Eleni Kounalakis is a California businesswoman, a Democratic Party activist, a wife and the mother of two teenage sons, and the former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary under President Barack Obama. Eleni was raised the proud daughter of an immigrant, who started out as a farmworker, and a school teacher. She deeply believes in the values of hard work, education and political activism.

In 1992, Eleni started her career as a staff member of the California Democratic Party in Sacramento and worked in the historic election which elected two women to the U.S. Senate and turned California blue.

After the election, Eleni joined her family business, AKT Development, one of California’s most respected housing development firms. Over the next 18 years, Eleni worked her way up from project manager to president. Her work building master planned communities and delivering housing for middle-class families in the Sacramento region earned her recognition as one of Sacramento’s most prominent businesswomen.

In 2010, Eleni was appointed by President Barack Obama as the U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and served side-by-side President Obama and Secretary Hillary Clinton promoting democracy. She is the author of the highly acclaimed book, Madam Ambassador, Three Years of Diplomacy, Dinner Parties and Democracy in Budapest, published in 2015 by The New Press.

Ambassador Kounalakis continued to work as a democratic activist, working on the campaigns of countless progressive candidates and initiatives. Passionate about early childhood development, she served on California’s First 5 Commission and the California Blue Ribbon Commission on Autism. She was appointed by Mayor Ed Lee to the San Francisco Port Commission, and currently chairs the California Advisory Council for International Trade and Investment.

Eleni Kounalakis graduated from Dartmouth College in 1989, and earned her MBA from
UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business in 1992. She also holds an Honorary Doctorate of
Laws from the American College of Greece. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, veteran journalist Markos Kounalakis, and their two sons, Neo and Eon.

Cole Harris is a native Californian born in Downy California and raised in Antelope Valley. He founded his first business at the young age of 14 and another while in college. Through his hard work and perseverance, it grew into a successful company with strategic relationships across the globe. In his career, he routinely worked to encourage innovative ideas, fostering a culture of cooperation and consensus building. He will bring this approach with him to Sacramento.

David Fennell is an entrepreneur who comes from an extended family of inventors and early technology pioneers in Silicon Valley. With his parents working for legendary California research centers and companies such as XEROX PARC, Mare Island Nuclear Power School, Applied Materials, Phillips Semiconductor, Lam Research Corporation, Qualcomm, Dreamworks, and The Aerospace Corporation, technology and new discoveries were regular dinner table conversations in the Fennell household. 

David grew up Catholic in the farming and fishing community of Half Moon Bay California, in San Mateo County where his parents commuted one hour each way to Silicon Valley. This allowed David to be raised in a farming and beach community on the San Mateo Coast, where he became an Eagle Scout and an avid outdoorsman.

David spent his summers with his father at XEROX PARC where he used the computer mouse, GUI Interface and the Internet long before Steve Jobs use this new tech to launch Macintosh in 1984, and 16 years before Bill Gates announced Windows 98. Seeing the extremely talented and hard working XEROX PARC team invent all the basics of modern computing while also watching Steve Jobs with his marketing knowledge make millions from their inventions, David decided to switch his college major from science and engineering to a Bachelor of Science in Commerce with a degree in Marketing.  

After graduating from Santa Clara University in 1991, David took a job at a Silicon Valley Aerospace company in Sunnyvale that produced components for the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter. As a technology hobbyist, David also took a night and weekend job in Redwood City for one of the only technology retailers in the US that was chosen by Steve Jobs to sell NeXT Computers.  

In 1993 David moved to Asia where he studied Chinese at the Beijing Language Institute in Beijing, China, and continued traveling and working in more than 30 countries. David received his Masters Degree in Asian Studies from the University of San Francisco, Center for the Pacific Rim. 

David has been the founder of several technology companies, where during the formation of these companies, he dealt with the bureaucracies of Sacramento and discovered first hand, how difficult doing business in California can be.

David also began to uncover fraudulent operations of Wall Street criminals operating 15 miles north of Silicon Valley in San Francisco. With great dismay, he watched ex Wall Street business people change the technology focused Silicon Valley he loved, into a center of corruption and greed. 

In 2008, David began reporting fraudulent activity to the FBI, FDIC, DOE and has been actively working to shine a light on over $3 Billion dollars in confirmed criminal fraud in San Mateo County.  This investigation has included more than 50 meetings and presentations with law enforcement officials related to corporate lawyers and their role in orchestrating DotCom Green Energy fraud. These corrupt deals have also included local developers and their role in the United Commercial Bank TARP Fraud, (Costing the FDIC $2.5 Billion) and the laundering of American Sterling Bank funds through the California Republican Party (Costing tax payers $42 Million).

Despite naysayers suggesting that the corruption is too big to fix, David made the decision to throw his hat into the race for Lieutenant Governor to help crack down on fraud once and for all in California.

If elected David Fennell will be a voice for change, and a voice for all Californians. David will help put California back on the map as the best state in the country to live, work and do business in.

It is time to toss out the current political class and bring new blood to Sacramento!

DAVID FENNELL SUPPORTS: 

U.S. Constitution

2nd amendment

President Trump

Free Enterprise

Religious Liberty

Prop 13

Trump’s Border Wall

DAVID FENNELL OPPOSES:

Sanctuary Cities

Gas tax

High speed rail
Crony Capitalism

Early Years

I was born in Chicago, Illinois into a working class union family. I’m the middle child of five daughters. My father was a carpenter and member of the Carpenter’s Union and my mother was a factory worker and housewife. As a young activist during the 1980’s, I worked with the Central American solidarity movement, People United to Save Humanity (PUSH), and the Rainbow Coalition. I’m married to Paul Kilkenny, also a Richmond activist for social and environmental justice.

Work

As Mayor, I led the City in a progressive direction, and Richmond was significantly transformed into a better City. Under my leadership Richmond passed the first rent control law in California in 30 years, increased the minimum wage, reduced homicides 75% in 8 years, forced Chevron to pay on average an additional $7.5 million in taxes per year and sued Chevron for damage to the population, promoted Community Choice Aggregation resulting in 85% of homeowners and businesses now receiving greener and cheaper energy.

I also prioritized the interests of Richmond residents and families, advocating for residents evicted by banks and speculators and approving policies to hold Wall Street accountable. I proudly stood up for my community with the Richmond CARES (Community Action to Restore Equity and Stability) the foreclosure prevention program that sought to acquire underwater mortgages in Richmond from the banks (either through voluntarily sales or through eminent domain) so the City can refinance the loans for the homeowners with reduced principals in line with current home values.

I also voted to assist Kennedy High School and other public Richmond schools with $3 million, I opposed privatizing public education and the expansion of Charter Schools, passed resolutions in support of single-payer universal healthcare coverage, and was in the forefront of defending Richmond’s immigrant population.

I am a founding member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA), a corporate-free grassroots political organization which has many successes in Richmond, Ca. The RPA is also an Our Revolution affiliated organization and Bernie Sanders endorsed me in 2014. I was elected and served the people of Richmond for the last 13 years as Richmond’s first corporate-free councilmember (2005-2006/2015-2017) and two term mayor (2007-2014). I blazed the path in Richmond and in 2017 Richmond has a super-majority of five out of seven councilmembers who are true progressives, members of the RPA, and elected without a dime of corporate money.

Background

I have a background as an educator, and professional experience in nonprofit leadership organizations promoting literacy, social justice, and environmental health. I was also involved in nonprofit research and data-driven projects addressing the needs of disadvantaged youth. I also co-founded Solar Richmond, a nationally-recognized local program promoting solar power and green jobs in Richmond, and Richmond Residents for a Responsible General Plan, a community organization committed to ensuring that the General Plan process be transparent and open to public participation.

I am an independent (NPP) Bernie Sanders supporter.  Regarding our progressive work in Richmond, Bernie said:

“Whether you know it or not, the eyes of the country are on you. And if Chevron can roll over you, they and their buddies will roll over every community in America. If you can stand up and beat them with all of their money, you’re going to give hope to people all over America that we can control our destinies.”

“These inspiring victories in Richmond would not have been possible without the prior development of a multi-issue, multi-racial progressive organization. Our country obviously needs a great deal of change at the state and federal levels. But laying a solid local foundation, like activists in Richmond have done, is an important first step toward overcoming working-class alienation from politics and resulting low voter-turnout rates.” – Bernie Sanders, from the foreword to “Refinery Town: Big Oil, Big Money and the Remaking of an American City” by Steve Early

Accomplishments

·        Increased the local minimum wage to $15 by the end of 2018

·        Passed the first new Fair Rent Control and Just Cause for Eviction law in 30 years in California to protect renters and homeowners

·        Reduced homicides by 75% in eight years as Mayor – and crime in general – by promoting community policing, community mobilization against crime, and job training opportunities; created the Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) while promoting a reform-minded chief of police.

·        Defeated Chevron’s $3.5 million attempt to buy local elections 

·        Defended immigrant rights and the city’s sanctuary status, ended drivers’ license checkpoints and created a municipal identification for all people residing in Richmond who wanted an ID

·         Redefined Chevron’s tax ($114 million additional taxes) and environmental obligations

·         Filed a law suit against Chevron for its abuses and damages to Richmond residents

·         Promoted a plan to keep homeowners in their homes and neighborhoods stable by appropriating ‘underwater’ mortgages from banks using City eminent domain powers (Richmond CARES)

·         Increased powers of the Citizens Police Review Commission

·         Rejected an urban casino in Richmond and preserving the North Richmond shoreline from bad development

·         Promoted Community Aggregation Choice electricity for Richmond, by which currently 85% of residents and businesses get greener and less expensive electricity

·         Promoted solidarity and the development of worker cooperative

·         Ended the local criminalization of the homeless

·          Affirmed and defended LGBT rights and equality for all in Richmond

·          Defended City employees and their union, SEIU 1021

·          Implemented safe return policies for residents returning from incarceration

·          Opposed the expansion of local jails

·          Defended public schools, opposed the expansion of charter schools

·          Opposed the  Patriot Act, militarism, wars and U.S. acts of economic aggression and embargoes against foreign countries

·          Created a nationally-acclaimed green jobs training program, leading the Bay Area in solar installations per capita (2010)

·          Advanced a local Climate Action Plan, a moratorium on pesticide use, a green building ordinance, a plastic bag ban, a Styrofoam ban, bicycle paths and cultural activities

·         Helped secure a supermajority of corporate-free progressives (n=5 out of 7) on the Richmond City Council.

Awards

•    2016 “Millie Award, Leadership in the fight to pass rent control and just cause for eviction” from the Tenant Lawyer Network- a project of Tenants Together
•    2015 “Phil Burton Badge of Courage for Protecting Democracy and the Environment from Corporate Pollution” from the Sierra Club
•    2015 “13th Annual Human Rights Award: Democracy”, from Human Agenda
•    2015 “Building Strength California Gala Honor, in Supporting The Innovative Richmond CARES Programs and Standing Up Against Corporate Greed”, from ACCE Institute and the Center for Popular Democracy
•    2014 “Day of Peace Award of Appreciation” from San Quentin State Prison
•    2013 “Award for Excellent Leadership” Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
•    2013 “Best Politician Against All Odds” from East Bay Express
•    2011 “Homeless Advocacy in Action Award” from Saffron Strand,
•    2009 “Solar Champion Award Leading Solar City” from Environment California
•    2008 “Contribution to Environmental Justice Award” from Communities for a Better Environment

·      II’m a litigator. For the past 10 years I’ve represented individuals whose civil rights have been violated, who’ve been harassed, discriminated and assaulted in the workplace. I’ve represented employees who have been cheated out of a fair wage and consumers who have been cheated by profit motivated corporations. I’ve fought some of the largest companies in the world. As Lt. Gov., I intend to represent and fight for the people of California with the same ferocity that I fight for my clients.