From Rob Hotakainen in Washington
Sacramento real estate developer Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis and her husband have contributed $438,880 to federal candidates, committees and leadership PACs since 1989, with 95 percent of the money going to Democratic candidates and committees, according to a new report by the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP)
Last Friday, President Barack Obama announced that Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is his choice to become the new ambassador to Hungary. She is married to Markos Kounalakis, who is the president of Washington Monthly.
CRP said that most of the contributions have been in Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis' name. Among the top beneficiaries:
* -- The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, with $100,200 since 1993,
* -- The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, with $41,000 since 1999,
* -- Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, with $24,000 since 1997,
* -- The Democratic Party of California, with $20,215 since 2003,
* -- The Democratic National Committee, with $18,500 since 1995 and
* -- First lady-turned Senator-turned presidential candidate-turned Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, with $18,500 since 1999.
Four percent of her contributions went to Republicans, including $6,000 since 1991 to Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine.
One percent of her contributions went to EMILY's List and the Harry S Truman Club.
Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis also donated the legal maximum of $4,600 to Obama during his presidential campaign, in June 2008, the report said.
Torey Van Oot and the Bee Capitol Bureau report on the people and politics of California government. Get 
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