Pombo Sells Out His Home Town of Tracy To Big Money Developers

Pombo took 50K from Developers and related interests for his reelection campaign according to just his latest FEC filing. Now he's returning the favor in his home town of Tracy by teaming up with the same developers to maintain the developer-driven status quo. Pombo is spending 25K to help Developers defeat a controlled-growth activist running for Mayor.

Tracy has become famous for out of control growth and massive traffic problems, in large part due to the developers, the Tracy City Council (to which Pombo once served), the town's Mayor and it's Congressman Richard Pombo.

The Pombo family also stands to gain from development and Pombo going to bat for Developers is only going to bring in more special interest money to his reelection campaign.

To Richard Pombo it's just another investment.

""A record $70,000 is flowing into the race that will determine Tracy's first new mayor in more than a decade, but it's not the mayoral candidates who are collecting or spending the cash.

Rep. Richard Pombo's political action committee; Manteca developer AKF Development; and PAQ Inc., the company that runs Food 4 Less in Northern California, have contributed at least $20,000 each to a political action committee opposing candidate Celeste Garamendi, who is running against Vice Mayor Brent Ives.

The independent committee, HAT PAC, has spent nearly $58,000 on television and radio advertising since Oct. 11, according to campaign finance records." (source)

"AKT wants to give the city money to build sports fields in exchange for the right to build homes in 2012, when the city’s quasi-building moratorium ends. AKT is owned by the Tsakopoulos family, and records show Katherine Tsakopoulos gave $2,100 to Pombo’s campaign in early July." (source)

"Pombo’s Rich PAC gave $25,000 three weeks ago to a group led by the campaign manager of Rep. John Doolittle, R-Rocklin, to run attack ads against Garamendi, a community activist who for years has defeated big developers on ballot-box initiatives." (source)

"Assessor maps show Pombo’s family owns about 800 acres of largely undeveloped land in Tracy’s sphere of influence, where a slow-growth law championed by Garamendi and passed by voters in 2000 dramatically slowed the number of new homes that can be built.

Garamendi previously vowed to do “everything legally possible” if elected mayor to block controversial deals that Ives, outgoing mayor Dan Bilbrey and incumbent council candidate Suzanne Tucker asked city employees to negotiate with The Surland Co. and AKT Development." (source)

Record: Money shapes race for Tracy mayor (source)

Tracy Press: Perfect plolitical storm (source)

Neither paper looked very deep into the money behind the move. Just look at Pombo's latest FEC filing. Pombo recieved 50K from developers and developer related interests just recently according to that filing. That includes some of those involved in purchasing Tracy & Pombo.

AKT/Tsakopoulos Money

George Tsakopoulos - Tsakopoulos Investments - 1500.00

Tsakopoulos Investments - 07/03/2006 - 2100.00

Katherine Tsakopoulos - Tsakopoulos Investments - 2100.00,

Drosoula Tsakopoulos - 1000.00

AKF

Michael Atherton - AKF Development - 1850.00

E. Kirk - AKF Development - 4200.00

Spanos

Alex Spanos - A.G. Spanos Co. (Pres.) - 3500.00

Helen Spanos - 3600.00

Michael Spanos - A. G. Spanos Co. (Exec.) - 3600.00

Dea Berberian - A. G. Spanos Co. (VP) - 3600.00
Ronald Berberian - A. G. Spanos Co. (Exec.) - 3600.00

Barry Ruhl - A.G. Spanos Co. (Exec.) - 1000.00
Alexis Ruhl - 3100.00

Art Perry - A G Enterprises (Partner) - 2500.00

Geremiah Murphy, Jr. - The Spanos Corp. (Exec.) - 500.00

Natalia Orfanos - A. G. Spanos Co. (PR) - 500.00

Jim Panagopoulos - A. G. Spanos Co. (Exec) - 500.00

More Developer Money

Sid Corrie, Jr. - Corrie Development - 1000.00

Jeff Holbrook - Developer - 2100.00

John D'Arcy - Mill Creek Development (Developer) - 1000.00

Susan Dell 'Osso - River Islands Development (Developer) - 3500.00

Jodi Westbrooks - Westbrooks & Johnson Developments - 2100.00

Richard Petersen - Brookfield Homes - 250.00

Joseph Keith - Cobblestone Homes - 2000.00

Merle Gilliland - Richland Development - 1000.00