El Dorado Hills Developer Angelo Tsakopoulos 12th largest Political Donor in California

Also in the last ten years Angelo Tsakopoulos, chairman of AKT Development Corp., has been Greater Sacramento's biggest land developer for about two decades.

Tsakopoulos' shrewd planned and targeted purchases have giving him land holdings bigger than the entire city of Folsom. His regional view of Greater Sacramento dating back years before the approach made inroads in government planning.

He's been buying, re-zoning, and selling for decades, all while facing an escalating hail of opposition from environmentalists and environmental agencies.

He bought the 2,000-acre Valley View tract in El Dorado Hills, paying about $20 million for land entitled for 2,160 homes. Today those homes have an estimated value of over $1 Billion.

Elite donor roster sways many votes By Coulter Jones and Elizabeth Titus, California Watch.

In a state with nearly 38 million people, few have more influence than the top 100 donors to California campaigns...  These big spenders represent a tiny fraction of the hundreds of thousands of individuals and groups that donated to California campaigns from 2001 through 2011. But they supplied about a third of the $3.67 billion lavished on state campaigns during that time, campaign records show.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/06/04/4535729/elite-donor-roster-sways-many.html