK is that she worked in the private sector, a rare attribute for a Democrat in Sacramento. After serving as Ambassador to Hungary under President Obama, she later ran for Lt Governor as her first elected office and won. Traditionally no one wants the position except for obscure politicians because there is not much to do unless the Governor leaves the state or dies.
EK has bigger plans. After winning the election in 2018, she ran again in 2022 eclipsing the competition of no name opponents. Then her true plans manifested very quickly as she soon launched her campaign to succeed Newsom as governor in the one-party state. It is obvious that her plan is to be one of the two finalists from the primary and then bury her opponent with her substantial resources in the general election.
And exactly what are those resources? They are real estate holdings from her father. The company AKT Development Inc. which she was president of, controls an estimated 47,000 acres of real estate around the Sacramento area. No one knows the exact amount as it is a privately held company.
Here is where the rub comes in. According to financial disclosures about her vast wealth, her extensive real estate holdings include lots of office buildings in Sacramento. Since the business of Sacramento is principally the government of California, you can see where this is leading. Sacramento is only exceeded by Washington DC in the multitude of panhandlers trying to get at the mass sums poured out by the government. You can rest assured there is a plethora of conflicts of interest here. She declares there are “dozens.” It would be easier to walk the hallways and pick out the lessees that are not tied to the government in some way than the ones who are gladhanding in some manner. EK states there are currently three state agencies leasing from her, but I would like to audit that number.
Remember when there was intense focus by the press because Trump owned a D.C. hotel (for an extended period although he is in that business) which has since been sold. The concern was that someone might stay at the hotel who did business with the federal government. There were calls for him to resign or be impeached because of the illegality of such transactions. Yet, you have not heard a peep from the press about EK’s blatant conflict of interest.
If it were not for two reasons no one would focus on this. First, CalMatters, not a major but still a serious publication wrote about this. The second reason is EK filed, and they reviewed her financial disclosures since she is attempting to become the governor of the largest state in the union.
EK has made a confusing statement about placing assets into a blind trust. She states the ones that may present a conflict of interest will be placed in the trust. She has not elaborated on that nebulous statement.
First, she is Lt. Governor and has been for six years. Why were those assets not put in a blind trust before? Remember she takes over as governor when gallivanting Gavin is out of the state (which seems like most of the time).
Second, why doesn’t she do it now that she is running? How do we know she is going to do it once elected? Do it now.
Third, why not include every building? Cherry picking some makes no sense. People know what buildings she owns and can be swayed by any one of them.
This is just the second story about graft in Sacramento that the MSM ignores. You can bet there will be many more to come.
