HILLARY CLINTON MAKES HISTORIC APPOINTMENT -- NAMES ELENI TSAKOPOULOS-KOUNALAKIS HEAD OF “GREEK-AMERICANS FOR CLINTON”

Photo: The Publisher of “Washington Monthly” Markos Kounalakis and his wife, Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis.

WASHINGTON, D.C., February 1, 2008 -- Leading Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) recently named Eleni Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis, President of the AKT Development Corporation, to head “Greek-Americans for Clinton.” This is the first time in history that a woman has been appointed by a leading Presidential candidate to that post.

Ms. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is at the top of the list of Democratic contributors in California, a state known for its major political contributors. Both fundraising events she hosted for Senator Clinton in California were extraordinarily successful.

The combination of her fundraising skills and Senator Clinton?s record with the Hellenic and Orthodox community suggests a successful chairmanship for Ms. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis. She is known throughout the Greek-American community for many things including an issue close to the heart of Senator Clinton – the crisis facing the Ecumenical Patriarchate, the nearly 2,000-year-old spiritual head of the world?s second largest Christian Church, Orthodox Christianity.

Senator Clinton was instrumental in creating the first visit of a sitting American President (President Bill Clinton) to the Ecumenical Patriarchate. As well, Senator Clinton played a major role in beginning the practice of U.S. Presidents pressing the Ecumenical Patriarchate issue with every senior Turkish official visiting the White House Oval Office. That practice continued for over a decade and into the Bush Administration until it stopped during the last two such White House visits.This issue has also been a major focus of Ms. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis.

She secured more signatures of United States Senators for a letter to President George W. Bush on this issue than any other Orthodox Christian. The letter urged the Ecumenical Patriarchal issue to be raised higher on America?s agenda. As well, she personally escorted California Senator Diane Feinstein, along with a consequential delegation, to visit Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew in 2005. She is also well known for the creation of numerous Hellenic Chairs across the country at some of America?s top Universities, among other such comparable achievements for the Hellenic and Orthodox community. She and her father, Angelo Tsakopoulos, were reported last year to have made an over $10 million “independent expenditure” in support of the campaign of Greek-American Phil Angelides for Governor of California. Such an expenditure, which is sanctioned by California state election laws, was repudiated to have played a significant role in Angelides? primary election victory.

When questions were raised about what the Tsakopoulos family was expecting to get from such a contribution, Andrew Athens, then head of the World Council of Hellenes, responded. He said in a statement to the media “all they expect from Angelides is to do a great job as Governor and to make them proud.”Ms. Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis is undertaking this effort in addition to continuing in her role as President of AKT, the mother of two boys and wife of Markos Kounalakis, publisher of Washington Monthly and respected author and journalist.