POPE, Art

tag 9/14 john locke OOPS tag 4 22 jwp

runs N caro; candidate for 3rd Koch bro<div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Following John William Pope’s death in 2006, his youngest son, Art, became Chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers and Chairman and President of the Pope Foundation</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">===</div>capt bak 320

<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">cfg seems very interested in both carolinas?</div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"></div>dk $ mayer:13: The States : gaining ground ; 
Redmap worked great, got seats, help house despite big dem vote; Hofeller gop; NC judge Paul Newby huge outside $ 2.3M$ koch, pop etc upheld redistrict right ager elected 336;
ART POPE
 2010 2014 dems lost 900 seats and 11 govs. Pope head of budget, followed plans by Locke and Civitas 338; rev dr gop, ctt, AFp 339; cut tax on rich and slashed safety net, env, abortion...nixed medicaid expansion under ACA, 500-100kia/year; gutted education p340, up tuition, then $ for classes in western civ and free market econ 341
NV History project downplay social movement and govt , play up “personal creation of wealth” 341
→ Naacp moral monday protestsPope credits cato summer phgm for his conversion
Reports that poor doing fine; UNC program pointed out ⅓ kids poor got shut down 344
Pope ran for office, dad give 330K$ (½ mil today), lostRoe SPH 1992

Politics

In N.C., conservative donor Art

Pope sits at heart of government he helped

transform

Outside In  A new era of influence

By Matea Gold July 19, 2014

RALEIGH, N.C. — Art Pope is one of the most generous donors to the University of North

Carolina at Chapel Hill, having lavished millions on his alma mater.

The retail magnate is also one of the university’s staunchest critics — so much so that he

has directed millions into creating a think tank that has blasted UNC as being wasteful

and a bastion of political correctness.

But when Pope sent university leaders a letter this year chastising their state funding

request, it was in yet another capacity entirely: as Republican Gov. Pat McCrory’s budget

director.

There is no one in North Carolina, or likely in all of American politics, quite like Art Pope.

He is not just a wealthy donor seeking to influence politics from the outside, nor just a

government official shaping it from within. He is doing both at the same time — the

culmination of a quarter century

spent building a sphere of influence that has put him at the epicenter of North

Carolina government and moved his state closer to the conservative vision he has long

imagined.

“There are not many people as influential, because few people have invested the time and

the money that he has on behalf of his state,” said Republican former governor James G.

Martin, who tapped Pope, then 28, to be a lawyer in his administration in the 1980s.

From the outside, Pope’s family foundation has put more than $55 million into a robust

network of conservative think tanks and advocacy groups, building a state version of what

his friends Charles and David Koch have helped create on a national level.

On the inside, the budget director and his GOP allies — who took over the legislature in

2010 and the governor’s mansion two years later with the backing of Pope and other big

donors — have passed numerous laws overhauling taxes, social services and voting rights.

McCrory has also eliminated a public financing program for judicial races — opening

those contests to greater influence by wealthy donors — and has sought to cut funding for

the state’s university system. Both are pet causes of Pope’s.

Pope, 58, oversees the action from his fifthfloor corner office overlooking the colonnaded

State Legislative Building. He serves as a top adviser to McCrory with some familiar faces;

at least four of the governor’s staffers worked at Popebacked groups, including the chief

of staff, Thomas Stith, and the policy director, Chloe Gossage.

For all of his pull, the revolution Pope helped set in motion is not going quite as planned.

The tax overhaul, styled in part off ideas promoted by Popebacked groups, has

contributed to tight finances in North Carolina at a time when other states are flush with

cash. Cuts to education have spawned widespread discontent among parents and teachers.

And what was supposed to be a brief legislative session this spring to approve a new

budget broke down into a contentious power struggle between the newly ascendant

Republican officials, with powerful Senate leaders squaring off against McCrory and his

allies in the House. Relations grew so fraught that at one point Senate leaders threatened

to subpoena Pope to answer questions about contradictory budget projections.

Softspoken, with a drawl that shows his roots in the town now called FuquayVarina,

about 30 minutes south of Raleigh, Pope portrays his government work as a service to the

state he loves.

“I believe in trying to make North Carolina a better place for its citizens,” he said during a

recent interview in his state office. Pope describes himself as an advocate of “rightsized”

government, in favor of a freemarket economy and prudent fiscal practices.

Pope waved off questions about the extent of his influence. But he clearly relishes his role

at the seat of power after spending years trying to push conservative measures in the

Democratdominated General Assembly.

“I know what it’s like to be in the minority, because that’s where I was for most of my life,”

said Pope, who served four terms in the House, in two separate stints. “We were the

underdogs.”

The man widely viewed as one of the most influential people in Raleigh has an owlish,

slightly rumpled demeanor, resembling a state bureaucrat more than a wealthy power

broker.

“He’s very unassuming,” said Francis X. De Luca, president of the Civitas Institute, a

conservative think tank backed by the John William Pope Foundation, which is named for

Art Pope’s father. “If you put him in a room full of people, you wouldn’t pick him out as

the guy who causes all the problems.”

But some in Raleigh view Pope as the force behind many of the governor’s decisions.

“He drives the budgetary policy goals of the administration,” said one Republican lobbyist

in town who spoke on the condition of anonymity in order not to anger either man. “The

governor yields to Art. His real power, his influence in state government, is really having

that turf all to himself.”

Pope vigorously rejects such characterizations.

“My job, my role, my goal is not to influence and direct the governor,” Pope said

emphatically. “My job is to analyze, to provide advice, facts, what the alternatives are. I

present the information, and the governor decides.”

McCrory said Pope defers to him, while often catching mistakes in the calculations made

by state departments and legislative staffers. “We need more nerds like him in state

government,” McCrory said.

Pope’s familiarity with the minute details of state finances was on full display on a muggy

afternoon in May, when he spent 25 minutes standing at a lectern, methodically

explaining the details of the governor’s new budget to the news media.

McCrory sat on a chair behind his budget director, nodding along. When Pope was done,

the governor stood up with a grin.

“I wish I could’ve had a camera, from this angle, watching the reporters’ faces while Art

explained the budget, because now y’all know how I felt during hour after hour after

hour,” McCrory said with a chuckle.

The governor took some questions. On most, he deferred to Pope.

“I tell you what I’m going to do. I’m going to have Art kind of explain the details of that

number that you just presented, so you can hear all sides of that argument,” McCrory told

a reporter who asked about whether cuts to the university system would lead to tuition

hikes. “Art, if you don’t mind? Because he can present it much better than I can.”

McCrory surprised many in Raleigh when he appointed the conservative benefactor to

oversee the state’s fiscal activities.

In taking the post, Pope had to step back from his daily duties as chief executive of Variety

Wholesalers, a retail empire built by his father that stretches from Ohio to Florida. He also

gave up his position on the board of Americans for Prosperity, the national conservative

advocacy group backed by the Kochs.

But to those who have long known Pope — who made an unsuccessful bid for lieutenant

governor between his staggered legislative terms — the move made perfect sense.

Pope “has been working all of his life to get in a position of influence in North Carolina,”

said state Rep. Robert Brawley (R), a 20year veteran of the General Assembly.

When he heard the news of Pope’s appointment, Brawley recalled, he thought to himself,

“Oh boy, my buddy Art is in position.”

UNC budget

Pope’s relationship with the University of North Carolina, a storied institution in the state,

shows how he wields influence through several roles simultaneously.

In late February, Pope fired off an unusual memo to the UNC leadership. In his threepage

letter, he chided the university system for not providing a “realistic” budget request for the

coming year, saying it would require cutting into money for courts, public schools and

health care.

To critics, the episode showed Pope using his clout to carry out a longstanding personal

agenda. As a legislator, he repeatedly pounced on what he viewed as wasteful UNC

spending, complaining that administrative funds were spent on Palm Pilots and gourmet

pizza. Since then, think tanks backed by his family foundation — particularly the John

William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy — have regularly criticized the

management of the university.

Chris Fitzsimon, founder and executive director of NC Policy Watch, a liberal think tank,

called Pope’s memo to UNC “extraordinary,” adding, “No budget director before Art Pope

would have done that on their own.”

Pope said his actions were not personal, adding that the memo had been approved by the

governor and had the backing of legislative leaders.

The university said it was seeking to retain some cost savings and restore some previous

cuts, and it offered to set aside a request for new construction funds.

That, however, still was not enough. McCrory’s new budget proposed reducing UNC’s net

funding by $47 million, roughly 2 percent of its budget. Among the suggested cuts were

research centers deemed “not central to the educational mission.”

McCrory said that while Pope had raised some questions about UNC’s budget, the

reductions were his call. “I made the final decision,” the governor said.

At the same time he has weighed in on UNC’s state funding, Pope and his family have

given the flagship Chapel Hill campus millions of dollars through their foundation to

support athletics and underwrite classes in politics, economics and Western civilization.

Most recently, the Pope Foundation donated $1.3 million in April to endow a

professorship and grant program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.

“Your giving makes a real difference in our work and in the lives of others,” UNCChapel

Hill Chancellor Carol L. Folt wrote to Pope after the gift.

Two months earlier, the recently arrived chancellor had an introductory meeting with

Pope in his capacity as budget director in which they discussed the university’s finances,

according to correspondence obtained through a publicrecords request.

In a followup letter to Pope, Folt wrote that she was “committed to regularly assessing

university operations to ensure that Carolina remains as efficient and effective as

possible.”

Pope’s presence is felt acutely on the Chapel Hill campus, where some faculty members

say school officials are fearful of antagonizing a longtime critic who now holds sway over

the university’s funding.

They point to an incident last fall, when UNC took steps to distance itself from a professor

at its law school, Gene Nichol, after he drew fire from Popebacked think tanks for a

newspaper column in which he compared McCrory to Southern segregationist governors.

The heads of the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy and the Civitas Institute

responded with their own piece, saying Nichol’s “nastiness and increasingly unhinged

partisanship ... reflects an arrogance and radicalism that have been building for years.”

Civitas also filed a publicrecords request for six weeks’ worth of Nichol’s emails, phone

records and calendars, eventually obtaining more than 1,000 pages of materials.

Amid the controversy, UNC officials exchanged alarmed emails noting how much

Nichol’s piece had angered the governor and his supporters, according to documents first

reported on by the Raleigh News & Observer.

The university now requires Nichol, director of UNCChapel Hill’s Center on Poverty,

Work and Opportunity, to include a disclaimer at the bottom of his columns reading, “He

doesn’t speak for UNC.”

Nichol said in an interview that the disclaimer was “a continual reminder that we have a

provost and chancellor more fearful of Art Pope than they are of protecting freedom of

speech.”

In a statement, James W. Dean Jr., UNCChapel Hill’s executive vice chancellor and

provost, said the university vigorously protects First Amendment rights and called the

disclaimer consistent with UNC’s academicfreedom policies.

Still, Dean hinted at the careful political tightrope being walked by the university.

“We have a very close and collaborative working relationship with many state government

officials, including Mr. Pope in his role as State Budget Director,” Dean said. “We have

worked hard to demonstrate the critical role our public universities play in securing North

Carolina’s economic future and will continue to do so.”

Judicial races

The heated policy battles that have cleaved North Carolina are now playing out in the

courts. The state Supreme Court, which has a slight conservative majority, is slated to

weigh in on several highprofile measures pushed through by the Republicanled

legislature, including redistricting and school vouchers.

That has made a major target out of Robin Hudson, a Democratic justice on the court who

is up for reelection this year and has faced a barrage of attacks.

Wealthy outside groups have a greater ability to affect such races than in recent years,

thanks to the demise of a program that Pope opposed as a state lawmaker and helped end

as budget director.

More than a decade ago, Pope strongly objected when the legislature passed created a

pioneering campaign financing system for Supreme Court and Court of Appeal judicial

elections.

“Candidate welfare,” he said at the time.

The voluntary program was celebrated by advocates of stricter campaign finance rules as a

national model for limiting the ability of special interests to influence judges, by providing

them with access to public funding.

“While other states were having just outrageous sums being spent on these statewide

judicial races, North Carolina’s races stayed relatively inexpensive,” said Bob Phillips,

executive director of Common Cause North Carolina, a government watchdog group.

When McCrory introduced his first budget in 2013, the program had been eliminated.

Supporters scrambled to find a way to salvage it, enlisting state Rep. Jonathan Jordan (R)

to sponsor an amendment that would allow it to continue in a scaleddown form.

The day the issue was set to be discussed in the House, Pope took Jordan aside in a

hallway outside the chamber, arguing that the amendment was unconstitutional.

Jordan shelved his measure. The lawmaker, who received $16,000 in campaign

contributions from the Pope family when he ran in 2010, did not return requests for

comment.

Pope said it was appropriate for him to make the case about the merits of the governor’s

budget to a state lawmaker, acknowledging that he has long personally been opposed to

such public campaign finance programs.

Asked if he played a role in McCrory’s thinking, Pope said, “I gave my analysis and advice

to the governor.”

This year, outside money has targeted North Carolina judicial races, including an

$800,000 campaign that accused Hudson of being soft on child molesters. One of

Hudson’s challengers was Jeanette Doran, former executive director of the Popebacked

North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law. She placed third in the May primary, but

Hudson was forced into a runoff with another Republican.

Pope said he did not know Doran was going to run and has not put money into the

campaign.

“I had no knowledge of what was going to happen,” he said. “It was no grand plot.”

Building a network

Pope’s quarter century long effort to build a conservative publicpolicy infrastructure was

inspired in part by his father, John William Pope, a savvy and frugal entrepreneur who

took a handful of family dime stores and turned them into a multi-milliondollar

corporation.

“I don’t have any doubt that Mr. Pope’s business philosophy, political philosophy, played a

substantial role in shaping Art’s role in politics and business,” said former North Carolina

Supreme Court justice Bob Orr, a longtime friend of Art Pope’s who served as the first

head of the Institute for Constitutional Law.

After practicing law for a few years, Art Pope jumped into politics, working as director of

operations for Martin’s 1984 gubernatorial campaign, using his early Apple IIe computer

to model voter turnout.

Pope said that when he joined the Martin administration as a special counsel, he saw the

imbalance in North Carolina’s political environment. The state had been dominated by

Democrats for so long that the newly elected Republican governor had to turn to

neighboring Tennessee for conservative approaches to education.

Soon afterward, Pope went to work building a network of groups to generate conservative

policy prescriptions, modeled in part on national groups such as the Heritage Foundation

and Cato Institute.

In 1990, Pope and his father launched the John Locke Foundation, a think tank that is

now the state’s premier idea generator on the right. They followed it with the Pope Center

on Higher Education Policy, a passion of Pope’s father, who had served on UNCChapel

Hill’s board of trustees. The constitutionallaw center was created to focus on legal issues,

while the Civitas Institute took on the task of holding elected officials accountable to

conservative principles.

Pope was also instrumental in launching the North Carolina chapter of Americans for

Prosperity, which worked to mobilize grassroots support for freemarket policies.

The financial muscle behind the groups is the Pope Foundation, which funds a range of

arts, humanitarian and educational groups. But half of its total giving through June 2013

— $55 million — went to the four policy groups and the national foundation arm of

Americans for Prosperity, according to records provided by the Pope Foundation.

For much of their existence, the Popebacked groups served as a “conservative

government in exile,” said GOP political consultant Dee Stewart. “Those think tanks

generated the ideas that conservative candidates ran on for many, many election cycles.”

The opportunity to put the policies into practice finally came when the GOP won control

of the legislature and then captured the governor’s office — the first time since 1870 that

Republicans controlled the two branches of North Carolina government.

Pope and his family played a significant role, donating more than $500,000 to state

candidates and party committees in 2010 and 2012, according to an analysis of state

campaign finance data by the Institute for Southern Studies, a liberal research group. His

company, Variety Wholesalers, gave almost $1 million more to outside groups that ran

independent campaigns.

Last year, the General Assembly approved a torrent of conservative measures that

resembled ideas touted by Pope’s think tanks. Among them were bills that cut

unemployment benefits, blocked the expansion of Medicaid, restricted access to abortions

and ushered in new restrictions on voting.

In response, thousands of people descended on the capitol last summer as part of

demonstrations dubbed “Moral Mondays.”

The Civitas Institute sought to puncture the demonstrations’ impact by creating an online

database of those arrested in the protests. Along with mug shots, the database included

names, race, age, arrest record, employer’s name and voting history. The site featured a

“Pick the Protester” game that allowed readers to match mug shots with demographic

characteristics.

De Luca, the institute’s president, said the project was aimed at showing that the

protesters were whiter and wealthier than the communities they said they were

representing. “It was not this mass movement,” said De Luca, who added that Civitas

plans to update the database with arrests from demonstrations this year.

Pope, he said, does not dictate the group’s activities. He calls occasionally to ask for policy

information — or if the group has done something controversial, De Luca said.

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“Usually when he calls, I’ll say, ‘Okay, what did we do?’ ” he said.

GOP infighting

The budget standoff in Raleigh this summer has illustrated a complicated truth about

Pope’s role: Now that he is inside the system, he is penned in by the limits of the

governor’s influence.

The state Senate — led by the powerful Phil Berger (R) — rolled over McCrory’s suggested

budget and passed a version very different from the one in the House, whose

appropriations chairman, Rep. Nelson Dollar (R), is a close Pope ally.

Budget talks stalled over a heated dispute about Medicaid projections. After Senate

leaders threatened to subpoena Pope to explain the numbers, the budget director showed

up for a hearing in which a senator sniped at him for trying to “dictate” the budget. Pope,

for his part, scolded the lawmakers for trying to cut teacher assistants and programs to

help the poor and elderly.

Still, Pope is finding ways to shape the political environment from the outside, even as he

sits on the inside.

When this year’s legislative session opened, hundreds of demonstrators again gathered in

front of the State Legislative Building to protest the policies enacted by the Republican

majority. But the Moral Mondays protesters were met by a new player on the scene:

Carolina Rising, a nonprofit group that touted gains made under the GOP leadership and

handed out sunshaped stress balls that proclaimed cheerfully, “Jobs Up Unemployment

Down.”

Last month, the organization — run by Dallas Woodhouse, former state director for

Americans for Prosperity — ventured into harderedged politics, running an ad that took a

shot at Attorney General Roy Cooper, a Democrat expected to challenge McCrory in 2016.

Similar hits against Cooper are expected to follow.

On its Web site, Carolina Rising says it “relies on the generosity of private funding and the

dedicated enthusiasm of the citizens of North Carolina.”

One of those enthusiastic citizens, according to people familiar with his role, is Art Pope.

Alice Crites contributed to this report.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-nc-conservative-donor-art-pope-sits-at-heart-of-government-he-helped-transform/2014/07/19/

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facing so

droz et al anti wind

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/climate-science-deniers-join-forces-against-nc-renewable-energy-program.html">http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/climate-science-deniers-join-forces-against-nc-renewable-energy-program.html</a>

<div id="imagecompanion" style="margin: 20px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 517px; position: relative; box-sizing: border-box;"><span class="imagecaption" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0.5em; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block; box-sizing: border-box; width: auto; background: rgb(246, 246, 246);">John Droz, David Schnare and Daren Bakst (from left to right) speak at an anti-wind energy forum in North Carolina in December 2011. (Photo by Sue Sturgis.)</div>

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<h1 class="title" itemprop="name" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1; letter-spacing: -0.05em; position: relative; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Climate-science deniers join forces against NC renewable-energy program</h1>

Climate-science deniers with ties to the fossil-fuel industry have joined forces in an assault on North Carolina's renewable energy program and particularly wind power, which has been<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wind_power_in_the_United_States#National_trends" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">making big gains</a> in the U.S. in recent years.

Representatives of the American Legislative Exchange Council, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/organization/right/american-tradition-institute" rel="nofollow" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">American Tradition Institute</a>and the John Locke Foundation held forums this week in the N.C. coastal communities of Wilmington and Morehead City titled <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/events/event.html?id=951" rel="nofollow" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">"The Truth About Wind Power on the Coasts of North Carolina."</a> Facing South attended the Wilmington presentation, which was heavy on emotion and shaky on the facts.

"The picking and choosing of information and the way it was presented was misleading and troublesome," said N.C. Sierra Club communications chief Dustin Chicurel-Bayard, who also attended the Wilmington event. The Sierra Club has taken a nuanced position on wind power in North Carolina; it has generally supported the industry's development but joined other environmental groups in <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/03/1686603/environmental-groups-fight-wind.html" rel="nofollow" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-weight: inherit; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">fighting one commercial wind farm</a> proposed for the northeastern corner of the state over concerns about wildlife impacts.

The speakers at this week's forums included Daren Bakst (right in photo), director of legal and regulatory studies for the John Locke Foundation, a free-market think tank that has been the <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/research/topic/4/energy-environment" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">leading voice of climate-science denial</a> in North Carolina public-policy circles. JLF <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">gets most of its funding</a> from the family foundation of <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/person/art-pope" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium;">ArtPope </a>-- a discount-retail mogul, conservative benefactor and <a href="http://americansforprosperity.org/about/directors/" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">one of four national directors</a> of Americans for Prosperity, a tea party group founded and funded by the billionaire Koch brothers who own and operate the Koch Industries oil conglomerate.

Bakst also chairs the energy and natural resources subcommittee of the American Legislative Exchange Council,an <a href="http://alecexposed.org/wiki/What_is_ALEC%3F" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">unusually powerful corporate interest group</a> that works to discredit state-level efforts to cut global-warming pollution. ALEC has received over $1.4 million from ExxonMobil since 1998 as well as extensive funding from Koch Industries and the Koch family foundations, according to a <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/07/10887/cmd-special-report-alecs-funding-and-spending" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">PR Watch investigation</a>. Additionally, Bakst chairs the energy and natural resources subcommittee of the Federalist Society, a conservative legal organization that's dismissed the scientific consensus around global warming as "nothing more than an educated guess" while <a href="http://www.exxonsecrets.org/html/orgfactsheet.php?id=33" rel="nofollow" style=" font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline-style: none; outline-width: medium; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">receiving over $165,000</a> from ExxonMobil since 1998.

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<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/08/after-tumultuous-reign-art-pope-steps-down-as-nc-b.html">http://www.southernstudies.org/2014/08/after-tumultuous-reign-art-pope-steps-down-as-nc-b.html</a>

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<a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="http://org2.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=Y%2B9Cz8QzKRCVEROONofz9Er4lth3pSrt" style=" line-height: 1.2em; outline: none;">ART POPE, NC FEATURED IN NATIONAL DEBATE ON CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM:</a> The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing this week on the corrupting influence of money in politics, and a North Carolina state lawmaker testified about the role of conservative political money man Art Pope. (6/6/2014)

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new moyers doc: RealJobsNC hit/dark$ led to both houses 1st x n 100 yrs 2010

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7. Art Pope: A Backroom Bully Goes Public

In North Carolina these days, few people think Francis first when they hear “Pope.” A different Pope has been dominating headlines here, an exceedingly deep pocket who owes his fortune to a discount store chain his daddy built.

In the run-up to the 2012 elections, this Art Pope <a href="http://org2.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=uXfWQZSXWl5eEoIUHopAjJQHw6ceNGbN">invested</a> [20] over $40 million of his personal wealth to gerrymander how North Carolinians cast their votes.

The gerrymandering worked. This year opened with the state sporting — for the first time ever — a conservative GOP governor, Supreme Court majority, and legislature all at the same time. The state budget director? Pope himself.

Pope’s budget priorities would soon start wreaking havoc with the lives of North Carolina’s most vulnerable. In a state with America’s fifth-highest jobless rate, lawmakers indebted to Pope and his millions <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/us/north-carolina-approves-benefit-cuts-for-unemployed.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20130214&_r=0" style="">slashed</a> [21] top weekly jobless benefits and denied 170,000 long-term jobless special <a href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3164" style="">federal aid</a> [22].

North Carolina’s conservatives didn’t stop there. They put in place, <a href="http://dukemagazine.duke.edu/article/truth-about-art-pope" style="">notes</a> [23] one Duke University analyst, an agenda that cuts education and social programs, shifts the tax burden “toward the less affluent,” and restricts voting rights.

North Carolinians have responded to this rich people-friendly legislative onslaught with spirited demonstrations. The latest protest: an “<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/nc_naacp_announces_education_campaign_focused_on_art_pope_s_stores" style="">educational picket campaign</a> [24]” outside the discount stores the Pope family owns.

Art Pope, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2013/12/pickets-at-art-popes-stores-gain-steam-go-statewid.html" style="">notes</a> [25] state NAACP president William Barber, has brought a “cynical and sinister form of wealth and power manipulation” to North Carolina.

Pope has put his stores “deliberately and publicly in communities of low wealth,” exploited people in these communities with low wages, and then employed his resulting wealth “to push and promote policies,” sums up Reverend Barber, that undercut the quality of average people’s lives.  alternet

Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality / By Sam Pizzigati

10 Greediest People in America

The worst of the worst.

December 17, 2013  |

==

<a href="http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/4/grassroots_leader_rev_dr_william_barber">http://www.democracynow.org/2012/9/4/grassroots_leader_rev_dr_william_barber</a>

reconstruction bl-wh fusion destroyed by Wilmington riots, model for others.  Each progressive period countered by backlash, latest pope (little koch bro)

BO won by only 1400 votes b/c voter ID beat

===

gerrymandering

The carefully drawn maps <a href="http://www.politico.com/2012-election/map/#/House/2012/NC">worked</a>. In this year's elections, Democratic candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives in North Carolina won 50.6 percent of the total vote. But the state's House delegation now has nine Republicans and just four Democrats. One of the Democrats won by just a few hundred voters, despite the fact that his newly drawn district skewed heavily Republican and that his own home had been drawn out of it. North Carolina's <a href="http://www.rollcall.com/issues/57_21/Race-Ratings-GOP-Looks-for-Major-Gains-North-Carolina-208044-1.html">delegation</a> before the election had seven Democrats and six Republicans

In addition to his pay from national Republican groups, invoices show Hofeller <a href="http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/537518-naacp-432">billed</a> North Carolina taxpayers $77,000 for his services.

The Republican maps are still under threat by suits filed by Democrats and the NAACP. The lawsuits are headed to the state Supreme Court. But a flood of contributions tied to the RSLC have lowered the risk of the maps' being overturned.

While judicial elections in North Carolina are nominally nonpartisan, it was <a href="http://www2.nbc17.com/news/2012/jul/29/political-balance-stake-nc-supreme-court-race-ar-2473469/">common knowledge</a> that Republicans held a 4-3 majority on the court. One of those Republican incumbents was facing a tough challenge in 2012, potentially throwing the whole redistricting result in jeopardy.

Justice Paul Newby was running for re-election against appellate judge Sam Ervin IV, grandson of the famous North Carolina senator who investigated Watergate. With a few weeks left until the November election, Newby was trailing Ervin.

But then, in the final stretch, Newby was the beneficiary of a flood of late spending that can be traced back to the Republican State Leadership Committee.

Once again the contributions were funneled through homegrown groups. With only a few weeks to go, the RSLC gave more than $1.1 million to a group called Justice for All NC. Campaign finance filings show Justice for All NC in turn gave nearly $1.5 million to a super PAC running pro-Newby ads, the NC Judicial Coalition.

Most of the money spent by the super PAC went to pay for <a href="http://www.wcnc.com/decision2012/TV-ad-in-NC-Supreme-Court-Race-brought-to-you-by-murky-super-PAC-175488831.html">hundreds</a> of airings of a <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sumn4Hc9OvM">jingle ad</a> featuring lines like, "Paul Newby / Justice tough but fair / Paul Newby / Criminals best beware" set to infectious banjo music.

The spending didn't end there: and Pope's fingerprints were also on the race. Two dark money groups affiliated with Pope — the state-based <a href="http://www.civitasaction.org/">Civitas Action</a> and <a href="http://americansforprosperity.org/about/directors/">Americans for Prosperity</a> — spent another $300,000 on radio ads and mailers supporting Newby. Pope's company also gave to the RSLC in the run-up to this fall's elections.

Pope says he gave money to Americans for Prosperity for years before the judicial race even came up, and that he was not involved in the decision to run pro-Newby ads.

"I'm Republican, I support Republican groups," Pope said. "But just because you support something doesn't mean you're responsible for all they do."

It was an unusually large amount of outside spending for a judicial race. The outside pro-Newby groups had <a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20121101/APN/311019774">spent more</a> on the race than the two campaigns combined.

In the end, Newby eked out a 52-48 victory, preserving the court's Republican majority.

When the groups contesting the maps called for Newby to recuse himself from redistricting litigation, lawyers for Republican legislators <a href="http://www.propublica.org/documents/item/540997-farr-response-to-newby-recusal-motion#document/p6">argued</a> that because the campaign ads were paid for by "independent" groups, they did not jeopardize Newby's impartiality.

On Monday, the state Supreme Court rejected the motion for Newby to recuse himself.

"I've got no control over who contributes to an ad. I have no control over who endorses me," Newby — who did not respond to a request for comment — <a href="http://www.wcnc.com/decision2012/SuperPACs-spend-millions-for-Republican-in-NC-Supreme-Court-176496161.html">told</a> a local TV station on the eve of the election. "You've got to put your blinders on like lady justice."

</div>

==

Art Pope

James “Art” Pope, a founding board member of the Kochs’ conservative advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, took the brothers’ brand of charitable devastation and concentrated it at the state level. He is, as the New Yorker’s Jane Meyer <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer" style="">put it</a> [12], the “conservative multimillionaire [who] has taken control in North Carolina,” a discount retail baron that has used his unrivaled influence as the state’s<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/investigative-series-how-pope-reigns.html" style="">single largest political donor</a> [13] to <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/21/art-pope-koch-brothers_n_2342932.html" style="">literally buy his way into office</a> [14]. While his network of conservative foundations continues steering the debate rightward, Pope puts policies in motion as the state’s deputy budget director.

The <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/investigative-series-how-pope-reigns.html" style="">Institute for Southern Studies</a> [13] has extensively documented how Pope uses his family nonprofit — the John William Pope Foundation, worth nearly <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" style="">$150 million</a> [15] — to pour tax-exempt donations into thinly veiled conservative advocacy groups like the John W. Pope Civitas Institute, the John Locke Foundation and the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy. Over the years, these groups have worked closely with <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html">Tea Party organizers</a> [16], attacked <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html">climate science</a> [17] (and <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html">scientists</a> [18]) and generally championed free market principles.

Pope’s is an impressive empire of shell charities: his foundation spends more than two-thirds of its money providing some <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html" style="">90%</a> [19] of the funding for North Carolina’s leading conservative organizations, at most of which he enjoys a leadership role. In 2010, three of these groups — Civitas Action, Real Jobs NC and Americans for Prosperity — banded together with Pope and his family to <a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/explainer_how_much_did_art_pope_really_spend" style="">flood</a> [20] North Carolina’s legislative races and stage the first Republican takeover of the state <a href="http://www.thenation.com/article/175328/north-carolinas-moral-mondays" style="">since 1896</a> [21].

Since then, Pope’s puppeteering has pushed North Carolina into free-fall, galvanizing the grassroots, <a href="https://twitter.com/MoralMondays">Moral Monday</a> [22] opposition that’s<a href="http://www.carolinamercury.com/2013/08/thousands-attend-mountain-moral-monday-protests-spread-to-chicago-and-oakland/" style="">spreading across the country</a> [23]. Policies long advocated by Pope foundations are now proposed and enacted on a daily basis, seeking to <a href="http://www.nccivitas.org/2012/new-report-touts-benefits-from-replacing-the-north-carolina-income-tax-with-consumption-based-tax/" style="">eliminate corporate and income taxes</a> [24], <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/newsletters/research/2013-07-25-om9498jb60qcklc3e6g74ijo37-health-update.html" style="">shrink healthcare coverage</a> [25], <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2012/4b-renewableenergy.html" style="">gut environmental regulations</a> [26], <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2012/2k-earlychildhoodeducation.html" style="">remove early education opportunities</a> [27], <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2012/6b-urbanrailtransit.html" style="">oppose public transit</a> [28] and <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2012/2f-publicschoolfinance.html" style="">defund public schools</a> [29] and <a href="http://www.johnlocke.org/agenda2012/2m-highereducationpolicy.html" style="">higher education</a> [30].

It’s this last foray that student groups like the <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/citizen/archives/2012/09/28/art-pope-and-the-future-of-education-in-north-carolina" style="">North Carolina Student Power Union</a> [31] are fiercely resisting, mounting a statewide campaign against Art Pope’s involvement in the University of North Carolina system. In exchange for his foundation’s more than two dozen grants over the past 15 years, last year Pope <a href="http://www.northcarolina.edu/news/index.php?code=homepage&actn=view&article_id=208271" style="">was rewarded</a> [32] with a seat on UNC’s “blue ribbon” panel to craft a five-year strategic plan for the 16-campus system. Students claim the move defies UNC’s mandate for public accountability, reeking of blatant corruption.

Pope is hardly an educator, and <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/09/art-pope-translates-dollars-into-influence-at-unc.html" style="">his gifts</a> [33] demonstrate a Koch-like determination to indoctrinate college students at any cost, bidding to bring them into the fold while they’re young. His past contributions include $900,000 for <a href="http://www.artpope.com/philantropy/" style="">pro-free market political science program</a> [34]at North Carolina State University; an attempted <a href="http://www.aaup.org/AAUP/pubsres/academe/2012/MJ/Feat/mele.htm" style="">$10 million</a> [35] for a UNC program in “Western civilization,” later diverted to football coaches’ salaries after widespread outcry; and a similarly ill-fated $600,000 attempt to launch a <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/10/01/1530376/nccu-law-idea-pulled.html" style="">constitutional law center</a> [36] led by the director of a Pope-funded nonprofit at North Carolina Central University....<a href="http://www.alternet.org/print/economy/philanthropy-trouble">http://www.alternet.org/print/economy/philanthropy-trouble</a>

===

Art Pope is the president and vice-chairman of the board of directors for Variety Wholesalers Inc., and a director of the right-wing group <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, which organized the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tax Day Tea Parties</a> across the country, and which organized "town hall" opposition to health care reform in 2009. He is a member of the board of directors of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Atlas_Economic_Research_Foundation" title="Atlas Economic Research Foundation">Atlas Economic Research Foundation</a>, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=North_Carolina_Retail_Merchants_Association&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="North Carolina Retail Merchants Association (page does not exist)">North Carolina Retail Merchants Association</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

An investigation by <a href="http://southernstudies.org/" class="external text" title="http://southernstudies.org/" rel="nofollow">Facing South / Institute for Southern Studies</a> also found that Pope has close ties to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Brothers" title="Koch Brothers">Koch Brothers</a>, as one of four national directors of the Koch-founded political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. In addition, Pope is a director and board chair of a family foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pope_Foundation" title="Pope Foundation" class="mw-redirect">Pope Foundation</a>, which has steered millions to conservative thinks tanks in North Carolina and nationally that have worked closely with the Koch network to manufacture doubt about global warming, including his own <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Overall, a 2010 Facing South / Institute for Southern Studies analysis of tax records found that a foundation chaired by Art Pope supplies about 90 percent of the income of leading conservative nonprofits in North Carolina.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

A New Yorker expose explains that Pope invests not only in conservative non-profits, but in state-level political elections designed to make his takeover of the North Carolina GOP complete. Marc Farinella, an adviser to North Carolina Governor <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Bev_Perdue&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Bev Perdue (page does not exist)">Bev Perdue</a>, commented that "The Republican agenda in North Carolina is really Art Pope’s agenda. He sets it, he funds it, and he directs the efforts to achieve it. The candidates are just fronting for him. There are so many people in North Carolina beholden to Art Pope—it undermines the democratic process.”<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a>

sw

<h2>Contents</h2>

[<a href="javascript:toggleToc()" class="internal" id="togglelink">hide</a>]</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Funding_campaigns_against_moderate_Republicans_.26_Democrats">1 Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans & Democrats</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#New_Yorker_Expose">1.1 New Yorker Expose</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Margaret_Dickson">1.1.2 Margaret Dickson</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Chris_Heagarty">1.1.3 Chris Heagarty</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Background">2 Background</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Climate_change_denial">3 Climate change denial</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Tea_Party_Funding">4 Tea Party Funding</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Funding_campaigns_against_moderate_Republicans">5 Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Connections_to_Koch_Brothers">6 Connections to Koch Brothers</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Articles_and_resources">7 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Related_SourceWatch_articles">7.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#References">7.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#External_resources">7.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#External_articles">7.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2>Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans & Democrats</h2>

<h3><a name="New_Yorker_Expose" id="New_Yorker_Expose">New Yorker Expose</a></h3>

An expose in the New Yorker detailed the workings of several outside spending groups active in the 2010 State Legislative elections in North Carolina that were financially backed by Art Pope. In the article, several moderate Democrats described the attacks they had endured funded by Pope.

State Senator John Snow, a retired judge and moderate Democratic State Senator "who often voted with the Republicans and was considered one of the most conservative Democrats in the General Assembly" described a direct mail campaign which eventually mailed 20 attacks to voters, including an attack for his vote in favor of funding for an aquarium that had passed the Senate unanimously and depicted him as a cartoon pig. Another mailing was "reminiscent of the Willie Horton ad that became notorious during the 1988 Presidential campaign", with a picture of an African-American man on death row convicted of the brutal killing an 11 year old girl, saying that the man could soon be released thanks to Snow's support for a law which would have enabled judges to reconsider the death sentence in the event a jury's verdict was effected by race. The bill was designed to address the racial disparity in North Carolina's death sentencing. Snow supported capitol punishment and, as a judge, had even sentenced it.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-4" title="">[5]</a>

<h4>Margaret Dickson</h4>

Margaret Dickson was defeated in her bid for a fourth term in the North Carolina State Senate in 2010. She "considered herself a centrist, pro-business Democrat", but was victimized by what she called "the hooker ad" in which she was played by "an actress with dark hair who was fair, like me. She was putting on mascara and red lipstick. She had on a big ring and bracelet." The ad showed the actress grabbing cash and accused Dickson of promoting her own interests in the legislature without making any direct accusation. Another ad compared her tax record to Nancy Pelosi, though her record was shown to be far more conservative, and not comparable due to the two women's service in two different legislative bodies.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a>

<h4>Chris Heagarty</h4>

Chris Heagarty was a non-incumbent State Senate candidate in 2010 who was subjected to Pope-funded advertising accusing him of voting to support a billion dollars in tax increases, despite his non-incumbency. He is Caucasian but was depicted as Hispanic in other ads, which said ‘Mucho Taxo! Adios, Señor!’ beneath pictures of him wearing a sombrero.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a>

In 2006, the Raleigh News and Observer reported that Pope "has created other organizations to sway public opinion, monitor the legislature, develop grass-roots political efforts and bring court challenges" and that he had spent "millions of dollars on a network whose purpose is to move North Carolina to the political right." His goal was to purge the North Carolina state House of Representatives of Republican moderates. According to journalist Rob Christensen, Pope "created two new tax-exempt organizations. The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Legislative_Majority_of_North_Carolina&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina (page does not exist)">Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina</a> was bankrolled with $260,000 in contributions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Variety_Wholesalers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Variety Wholesalers (page does not exist)">Variety Wholesalers</a>. A Pope-formed state chapter of a national group, Americans for Prosperity, contributed more than $200,000 ... The Pope effort helped defeat Republican Reps. Rex Baker of King, Keith Williams of Jacksonville, Michael Gorman of New Bern and Michael Decker of Forsyth County. Pope came within a whisker of knocking off Morgan and Rep. Rick Eddins of Raleigh."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-7" title="">[8]</a>

Pope started out by financing a network of conservative think tanks, but in latter years has expanded his role to that of a conservative political enforcer, spending hundreds of thousands of his own money to unseat moderate Republican legislators.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-8" title="">[9]</a>

<h2>Background</h2>

Pope, a graduate of Duke University School of Law, is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association. He has worked as "special counsel to the governor in 1985, running for the lieutenant governorship in 1992, and being chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1992 and 1996."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

Pope was also the founder of the right-wing, free market <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, which accepts money from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry" title="Tobacco industry">tobacco industry</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-9" title="">[10]</a>

<h2>Climate change denial</h2>

A 2010 investigation by the Institute for Southern Studies found that Pope had begun funneling money to ostensibly nonpartisan nonprofits that use it to run attack ads, primarily directed at politicians who have played a key role in addressing climate change in the state. Facing South's analysis of <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg" rel="nofollow">tax return data</a> found that Art Pope's family foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pope_Foundation" title="Pope Foundation" class="mw-redirect">Pope Foundation</a>, had made large contributions to the same network of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_skeptic" title="Climate skeptic" class="mw-redirect">climate skeptic</a> groups as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Brothers" title="Koch Brothers">Koch Brothers</a> from 1997 to 2008 -- more than $24.1 million in all. Many of the funds went to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofit think tank based in Raleigh, N.C. that was created in 1990 to promote the idea of limited government. Pope provides 80 percent of the organization's funding -- $16.9 million from 1997 to 2008 -- and sits on its board of directors. The John Locke Foundation has been one of the most outspoken voices of climate denial, particularly in North Carolina - in 2007, North Carolina passed Senate Bill 3 to adopt a minimum requirement for the use of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Renewable_energy" title="Renewable energy">renewable energy</a> sources by investor-owned electric utilities. The bill requires that 12.5 percent of all electricity sold in the state by 2020 must come from renewable sources or improved efficiency. The John Locke Foundation would like to do away with it altogether, according to the group's 2010 climate agenda.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Pope's foundation is also a backer of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Institute" title="Civitas Institute">Civitas Institute</a>, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofit, and its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%284%29" title="501(c)(4)">501(c)(4)</a> sister group, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Action" title="Civitas Action" class="mw-redirect">Civitas Action</a>. Between 2005 and 2009, the Pope Foundation has accounted for about 99 percent of the Civitas Institute's foundation income. Pope was also a founder of Civitas Action, which has raised nearly $265,000 since August -- more than 70 percent of that directly from Pope's company. In October 2010, Civitas Action spent $5,750 on mailers targeting North Carolina House Speaker <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Joe_Hackney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Joe Hackney (page does not exist)">Joe Hackney</a> and Senate leader <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marc_Basnight&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Marc Basnight (page does not exist)">Marc Basnight</a>, Democrats who have been supportive of efforts to address <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_warming" title="Global warming">global warming</a>. Hackney led the state's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_change" title="Climate change">climate change</a> commission for a time before appointing in his place Rep. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pricey_Harrison&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pricey Harrison (page does not exist)">Pricey Harrison</a> (D), one of the legislature's strongest environmental advocates. Basnight has talked about his concern that global warming and associated sea rise could inundate the region and supports a move to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_energy&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Clean energy (page does not exist)">clean energy</a> sources. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frances_De_Luca&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Frances De Luca (page does not exist)">Frances De Luca</a>, president of the Civitas Institute and the former state director of the North Carolina chapter of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, has said more mailers are planned.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Running against 15-term Hackney is Cathy Wright, a nursing instructor who's also worked as a lobbyist for medical groups. Her campaign manager did not respond to Facing South's request for information about her position on climate change. But Wright does say she's a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative_Womens_Forum&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative Womens Forum (page does not exist)">Conservative Womens Forum</a>, which promotes a book calling global warming a "scam" and is critical of clean energy solutions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cap-and_trade" title="Cap-and trade" class="mw-redirect">cap-and trade</a> legislation to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wind_power" title="Wind power" class="mw-redirect">wind power</a> to the promotion of compact-fluorescent light bulbs. Additionally, her campaign website links directly to both the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute. Basnight's opponent is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hood_Richardson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Hood Richardson (page does not exist)">Hood Richardson</a>, a retired minerals geologist and commissioner for Beaufort County, N.C. Richardson calls global warming a "problem that has since been debunked as based on faulty science." He also criticizes Basnight for helping create the state climate change commission, saying it will "severely harm businesses." He cites the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a> for his assertions.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

<h2>Tea Party Funding</h2>

A 2010 Facing South / Institute for Southern Studies analysis found that a family foundation led by Art Pope has given the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity_Foundation" title="Americans for Prosperity Foundation">Americans for Prosperity Foundation</a> (AFP) over $1.3 million since 2004, making it the group's second-largest institutional backer. Pope also sits on AFP's four-person board of directors. Americans for Prosperity has key leadership roles in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_Patriots" title="Tea Party Patriots">Tea Party Patriots</a> movement. AFP delivered "Home Organizing" kits to Tea Party activists and sponsored dozens of trainings at local and national Tea Party events. Americans for Prosperity also works closely with the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_Express" title="Tea Party Express">Tea Party Express</a>. AFP called for a national <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tax Day Tea Party</a> in Washington, D.C. in October 2009 to channel the movement's energy. The N.C. branch of Americans for Prosperity is behind N.C. Tax Day Tea Party 2010, an effort to coordinate Tea Party protests across the state.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-10" title="">[11]</a>

Since spring 2009, staff of the Pope's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Institute" title="Civitas Institute">Civitas Institute</a>, which receives nearly all of its funding from Pope's family foundation, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, which receives over 80 percent of its funding from Pope's foundation, have spoken at dozens of Tea Party rallies. Together with the N.C. chapter of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, in May 2010 the Civitas Institute organized two "Tea Party Summits" -- one in Hickory ("Tea Party Summit West"), and another in Wilmington ("East"). According to the website, the events aimed to "channel the tea party energy" towards the groups' favorite conservatives causes, like "forced annexation" and cutting taxes. Both the East and West Tea Party summits in North Carolina featured a "State of the People Luncheon" led by the Civitas Institute. They also included a Citizen Watchdog/Investigative Journalism training led by Civitas staff.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-10" title="">[11]</a>

There questions about whether Pope's organizations are overstepping its legal bounds with these activites. The Civitas Institute and Locke Foundation are classified as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofits by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Internal_Revenue_Service" title="Internal Revenue Service">Internal Revenue Service</a>, which forbids partisan political engagement and electioneering. Americans for Prosperity is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%284%29" title="501(c)(4)">501(c)(4)</a> group, which can support or oppose candidates, as long as that's not its primary purpose.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-10" title="">[11]</a>

<h2>Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans</h2>

In 2006, the Raleigh News and Observer reported that Pope "has created other organizations to sway public opinion, monitor the legislature, develop grass-roots political efforts and bring court challenges" and that he had spent "millions of dollars on a network whose purpose is to move North Carolina to the political right." His goal was to purge the North Carolina state House of Representatives of Republican moderates. According to journalist Rob Christensen, Pope "created two new tax-exempt organizations. The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Legislative_Majority_of_North_Carolina&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina (page does not exist)">Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina</a> was bankrolled with $260,000 in contributions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Variety_Wholesalers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Variety Wholesalers (page does not exist)">Variety Wholesalers</a>. A Pope-formed state chapter of a national group, Americans for Prosperity, contributed more than $200,000 ... The Pope effort helped defeat Republican Reps. Rex Baker of King, Keith Williams of Jacksonville, Michael Gorman of New Bern and Michael Decker of Forsyth County. Pope came within a whisker of knocking off Morgan and Rep. Rick Eddins of Raleigh."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-11" title="">[12]</a>

Pope started out by financing a network of conservative think tanks, but in latter years has expanded his role to that of a conservative political enforcer, spending hundreds of thousands of his own money to unseat moderate Republican legislators.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-12" title="">[13]</a>

<h2>Connections to Koch Brothers</h2>

Pope was acknowledged at the Koch seminar in June 2011 in Vail, Colorado for donating at least $1 million to Koch-related causes. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-Mother_Jones_Exclusive-13" title="">[14]</a>

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" title="Astroturf">Astroturf</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grassroots" title="Grassroots">Grassroots</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patients_First" title="Patients First">Patients First</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-Bio-0">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-Bio_0-0" title="">1.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-Bio_0-1" title="">1.1</a> <a href="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/directors" class="external text" title="http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about/directors" rel="nofollow">"Art Pope"</a>, Americans for Prosperity website, accessed September 2009.</li>

<li id="cite_note-ss-1">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ss_1-0" title="">2.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ss_1-1" title="">2.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ss_1-2" title="">2.2</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ss_1-3" title="">2.3</a> Sue Sturgis, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html" rel="nofollow">"A Pope of climate denial"</a> Facing South, October 26, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-2" title="">↑</a> Chris Kromm, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/north-carolinas-art-pope-staying-in-control.html" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/north-carolinas-art-pope-staying-in-control.html" rel="nofollow">"North Carolina's Art Pope: Staying in control"</a> Facing South, Oct. 19, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> The New Yorker, "<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" rel="nofollow">[1]</a>" Accessed October 11 2011</li>

<li id="cite_note-4"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-4" title="">↑</a> The New Yorker, STATE FOR SALE<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=1" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=1" rel="nofollow">[2]</a> Accessed 5 October 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-5" title="">↑</a> The New Yorker, STATE FOR SALE<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=2" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=2" rel="nofollow">[3]</a> Accessed 5 October 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-6" title="">↑</a> The New Yorker, STATE FOR SALE<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=2" class="external autonumber" title="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=2" rel="nofollow">[4]</a> Accessed 5 October 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-7" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" rel="nofollow">"The knight of the right: Ex-legislator Art Pope has quietly built a political network to advance his conservative vision for North Carolina"</a>, Raleigh News and Observer, January 29, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-8" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" rel="nofollow">"Advocate to some, bully to others, Pope brews discord"</a>, News & Observer (Raleigh), February 2, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-9" title="">↑</a> Tommy J. Payne, R.J. Reynolds <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zws50d00" class="external text" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zws50d00" rel="nofollow">Please find enclosed a check in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) made payable to the John Locke Foundation.</a> Letter. 1 page. February 2, 2000. Bates No. 522493786</li>

<li id="cite_note-ck-10">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_10-0" title="">11.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_10-1" title="">11.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_10-2" title="">11.2</a> Chris Kromm, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html" rel="nofollow">"Art Pope: Still dancing at the Tea Party?"</a> Facing South, Oct. 21, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-11" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" rel="nofollow">"The knight of the right: Ex-legislator Art Pope has quietly built a political network to advance his conservative vision for North Carolina"</a>, Raleigh News and Observer, January 29, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-12" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" rel="nofollow">"Advocate to some, bully to others, Pope brews discord"</a>, News & Observer (Raleigh), February 2, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Mother_Jones_Exclusive-13"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-Mother_Jones_Exclusive_13-0" title="">↑</a> Gavin Aronsen, <a href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/koch-brothers-million-dollar-donor-club" class="external text" title="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2011/09/koch-brothers-million-dollar-donor-club" rel="nofollow">Exclusive: The Koch Brothers' Million-Dollar Donor Club</a>, Mother Jones, September 6, 2011</li>

</ol>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/" class="external text" title="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/" rel="nofollow">Art Pope Exposed, a project of the Institute for Southern Studies</a>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul>

<li>John Grooms, <a href="http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/unhealthy_lies_and_the_truth_about_health_care_reform/Content?oid=696999" class="external text" title="http://charlotte.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/unhealthy_lies_and_the_truth_about_health_care_reform/Content?oid=696999" rel="nofollow">"Unhealthy lies and the truth about healthcare reform"</a>, Creative Loafing, August 18, 2009.</li>

</ul>

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<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope</a>

===

CMD:

<h1 class="title">"We are the 99%," but the 1% Buy Elections, Reports Show</h1>

<div class="meta">Submitted by <a href="http://www.prwatch.org/users/35275/brendan-fischer" title="View user profile.">Brendan Fischer</a> on October 7, 2011 - 8:44am</div>

As the "Occupy" protests spread across the country with the slogan "we are the ninety-nine percent," two reports released this week demonstrate how the top one percent are playing an increasingly outsized role in American elections.

The New Yorker <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" title="reference on reports" target="blank">reports</a> on a conservative multimillionaire's successful efforts to buy North Carolina's elections, and a report from campaign finance reform groups describe how an elite group of donors have laundered unlimited contributions to presidential campaigns. Much of this influence was made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Citizens_United" title="reference on Citizens United" target="self">Citizens United</a> decision, and anger over corporate influence in politics is helping fuel the populist uprisings in Manhattan, D.C., and around the country.

<h2>Dimestore Donor Dominates North Carolina Elections</h2>

James Arthur "Art" Pope, chairman and CEO of the Variety Wholesalers dimestore discount chain, has created a "singular influence machine" in North Carolina, using his family's wealth to influence that state's elections and promote right-wing ideology, according to a <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all" title="reference on report" target="_blank">report</a> by Jane Mayer in this week's New Yorker magazine.

"The Republican agenda in North Carolina is really Art Pope's agenda. He sets it, he funds it, and he directs the efforts to achieve it. The candidates are just fronting for him. There are so many people in North Carolina beholden to Art Pope—it undermines the democratic process," says Marc Farinella, a Democratic political consultant.

Like the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_brothers" title="reference on Koch brothers" target="self">Koch brothers</a> (whom Meyer <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2010/08/30/100830fa_fact_mayer" title="reference on profiled" target="blank">profiled</a> in the New Yorker last year), Pope grew up wealthy, inherited his family dimestore business, and has spent massive amounts of money funding organizations and candidates opposing environmental regulations, taxes, minimum wage laws, unions, and campaign-spending limits. In addition to their sizable personal fortunes, the Kochs and Pope can spend millions in corporate funds because their companies are privately held. Pope regards Charles and David Koch as friends, and is one of the four directors of the Koch-funded-and-founded <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="reference on Americans for Prosperity" target="_self">Americans for Prosperity</a>, to which he has donated over $2 million.

John Snow, a centrist Democrat who was defeated by Art Pope-funded attacks after three terms in state Senate, told the New Yorker, "[i]t's getting to the point where, in politics, money is the most important thing." Snow was expected to easily win reelection, but his Tea Party-affiliated candidate with no experience had a seemingly endless flow of money. "A lot of it was from corporations and outside groups related to Art Pope. He was their sugar daddy."

Chris Heagerty was another Democratic candidate defeated by a flood of Pope-connected money. One ad depicted Heagerty, who is caucasian but has dark hair and complexion, as Hispanic. "They slapped a sombrero on a photo of me, and wrote, 'Mucho Taxo! Adios, Señor!'" Heagerty told the magazine. "If you put all of the Pope groups together, they and the North Carolina G.O.P. spent more to defeat me than the guy who actually won." According to the article, he fell silent, then added, "For an individual to have so much power is frightening. The government of North Carolina is for sale."

"We didn't have that before 2010," said Bob Phillips, head of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Common_Cause" title="reference on Common Cause" target="_self">Common Cause</a> North Carolina. "Citizens United opened up the door. Now a candidate can literally be outspent by independent groups. We saw it in North Carolina, and a lot of the money was traced back to Art Pope."

According to an <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/art-popes-big-day-millionaires-funds-key-to-historic-gop-wins-in-nc-legislature.html" title="reference on analysis" target="_blank">analysis</a> by the Institute for Southern Studies, Pope, his family, and their organizations targeted twenty-two legislative races and won eighteen. The wins placed both chambers of North Carolina's General Assembly under Republican majorities for the first time since 1870. Three-quarters of "independent expenditures" in North Carolina's 2010 state races -- spending made independently of a candidate or their committee -- came from accounts linked to Pope.

</div>

<a href="http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/11057/we-are-99-1-buy-elections-reports-show">http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/10/11057/we-are-99-1-buy-elections-reports-show</a>

mayer NYT: <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all</a>

...

or years, Pope, like several other farsighted conservative corporate activists, has been spending millions in an attempt to change the direction of American politics. According to an analysis of tax records by Democracy NC, a progressive government watchdog group, in the past decade Pope, his family, his family foundation, and his business have spent more than forty million dollars in this effort. Sizable as Pope’s contributions have been, they are negligible in comparison with his fortune. The Pope family foundation—of which Art Pope is the chairman and president, and one of four directors—reportedly has assets of nearly a hundred and fifty million dollars.

This wealth has enabled Pope to participate in the public arena on a scale that few individuals can match. Some have compared him to Charles and David Koch, the conservative oil-and-chemical magnates, whom Pope regards as friends; Pope has at times joined forces with them, attending some of their semi-annual secret planning summits and, through the family foundation, contributing millions to many of the same causes. Pope, in addition to being on the board of Americans for Prosperity—which David Koch founded, in 2004—served on the board of its predecessor, Citizens for a Sound Economy, which Koch co-founded, in 1984. Charles Koch recently praised the Popes, along with other donors, for providing financial support for the 2012 election effort, and tax records show that Pope has given money to at least twenty-seven groups supported by the Kochs, including organizations opposing environmental regulations, tax increases, unions, and campaign-spending limits. Pope, in fact, helped fund the legal center run by James Bopp, the lawyer who made the initial filing in the Citizens United case.

In pursuit of his goals, Pope, like the Kochs, has created a network combining a family fortune, the resources of a large private company, and family-funded policy organizations. Of the forty million dollars that his network has spent in the past decade, thirty-five million has gone to half a dozen ostensibly nonpartisan policy groups, which he has been instrumental in creating and directing. Pope claims that these organizations are independent of his control, but, on average, the Pope family foundation supplies them with more than eighty-five per cent of their funds. Though these groups are officially defined as philanthropic, almost all parts of the Pope enterprise push the same aggressively pro-business, anti-government message. Because Pope funds the groups through his family foundation, he is able to take tax writeoffs. “I am careful to comply with the law,” Pope says. “And I keep my personal activities separate from my philanthropic, public-policy, grassroots, and independent expenditure efforts.” But, by taking full advantage of recent changes in tax and campaign-finance law, he has created a singular influence machine that, according to critics, blurs the lines between tax-deductible philanthropy and corporate-funded partisan advocacy.

Read more <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1aDVu7yAk" style="">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1aDVu7yAk</a>

</div>

....

...

Pope, the chairman and COO of a discount-store conglomerate, pumped millions of dollars into helping the RedMap strategy succeed during the 2010 state legislative races.

"He and his family members have basically poured money into the state's politics; $40 million is about what they've spent through their foundations," says Mayer. "About $35 million of that has gone towards pushing a far-right political agenda in North Carolina. In the 2010 state races, where people don't spend much money, he and the groups that he helped found — that were supposedly independent groups — spent $2.2 million. It doesn't sound like a lot nationally, but it can make all the difference in the context of one state. So basically what you're looking at is one very wealthy corporate captain who, when motivated enough, can exert enormous influence in a state."

The influence Pope wields in North Carolina can be seen in the results of the 2010 legislative election. Republicans won 18 of the 22 races Pope or his organizations targeted. Roughly 75 percent of spending by independent groups during North Carolina's state races came from accounts linked to Pope....

On Pope's connections to David and Charles Koch, the <a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129425186">subjects of a 2010 Mayer piece</a>

"They've been friends for 25 years. They've coordinated to some extent. Art Pope goes to their secret confabs that the Koch brothers run twice a year that are by invitation only, where everyone is sworn to secrecy and not allowed to talk about what takes place. Pope has gone to many of them, and in those conferences, what they do is think about where to put their money. To a certain extent, what caught my interest is what the country is seeing is what looks like spontaneous combustion of far-right wing Tea Party politics, but behind that there are some very instrumental players who have great family fortunes, corporate fortunes — and who are coordinating to a certain extent."

=

An investigation by Facing South also found that Pope has close ties to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Brothers" title="Koch Brothers">Koch Brothers</a>, as one of four national directors of the Koch-founded political advocacy group Americans for Prosperity. In addition, Pope is a director and board chair of a family foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pope_Foundation" title="Pope Foundation">Pope Foundation</a>, which has steered millions to conservative thinks tanks in North Carolina and nationally that have worked closely with the Koch network to manufacture doubt about global warming, including his own <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Overall, the 2010 Facing South analysis of tax records found that a foundation chaired by Art Pope supplies about 90 percent of the income of leading conservative nonprofits in North Carolina.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-2" title="">[3]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Background">1 Background</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Climate_change_denial">2 Climate change denial</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Tea_Party_Funding">3 Tea Party Funding</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Funding_campaigns_against_moderate_Republicans">4 Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Articles_and_resources">5 Articles and resources</a>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#Related_SourceWatch_articles">5.1 Related SourceWatch articles</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#References">5.2 References</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#External_resources">5.3 External resources</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-2"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#External_articles">5.4 External articles</a></li>

</ul>

</li>

</ul>

</td></tr></tbody></table>

Background

Pope, a graduate of Duke University School of Law, is a member of the North Carolina Bar Association. He has worked as "special counsel to the governor in 1985, running for the lieutenant governorship in 1992, and being chosen as a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1992 and 1996."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-Bio-0" title="">[1]</a>

Pope was also the founder of the right-wing, free market <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, which accepts money from the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tobacco_industry" title="Tobacco industry">tobacco industry</a>.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-3" title="">[4]</a>

<h2>Climate change denial</h2>

A 2010 investigation by the Institute for Southern Studies found that Pope had begun funneling money to ostensibly nonpartisan nonprofits that use it to run attack ads, primarily directed at politicians who have played a key role in addressing climate change in the state. Facing South's analysis of <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/images/sitepieces/koch-pope-comparison_final.jpg" rel="nofollow">tax return data</a> found that Art Pope's family foundation, the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pope_Foundation" title="Pope Foundation">Pope Foundation</a>, had made large contributions to the same network of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_skeptic" title="Climate skeptic" class="mw-redirect">climate skeptic</a> groups as the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Koch_Brothers" title="Koch Brothers">Koch Brothers</a> from 1997 to 2008 -- more than $24.1 million in all. Many of the funds went to the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofit think tank based in Raleigh, N.C. that was created in 1990 to promote the idea of limited government. Pope provides 80 percent of the organization's funding -- $16.9 million from 1997 to 2008 -- and sits on its board of directors. The John Locke Foundation has been one of the most outspoken voices of climate denial, particularly in North Carolina - in 2007, North Carolina passed Senate Bill 3 to adopt a minimum requirement for the use of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Renewable_energy" title="Renewable energy">renewable energy</a> sources by investor-owned electric utilities. The bill requires that 12.5 percent of all electricity sold in the state by 2020 must come from renewable sources or improved efficiency. The John Locke Foundation would like to do away with it altogether, according to the group's 2010 climate agenda.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Pope's foundation is also a backer of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Institute" title="Civitas Institute">Civitas Institute</a>, a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofit, and its <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%284%29" title="501(c)(4)">501(c)(4)</a> sister group, <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Action" title="Civitas Action">Civitas Action</a>. Between 2005 and 2009, the Pope Foundation has accounted for about 99 percent of the Civitas Institute's foundation income. Pope was also a founder of Civitas Action, which has raised nearly $265,000 since August -- more than 70 percent of that directly from Pope's company. In October 2010, Civitas Action spent $5,750 on mailers targeting North Carolina House Speaker <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Joe_Hackney&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Joe Hackney (page does not exist)">Joe Hackney</a> and Senate leader <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Marc_Basnight&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Marc Basnight (page does not exist)">Marc Basnight</a>, Democrats who have been supportive of efforts to address <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Global_warming" title="Global warming">global warming</a>. Hackney led the state's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Climate_change" title="Climate change">climate change</a> commission for a time before appointing in his place Rep. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pricey_Harrison&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Pricey Harrison (page does not exist)">Pricey Harrison</a> (D), one of the legislature's strongest environmental advocates. Basnight has talked about his concern that global warming and associated sea rise could inundate the region and supports a move to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Clean_energy&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Clean energy (page does not exist)">clean energy</a> sources. <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Frances_De_Luca&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Frances De Luca (page does not exist)">Frances De Luca</a>, president of the Civitas Institute and the former state director of the North Carolina chapter of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, has said more mailers are planned.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

Running against 15-term Hackney is Cathy Wright, a nursing instructor who's also worked as a lobbyist for medical groups. Her campaign manager did not respond to Facing South's request for information about her position on climate change. But Wright does say she's a member of the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative_Womens_Forum&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Conservative Womens Forum (page does not exist)">Conservative Womens Forum</a>, which promotes a book calling global warming a "scam" and is critical of clean energy solutions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Cap-and_trade" title="Cap-and trade">cap-and trade</a> legislation to <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Wind_power" title="Wind power" class="mw-redirect">wind power</a> to the promotion of compact-fluorescent light bulbs.

Additionally, her campaign website links directly to both the John Locke Foundation and the Civitas Institute. Basnight's opponent is <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Hood_Richardson&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Hood Richardson (page does not exist)">Hood Richardson</a>, a retired minerals geologist and commissioner for Beaufort County, N.C. Richardson calls global warming a "problem that has since been debunked as based on faulty science." He also criticizes Basnight for helping create the state climate change commission, saying it will "severely harm businesses." He cites the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a> for his assertions.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ss-1" title="">[2]</a>

<h2>Tea Party Funding</h2>

A 2010 Facing South analysis found that a family foundation led by Art Pope has given the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity_Foundation" title="Americans for Prosperity Foundation">Americans for Prosperity Foundation</a> (AFP) over $1.3 million since 2004, making it the group's second-largest institutional backer. Pope also sits on AFP's four-person board of directors. Americans for Prosperity has key leadership roles in the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_Patriots" title="Tea Party Patriots">Tea Party Patriots</a> movement. AFP delivered "Home Organizing" kits to Tea Party activists and sponsored dozens of trainings at local and national Tea Party events.

Americans for Prosperity also works closely with the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tea_Party_Express" title="Tea Party Express">Tea Party Express</a>. AFP called for a national <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Tax_Day_Tea_Party" title="Tax Day Tea Party">Tax Day Tea Party</a> in Washington, D.C. in October 2009 to channel the movement's energy. The N.C. branch of Americans for Prosperity is behind N.C. Tax Day Tea Party 2010, an effort to coordinate Tea Party protests across the state.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-4" title="">[5]</a>

Since spring 2009, staff of the Pope's <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Civitas_Institute" title="Civitas Institute">Civitas Institute</a>, which receives nearly all of its funding from Pope's family foundation, and the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a>, which receives over 80 percent of its funding from Pope's foundation, have spoken at dozens of Tea Party rallies. Together with the N.C. chapter of <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, in May 2010 the Civitas Institute organized two "Tea Party Summits" -- one in Hickory ("Tea Party Summit West"), and another in Wilmington ("East"). According to the website, the events aimed to "channel the tea party energy" towards the groups' favorite conservatives causes, like "forced annexation" and cutting taxes. Both the East and West Tea Party summits in North Carolina featured a "State of the People Luncheon" led by the Civitas Institute. They also included a Citizen Watchdog/Investigative Journalism training led by Civitas staff.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-4" title="">[5]</a>

There questions about whether Pope's organizations are overstepping its legal bounds with these activites. The Civitas Institute and Locke Foundation are classified as <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%283%29" title="501(c)(3)">501(c)(3)</a> nonprofits by the <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Internal_Revenue_Service" title="Internal Revenue Service">Internal Revenue Service</a>, which forbids partisan political engagement and electioneering. Americans for Prosperity is a <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=501%28c%29%284%29" title="501(c)(4)">501(c)(4)</a> group, which can support or oppose candidates, as long as that's not its primary purpose.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-ck-4" title="">[5]</a>

<h2>Funding campaigns against moderate Republicans</h2>

In 2006, the Raleigh News and Observer reported that Pope "has created other organizations to sway public opinion, monitor the legislature, develop grass-roots political efforts and bring court challenges" and that he had spent "millions of dollars on a network whose purpose is to move North Carolina to the political right." His goal was to purge the North Carolina state House of Representatives of Republican moderates. According to journalist Rob Christensen, Pope "created two new tax-exempt organizations. The <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Republican_Legislative_Majority_of_North_Carolina&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina (page does not exist)">Republican Legislative Majority of North Carolina</a> was bankrolled with $260,000 in contributions from <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Variety_Wholesalers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Variety Wholesalers (page does not exist)">Variety Wholesalers</a>. A Pope-formed state chapter of a national group, Americans for Prosperity, contributed more than $200,000 ... The Pope effort helped defeat Republican Reps. Rex Baker of King, Keith Williams of Jacksonville, Michael Gorman of New Bern and Michael Decker of Forsyth County. Pope came within a whisker of knocking off Morgan and Rep. Rick Eddins of Raleigh."<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-5" title="">[6]</a>

Pope started out by financing a network of conservative think tanks, but in latter years has expanded his role to that of a conservative political enforcer, spending hundreds of thousands of his own money to unseat moderate Republican legislators.<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_note-6" title="">[7]</a>

<h2>Articles and resources</h2>

<h3>Related SourceWatch articles</h3>

<ul>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Astroturf" title="Astroturf">Astroturf</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grassroots" title="Grassroots">Grassroots</a></li>

<li><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Patients_First" title="Patients First">Patients First</a></li>

</ul>

<h3>References</h3>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-3" title="">↑</a> Tommy J. Payne, R.J. Reynolds <a href="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zws50d00" class="external text" title="http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/tid/zws50d00" rel="nofollow">Please find enclosed a check in the amount of five thousand dollars ($5,000.00) made payable to the John Locke Foundation.</a> Letter. 1 page. February 2, 2000. Bates No. 522493786</li>

<li id="cite_note-ck-4">↑ <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_4-0" title="">5.0</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_4-1" title="">5.1</a> <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-ck_4-2" title="">5.2</a> Chris Kromm, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html" class="external text" title="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html" rel="nofollow">"Art Pope: Still dancing at the Tea Party?"</a> Facing South, Oct. 21, 2010.</li>

<li id="cite_note-5"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-5" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/114/story/394092.html" rel="nofollow">"The knight of the right: Ex-legislator Art Pope has quietly built a political network to advance his conservative vision for North Carolina"</a>, Raleigh News and Observer, January 29, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-6"><a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope#cite_ref-6" title="">↑</a> Rob Christensen, <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" class="external text" title="http://www.newsobserver.com/102/story/393824.html" rel="nofollow">"Advocate to some, bully to others, Pope brews discord"</a>, News & Observer (Raleigh), February 2, 2006.</li>

</ol>

<h3>External resources</h3>

<h3>External articles</h3>

<ul>

</ul>

<div class="printfooter">Retrieved from "<a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope">http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Art_Pope</a>"</div>

</div>

===

<h1>James Arthur Pope</h1>

<div class="nicknm">Nickname: Art</div>

Gender: Male</div>

James Arthur Pope lives and/or works in</div>

</div>

<div class="tp-persAddressCity">Raleigh, NC.</div>

Areas of interest:</div>

</div>

<div class="tp-interestArea">business</div>

,

<div class="tp-interestArea">politics & government</div>

,

<div class="tp-interestArea">nonprofits</div>

</div>

<h2 class="relation">James Arthur Pope current relationships:</h2>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://www.muckety.com/Americans-for-Prosperity/5063643.muckety" class="rel" relid="5063643">Americans for Prosperity</a> - director</div>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://www.muckety.com/Americans-for-Prosperity-Foundation/5032524.muckety" class="rel" relid="5032524">Americans for Prosperity Foundation</a> - vice chairman</div>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://www.muckety.com/John-Locke-Foundation/5056014.muckety" class="rel" relid="5056014">John Locke Foundation</a> - director</div>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://www.muckety.com/John-William-Pope-Civitas-Institute/5056015.muckety" class="rel" relid="5056015">John William Pope Civitas Institute</a> - director</div>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://www.muckety.com/Pope-Political-Inc/5055996.muckety" class="rel" relid="5055996">Pope Political Inc.</a> - owner</div>

</div>

<div class="relation">Muckety map information sources include:</div>

</div>

<div class="tp_sourcesSpecial">News & Observer</div>

Muckety draws information from thousands of sources. For a list of primary government and news sites, see our <a href="http://news.muckety.com/sources">Sources page</a>.</div>

</div>

<div class="relation">James Arthur Pope campaign contributions:</div>

<div class="camp">(Federal donations of $3,000 or more)</div>

</div>

<div class="relLink"><a href="http://images.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00448498">McCain Victory 2008</a> - $12,700 on 5/21/2008</div>

</div>

<div class="relation">James Arthur Pope connections, once removed:</div>

James Arthur Pope is connected to ...

</div>

</div>

<div class="tp_secondDeg">Richard H. Fink >> through Americans for Prosperity Foundation   >> <a href="http://www.muckety.com/Query?SearchResult=147255&SearchResult=142688&graph=MucketyMap?_r=2D">Map it!</a>

</div>

<div class="tp_secondDeg">Debra G. Humphreys >> through Americans for Prosperity Foundation   >> <a href="http://www.muckety.com/Query?SearchResult=147255&SearchResult=147233&graph=MucketyMap?_r=2D">Map it!</a>

</div>

<div class="tp_secondDeg">David H. Koch >> through Americans for Prosperity Foundation   >> <a href="http://www.muckety.com/Query?SearchResult=147255&SearchResult=2226&graph=MucketyMap?_r=2D">Map it!</a>

</div>

<div class="tp_secondDeg">Walter E. Williams >> through Americans for Prosperity Foundation   >> <a href="http://www.muckety.com/Query?SearchResult=147255&SearchResult=30335&graph=MucketyMap?_r=2D">Map it!</a></div>

</div>

----

<h1 class="title">Investigative Series: How Pope Reigns</h1>

</div>

Although not well known, North Carolina millionaire Art Pope is one of the most influential benefactors of conservative causes and Republican politics in North Carolina -- and increasingly, the country.

Beginning in October 2010, Facing South and the Institute for Southern Studies <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-search.cgi?IncludeBlogs=5&limit=20&search=art+pope&x=0&y=0">launched an investigative series</a> looking at the scope and nature of Pope's political empire -- one of the most in-depth looks at a state-level political donor and operative to date. Among the findings of our investigation:

* Art Pope exerts an unusual level of influence over North Carolina's conservative establishment. According to Facing South's analysis, about <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html">90 percent of the funding</a> of the state's leading conservative think tanks and advocacy groups comes from Pope's family foundation, which he runs. Pope is also installed on the board of directors of most of these groups.

* Pope was key to fueling the Republican Party's historic takeover of the North Carolina legislature in 2010. Facing South showed how three groups backed by Pope -- Americans for Prosperity, Civitas Action and Real Jobs NC -- joined with Pope family members to <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/art-popes-big-day-millionaires-funds-key-to-historic-gop-wins-in-nc-legislature.html">spent over $2.2 million targeting two dozen key state races</a> last November. Republicans won nearly 80 percent of those constests. (Here's <a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/explainer_how_much_did_art_pope_really_spend">an updated analysis</a> we did of Pope's election spending.)

* While staying out of the spotlight, Pope backs some of the right wing's most controversial causes. Pope's groups have worked closely with <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html">the Tea Party Express</a>, whose leaders have been widely condemned for making racially-charged statements, and Pope's foundation has funded many groups that <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html">deny the scientific consensus about global climate change</a> (and more recently, <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/11/special-investigation-whos-behind-the-information-attacks-on-climate-scientists.html">attacks on climate scientists</a> themselves.)

Pieces of our investigation have been covered by <a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/what_art_popes_money_paid_for">The Raleigh News & Observer</a>, <a href="http://www.wral.com/news/local/politics/story/8617833/">WRAL TV</a> and other major media outlets; in the wake of our series, some even <a href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/28/764316/dems-boycott-popes-stores-to-protest.html">called for a boycott</a> of the discount retail stores owned by Pope's <a href="http://www.vwstores.com/">Variety Wholesalers chain</a>, which includes Roses and Maxway.

In March 2011, Facing South/the Institute teamed up with The Independent Weekly to <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/absolute-power-an-examination-of-art-popes-dominance/Content?oid=2140073">produce a widely-circulated investigative package</a> looking at Pope's empire. In October 2011, Jane Mayer of The New Yorker drew heavily on Facing South's and The Independent Weekly's coverage for <a href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer?currentPage=all">her in-depth profile of Pope</a>, which was later featured on MSNBC's "<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/rachel_maddow_on_art_pope_influence">Rachel Maddow Show</a>," NPR's "<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/npr_fresh_air">Fresh Air</a>" with Terry Gross, and other leading national media.

Also in October 2011, Facing South/the Institute launched a special investigative project, <a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com">ArtPopeExposed.com</a>, tracking the money, people and agenda driving Pope's empire, which generated <a href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/antiart_pope_website_created">more</a> <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/citizen/archives/2011/10/05/pope-exposed-yes-the-robes-come-off-at-artpopeexposedcom">media coverage</a>.

Most importantly, our series has helped shine a spotlight on the growing influence of money in shaping politics at the state level, especially in the wake of the Supreme Court's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Election_Commission">Citizens United decision</a>. We plan to continue reporting on this critical issue and its implications for our democracy.

Here are some the key stories in our investigative series on Art Pope and money in North Carolina and national politics:

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/pope-the-vote-conservative-nc-benefactor-steps-up-funding-to-nonprofits-for-ads-during-election-season.html">POPE THE VOTE</a> (10/8/10): Little-known outside North Carolina, Republican retail magnate Art Pope is silently rising as a national player in the 2010 elections. But many say his strategy of funneling money for political attack ads through nonprofits pushes the limits of the law.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/blessed-to-have-a-pope.html">BLESSED TO HAVE A POPE</a> (10/14/10): 90 cents out of every dollar received by North Carolina's leading conservative organizations come from one foundation, led by conservative donor Art Pope. But the benefactor's generosity may come with strings attached. Plus see this <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/north-carolinas-art-pope-staying-in-control.html">response</a> (10/19/10) to Pope-funded groups who criticized Facing South's series.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-still-dancing-at-the-tea-party.html">ART POPE: STILL DANCING AT THE TEA PARTY?</a> (10/21/10): While some conservatives have distanced themselves from controversial elements of the Tea Party movement, groups in North Carolina backed by influential donor Art Pope continue to embrace them.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/a-pope-of-climate-denial.html">A POPE OF CLIMATE DENIAL</a> (10/26/10): Art Pope, North Carolina's leading conservative benefactor, has worked closely with the Koch oil barons and spent millions of his own discount retail fortune to sow doubt about the scientific consensus on global warming. Now he's hoping to reap the political benefits.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/10/art-pope-bankrolls-dubious-voter-fraud-crusade.html">POPE BANKROLLS DUBIOUS 'VOTER FRAUD' CRUSADE</a> (10/28/10): North Carolina's conservative benefactor Art Pope has taken a leading role in the right's crusade against "voter fraud." But the groups he supports still can't prove it's a real problem.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/art-popes-big-day-millionaires-funds-key-to-historic-gop-wins-in-nc-legislature.html">POPE'S BIG DAY: REPUBLICAN BENEFACTOR FUELED GOP CAPTURE OF NC LEGISLATURE</a> (11/9/10): In 2010, three conservative groups and a Republican benefactor's family spent over $2.2 million targeting key races to take over the North Carolina legislature. Here's what they got for their record-shattering investment. Also see Pope's response: <a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/pope-i-didnt-buy-the-north-carolina-legislature.html">I didn't "buy the North Carolina legislature</a>."

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/11/pope-i-didnt-buy-the-north-carolina-legislature.html">GOP DONOR POPE: I DIDN'T 'BUY THE NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATURE' (VIDEO)</a>: Art Pope responds to the Facing South/Institute investigation looking at his role in fueling the GOP's historic takeover of the North Carolina legislature in 2010.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2010/12/nc-school-board-engineered-by-conservative-benefactor-draws-civil-rights-scrutiny.html">NC SCHOOL BOARD ENGINEERED BY CONSERVATIVE BENEFACTOR DRAWS CIVIL RIGHTS SCRUTINY</a> (12/16/10): Prominent conservative funder Art Pope was the mastermind behind the Republican school board majority in Wake County, N.C. that's now under federal investigation for scrapping a lauded desegregation policy.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/nc-groups-backed-by-top-political-benefactor-push-to-kill-state-campaign-finance-reforms.html">NC GROUPS BACKED BY TOP POLITICAL BENEFACTOR PUSH TO KILL STATE CAMPAIGN FINANCE PROGRAM</a> (1/4/11): North Carolina conservative groups founded and largely funded by Republican benefactor Art Pope are calling for an end to the state's widely-used 'clean elections' program. Maybe it's because Pope's record-shattering spending in 2010 was so successful in fueling the GOP's capture of the state legislature.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/01/what-is-art-popes-agenda-for-north-carolina.html">WHAT IS ART POPE'S AGENDA FOR NORTH CAROLINA</a>? (1/24/11): The agenda promoted by North Carolina's new GOP legislative majority bears an uncanny resemblance to that promoted by advocacy groups largely funded by Art Pope, whose money was also instrumental to GOP victories in 2010.

<a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-art-pope-empire-media-outlets-think-tanks-and-election-machines/Content?oid=2140145">THE ART POPE EMPIRE</a> (3/9/2011): The combination of Pope's media outlets, think tanks and election machine give him singular power in North Carolina. Published in partnership with <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/">The Independent Weekly </a>(see the entire special Indy/Facing South issue on Art Pope <a href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/absolute-power-an-examination-of-art-popes-dominance/Content?oid=2140073">here</a>).

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/05/civitas-pollster-fined-10000-for-breaking-nc-robo-call-law-after-complaint-by-facing-south-e">CIVITAS POLLSTER FINED $10,000 FOR BREAKING NC ROBO-CALL LAW AFTER COMPLAINT BY FACING SOUTH EDITOR</a> (5/26/11): A complaint filed by a Facing South editor in 2009 results in a fine against the Civitas Institute, a conservative think tank largely funded by GOP benefactor Art Pope.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/06/gop-donor-put-on-board-of-nc-foundation-his-groups-advocate-abolishing.html">GOP DONOR PUT ON BOARD OF FOUNDATION HIS GROUPS WANT TO ABOLISH</a> (6/15/11): Groups funded by conservative benefactor have long called for eliminating the Golden Leaf Foundation. But now that Republicans control the state legislature -- in part due to Pope's support -- he's been appointed to the board of the part-public charity.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/09/koch-jr-art-pope-and-the-rights-million-dollar-club.html">KOCH JR.: ART POPE AND THE RIGHT'S MILLION DOLLAR CLUB</a> (9/8/11): Art Pope isn't just a big money player in North Carolina. He's also a key junior lieutenant to the billionaire Koch brothers, funding and leading the same right-wing advocacy groups.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/north-carolina-for-sale-new-yorker-profile-thrusts-art-pope-into-national-spotlight.html">NORTH CAROLINA FOR SALE? NEW YORKER PROFILE THRUSTS POPE INTO NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT</a> (10/4/11): A profile of North Carolina power broker Art Pope by Jane Mayer of the New Yorker brings national attention to the conservative benefactor's growing advocacy and electoral empire.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/art-pope-bankrolls-candidates-dismantling-desegregation-policy-in-nc-school-system.html">ART POPE BANKROLLS CANDIDATES DISMANTLING DESEGREGATION POLICY IN NC SCHOOL SYSTEM</a> (10/5/11): After working behind the scenes during the pivotal 2009 school board election in Wake County, N.C., the conservative benefactor, Americans for Prosperity director and ally of the Koch brothers is now directly funding candidates opposed to the public school system's nationally-recognized diversity policy.

<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/explainer_how_much_did_art_pope_really_spend">EXPLAINER: HOW MUCH DID ART POPE'S NETWORK SPEND ON NORTH CAROLINA'S 2010 LEGISLATIVE ELECTIONS</a>? (10/7/11): Art Pope tries to downplay the money he spent to help fuel the historic GOP victories in North Carolina's state legislature. Here's a run-down on the different ways Pope injects money into politics -- and why he's so influential.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/pope-preaches-self-reliance-took-330000-loan-from-mom-and-dad-to-run-for-office.html">POPE PREACHES SELF-RELIANCE, TOOK $330,000 FAMILY LOAN TO RUN FOR OFFICE</a> (10/11/11): Conservative benefactor Art Pope uses his money to promote a philosophy of self-reliance. But when he needed help to run for office, he took $330,000 in loans from his parents that he never paid back.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/10/how-art-pope-helped-bring-you-herman-cain.html">HOW ART POPE HELPED BRING YOU HERMAN CAIN</a> (10/17/11): A big part of Tea Party darling Herman Cain's media image is about being a political outsider. But a new Associated Press report shows how the conservative activist group Americans for Prosperity, led by the Koch brothers and Art Pope, has been a critical springboard for the 2012 Republican presidential hopeful.

<a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com/why_art_pope_is_different">THREE REASONS ART POPE DESERVES SPECIAL MEDIA SCRUTINY</a> (10/21/11): In the face of growing national attention, Art Pope and his defenders insist he's merely the victim of personal attacks and not any different then other political benefactors. But Art Pope's influence in North Carolina is unique -- and uniquely deserving of scrutiny.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/11/a-big-loss-for-art-pope-in-nc-school-resegregation-fight.html">BIG LOSS FOR POPE IN SCHOOL RESEGREGATION FIGHT</a> (11/9/11): Voters in Wake County, N.C. have shifted power on the local school board back to Democrats who support a student assignment policy that values diversity -- but it wasn't for a lack of spending on the conservative benefactor's part.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/11/art-popes-money-key-to-nc-anti-gay-marriage-push.html">ART POPE'S MONEY KEY TO ANTI-GAY MARRIAGE PUSH</a> (11/10/11): Pope's family foundation has given nearly $1 million to anti-gay marriage groups, most of it to the N.C. Family Policy Council, which has been leading the effort to pass a constitutional amendment against gay marriage in N.C. since 2004.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/teachers-call-for-holiday-boycott-of-pope-stores.html">TEACHERS CALL FOR BOYCOTT OF POPE STORES</a> (12/2/11): The North Carolina Association of Educators has called for shoppers to boycott stores owned by Raleigh multimillionaire and conservative operative Art Pope for his "anti-public education" policies.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/give-me-some-of-that-old-time-secession.html">GIVE ME SOME OF THAT OLD TIME SECESSION</a> (12/8/11): At a major conference in North Carolina next March, the Art Pope-funded Civitas Institute has invited a lead speaker best known for pushing a constitutional amendment making it easier for states to secede from the U.S.A.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2011/12/climate-science-deniers-join-forces-against-nc-renewable-energy-program.html">CLIMATE SCIENCE DENIERS JOIN FORCES AGAINST NC'S RENEWABLE ENERGY PROGRAM</a> (12/9/11): The American Legislative Exchange Council, American Tradition Institute and the John Locke Foundation are preaching against wind energy and renewable mandates in presentations that play fast and loose with the facts.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/01/art-popes-money-drives-nc-legislatures-anti-environmental-turn.html">ART POPE'S MONEY DRIVES NC LEGISLATURE'S ANTI-ENVIRONMENTAL TURN</a> (1/11/12): North Carolina lawmakers have racked up the lowest conservation scores ever in a newly released report card - and those supported by the conservative benefactor and his family members scored far below the record low average.

<a href="http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/02/art-pope-turns-up-in-climate-disinformation-expos%C3%A9.html">ART POPE TURNS UP IN CLIMATE DISINFORMATION EXPOSÉ</a> (2/16/12): Internal documents obtained from the Heartland Institute, a leading player in the climate disinformation campaign, show that the group is counting on continuing support from the North Carolina conservative benefactor and retail magnate.

For more Facing South/Institute coverage of Art Pope and his political empire, visit <a href="http://www.artpopeexposed.com">ArtPopeExposed.com</a> or follow on Twitter at <a href="http://twitter.com/artpopeexposed">@ArtPopeExposed</a>.

</div>

wiki

James Arthur "Art" Pope (born May 5, 1956)<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_2001-1">[1]</a> is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina" title="North Carolina">North Carolina</a> politician, businessman, attorney and philanthropist. In January 2013, he became Budget Director for North Carolina Governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory" title="Pat McCrory">Pat McCrory</a> (who officially calls Pope his "deputy budget director" because, he said, the governor himself is the state's budget director).<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-2">[2]</a> At the time, he was serving as CEO and board chairman of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Variety_Wholesalers&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Variety Wholesalers (page does not exist)">Variety Wholesalers</a> and president and chairman of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Pope_Foundation" title="John William Pope Foundation">John William Pope Foundation</a>.

According to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_and_Observer" title="News and Observer" class="mw-redirect">News and Observer</a>, Pope "has invested millions in a network of foundations and think tanks, and advocacy groups, both in North Carolina and nationally, that are designed to further conservative and free market ideas."<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-3">[3]</a> He has supported organizations including Koch-backed <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a>, of whose board he is a member; the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Locke_Foundation" title="John Locke Foundation">John Locke Foundation</a> (which he co-founded); and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Center" title="Pope Center">John William Pope Center for Higher Education Policy</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-mayer-4">[4]</a>

<h2>Contents</h2>

</div>

<ul>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#Early_life_and_education">1 Early life and education</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#Professional_life">2 Professional life</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#Public_service">3 Public service</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#Donations_to_conservative_causes">4 Donations to conservative causes</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#Donations_and_philanthropy_through_the_John_William_Pope_Foundation">5 Donations and philanthropy through the John William Pope Foundation</a></li>

<li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#References">6 References</a></li>

</ul>

</div>

<h2>Early life and education</h2>

Pope was born May 5, 1956 in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fayetteville,North_Carolina" title="Fayetteville, North Carolina">Fayetteville, North Carolina</a>, to John W. and Joyce Wilkins Pope. He spent his early childhood in the town of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuquay-Varina,North_Carolina" title="Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina">Fuquay-Varina</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina" title="North Carolina">North Carolina</a>. He moved with his family to the capital city of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raleigh,_North_Carolina" title="Raleigh, North Carolina">Raleigh, North Carolina</a> in the early 1960s. Pope graduated from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill" title="University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill</a> in 1978 with a B.A. with honors in political science, and went on to earn his J.D. from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Duke_University" title="Duke University">Duke University</a> School of Law in 1981.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_2001-1">[1]</a>

<h2>Professional life</h2>

Pope was engaged in a general law practice as an associate attorney with the firm of Skvarla, Boles, Wyrick and From in Raleigh, from 1982 through 1984.

In 1984, Pope took a leave of absence from the firm to work as the director of organization for the North Carolina gubernatorial campaign of Jim Martin. Pope served as special counsel to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_G._Martin" title="James G. Martin">Governor Jim Martin</a> in 1985.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_2001-1">[1]</a> In 1986, Pope joined the family business, the retail discount chain Variety Wholesalers. Pope has held several positions with Variety Wholesalers Inc., first as general counsel, then vice-president of administration and information systems, chief financial officer, executive vice-president. Beginning in 2006, Pope began serving as president, CEO, and chairman of the board.[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]

<h2>Public service</h2>

Pope co-founded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libertarian_Party_of_North_Carolina" title="Libertarian Party of North Carolina">Libertarian Party of North Carolina</a> as a college student in 1976.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-mayer-4">[4]</a> He has been active with the Republican Party since the late 1970s, serving in a variety of roles ranging from precinct chairman to chairman of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Republican_Party" title="North Carolina Republican Party">North Carolina GOP</a> State Convention. Pope has also served as a delegate to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republican_National_Convention" title="Republican National Convention">Republican National Convention</a> on three occasions. Pope was appointed to serve on the North Carolina State Goals and Policy Board from 1985-1989. He also served on the North Carolina Capital Planning Commission.

Pope was first elected to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_House_of_Representatives" title="North Carolina House of Representatives">North Carolina House of Representatives</a> in 1988 to represent House District 61. He served four complete or partial terms in office, winning elections in 1988 and 1990, being appointed to fill a vacancy in 1999,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-mayer-4">[4]</a> and winning another election in 2000.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_2001-1">[1]</a> He was elected Republican Joint Caucus Leader during the 1991-1992 session.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_1991-5">[5]</a> Pope was awarded the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_the_Long_Leaf_Pine" title="Order of the Long Leaf Pine">Order of the Long Leaf Pine</a>, the state's most prestigious award for public service, in 1992 at age 36.[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Citation_needed" title="Wikipedia:Citation needed">citation needed</a>]

Pope vacated his House seat to run for the office of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lieutenant_Governor_of_North_Carolina" title="Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina">Lieutenant Governor</a> in 1992. After winning a three-way Republican primary in May 1992, Pope lost the general election to Democrat <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Wicker" title="Dennis Wicker" class="mw-redirect">Dennis Wicker</a>.

In June 2011, Pope was appointed to the board of directors for Golden LEAF (Long-term Economic Advancement Foundation), a nonprofit grant-making organization whose mission is to spur economic development in tobacco-dependent areas of North Carolina. Pope had previously criticized some Golden LEAF funding decisions.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-leaf-6">[6]</a>

Pope was among several business leaders appointed in September 2012 to serve on a UNC system advisory group tasked with helping to shape the future of the state's public universities.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-7">[7]</a> Pope was also a member of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electoral_College%28United_States%29" title="Electoral College (United States)">Electoral College</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_election,2012" title="United States presidential election, 2012">2012</a>, casting one of North Carolina's electoral votes for <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitt_Romney" title="Mitt Romney">Mitt Romney</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-8">[8]</a>

In November 2012, it was announced that Pope would serve as a co-chair on North Carolina Governor-Elect <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory" title="Pat McCrory">Pat McCrory</a>'s transition team, and in December Pope was announced as the state's chief budget writer in the McCrory administration.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-9">[9]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-10">[10]</a>

<h2>Donations to conservative causes</h2>

In 2005, Pope was a founding member of the NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-11">[11]</a> He joined former Democratic state Senator <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wib_Gulley" title="Wib Gulley">Wib Gulley</a> from Durham, NC, in calling for reform of the state’s lobbying laws.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-12">[12]</a>

Pope co-founded Real Jobs NC,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a> a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/527_organization" title="527 organization">527 organization</a> that ran <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attack_ad" title="Attack ad">attack ads</a> against 20 state Democratic legislators in the North Carolina 2010 general elections.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-14">[14]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-15">[15]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-ProPublica1-16">[16]</a> Real Jobs NC is funded primarily by the Republican State Leadership Committee, though Pope provided it with an initial $200,000 donation.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-ProPublica1-16">[16]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-17">[17]</a>

Civitas Action Inc, a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/501%28c%29%284%29" title="501(c)(4)" class="mw-redirect">501(c)(4)</a> non-profit organized by the John W. Pope Civitas Institute think tank, also sent out mailings against Democratic candidates in the North Carolina 2010 general elections, and is funded primarily by Variety Stores, which is owned by Pope.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a>

Pope also played an active role in the 2010 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Redistricting" title="Redistricting">redistricting</a> of North Carolina's electoral map as a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pro_bono" title="Pro bono">pro bono</a> legal adviser during the process. The redistricting effort assisted in shifting the state's U.S. House delegation from 7-6 Democratic to 9-4 in favor of Republicans.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-ProPublica1-16">[16]</a> He has advocated doing away with the public financing of judicial elections in North Carolina,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-18">[18]</a> and he has been a major donor to state legislative races.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-mayer-4">[4]</a>

Through personal campaign donations and corporate donations to <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_expenditure" title="Independent expenditure">independent expenditure</a> efforts, Pope supported Republican candidates in the 2010 elections for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_General_Assembly" title="North Carolina General Assembly">North Carolina General Assembly</a> in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_elections,_2010" title="North Carolina elections, 2010">2010</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a> Of the $30 million spent on North Carolina legislative races during the 2010 election,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-19">[19]</a> it was reported that Art Pope’s company donated approximately $425,000 as independent expenditures that favored Republicans, and groups tied to Pope spent $2.1 million to influence the campaign.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a>

After his selection as Governor <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_McCrory" title="Pat McCrory">Pat McCrory</a>'s budget director, Pope resigned his positions as co-director of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_for_Prosperity" title="Americans for Prosperity">Americans for Prosperity</a> and as a board member of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civitas_Institute" title="Civitas Institute">Civitas Institute</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Civitas_Action_in_North_Carolina&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Civitas Action in North Carolina (page does not exist)">Civitas Action in North Carolina</a>.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-20">[20]</a>

<h2>Donations and philanthropy through the John William Pope Foundation</h2>

Pope is chairman and president of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Pope_Foundation" title="John William Pope Foundation">John William Pope Foundation</a>, which he founded with his father, John W. Pope, in 1986.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-21">[21]</a>

As of June 30, 2010, the Pope Foundation had nearly $136.8 million in assets. It has made over $89 million in grants since 1986, including over $9 million in grants made during the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010. Over the last 25 years, half of the Pope Foundation’s grants have gone to support public policy, conservative organizations and think tanks in North Carolina, with the largest single recipient being the John Locke Foundation. The Pope foundation has donated more than $28.7 million to the think tanks, including $17 million to the John Locke Foundation,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-Equalizer-13">[13]</a> for which Art Pope was the founding chairman.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-22">[22]</a> Eighteen percent of the grants went to support higher education, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campbell_University" title="Campbell University">Campbell University</a> and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Seventeen percent has supported national conservative and libertarian public policy groups, including <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Heritage_Foundation" title="The Heritage Foundation">The Heritage Foundation</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cato_Institute" title="Cato Institute">Cato Institute</a>. Ten percent of the Pope Foundation’s grants support community philanthropy, including the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_for_Humanity" title="Habitat for Humanity">Habitat for Humanity</a> in Wake County and Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina. The Foundation’s support for the arts includes grants to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Carolina_Symphony" title="North Carolina Symphony">North Carolina Symphony</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Ballet" title="Carolina Ballet">Carolina Ballet</a>, North Carolina Theater and North Carolina Opera.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-23">[23]</a>

In 2011 <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indy_Week" title="Indy Week">Indy Week</a> reported that the Pope Foundation failed to file tax returns for the years 1996-2004 until 2005. The foundation reported to the IRS that they were unable to file timely returns due to complications from a hurricane, lack of staff, and personal circumstances of Art Pope.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-24">[24]</a>

In 2005, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill asked the John William Pope Foundation for a $4.8 million grant to enhance its curriculum in Western civilization. In 2006, after wrangling between the university administration and some faculty and students who opposed the proposal,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-25">[25]</a> the Pope Foundation declined to fund the proposal. Instead, the Pope Foundation donated $100,000 a year for a visiting scholars program and student fellowships for the study of Western civilization, as well as $2 million for an endowment for salary enhancements for assistant football coaches.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-26">[26]</a> In 2011, the Pope Foundation gave the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $3 million for its Student-Athlete Academic Support Center.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-27">[27]</a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-28">[28]</a>

In December 2012, the Pope Foundation announced $810,500 in grants to community charities, schools, churches, and the arts.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-29">[29]</a> To counter the effects of the federal government shutdown in October 2013, the Pope Foundation gave $185,000 in grants to "13 food bank-type groups" in central, eastern, and western North Carolina.,<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-30">[30]</a> including three charities in Vance County.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_note-31">[31]</a>

<h2>References</h2>

<li id="cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_2001-1">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-North_Carolina_Manual_2001_1-0">Jump up to: a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-North_Carolina_Manual_2001_1-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-North_Carolina_Manual_2001_1-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-North_Carolina_Manual_2001_1-3">d</a> Cheney, John L., Jr. (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.archive.org/stream/northcarolinaman20012002nort#page/570/mode/2up">North Carolina Manual 2001-2002</a>. Raleigh, NC: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_of_North_Carolina" title="Secretary of State of North Carolina" class="mw-redirect">Secretary of State of North Carolina</a>. p. 570. Retrieved November 27, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-2"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-2">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.wral.com/pope-shanahan-find-place-in-mccrory-cabinet/11902422/">WRAL: Pope, Shanahan find place in McCrory cabinet</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-3"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-3">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/art_pope_subject_of_new_yorker_profile">Art Pope subject of New Yorker profile | newsobserver.com projects</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-mayer-4">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-mayer_4-0">Jump up to: a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-mayer_4-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-mayer_4-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-mayer_4-3">d</a> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer">http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-North_Carolina_Manual_1991-5"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-North_Carolina_Manual_1991_5-0">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Cheney, John L., Jr. (ed.). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.archive.org/stream/northcarolinaman19911992nort#page/313/mode/1up">North Carolina Manual 1991-1992</a>. Raleigh, NC: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secretary_of_State_of_North_Carolina" title="Secretary of State of North Carolina" class="mw-redirect">Secretary of State of North Carolina</a>. p. 313. Retrieved November 27, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-leaf-6"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-leaf_6-0">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/06/15/1274773/art-pope-will-have-say-in-agency.html">Art Pope will have say in agency he criticized</a>. The News and Observer, June 15, 2011, by Lynn Bonner, Rob Christensen and Eden Stiffman.</li>

<li id="cite_note-7"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-7">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/key_legislators_business_leaders_on_unc_strategic_planning_group">"Key legislators, business leaders on UNC strategic planning group"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_and_Observer" title="News and Observer" class="mw-redirect">News and Observer</a>. September 13, 2012.</li>

<li id="cite_note-8"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-8">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/17/2551354/romney-awarded-ncs-15-electoral.html">News & Observer: Romney awarded NC's 15 electoral college votes</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-9"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-9">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.journalnow.com/news/state_region/article_e684fb8c-2a17-11e2-84a3-001a4bcf6878.html">"McCrory unveils transition team, defends selection of conservative-activist Art Pope"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winston-Salem_Journal" title="Winston-Salem Journal">Winston-Salem Journal</a>. November 8, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.</li>

<li id="cite_note-10"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-10">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/20/2557101/mccrory-names-art-pope-to-be-his.html">"McCrory names Art Pope to be his chief budget writer"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_%26_Observer" title="News & Observer" class="mw-redirect">News & Observer</a>. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.</li>

<li id="cite_note-11"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-11">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.nclobbyreform.org/about/members.php">http://www.nclobbyreform.org/about/members.php</a> NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform: Coalition Members</li>

<li id="cite_note-12"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-12">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.nclobbyreform.org/press/articles.php?id=587">"Lobbyist and legislators: How N.C. can do better"</a>. News & Observer, March 22, 2005, by Art Pope and Wib Gulley.</li>

<li id="cite_note-Equalizer-13">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-0">Jump up to: a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-2">c</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-3">d</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-4">e</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-Equalizer_13-5">f</a> Rob Christensen (October 27, 2010). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/10/27/762445/art-pope-a-one-man-republican.html">"Art Pope: a one-man Republican equalizer"</a>. The News and Observer.</li>

<li id="cite_note-14"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-14">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/01/13/1918141_two-outside-groups-aid-nc-republican.html">Two outside groups aid N.C. Republican wins - Local - TheSunNews.com</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-15"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-15">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Republicans take control in historic election - Basnight's 18-year reign as Senate leader ends; Cornelius Rep. Tillis may seek House speaker role. Charlotte Observer, The (NC) - Wednesday, November 3, 2010 Author: Lynn Bonner and Michael Biesecker</li>

<li id="cite_note-ProPublica1-16">^ <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-ProPublica1_16-0">Jump up to: a</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-ProPublica1_16-1">b</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-ProPublica1_16-2">c</a> Pierce, Olga; Justin Elliott and Theodoric Meyer (December 21, 2012). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.propublica.org/article/how-dark-money-helped-republicans-hold-the-house-and-hurt-voters/">"How Dark Money Helped Republicans Hold the House and Hurt Voters"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProPublica" title="ProPublica">ProPublica</a>. Retrieved December 22, 2012.</li>

<li id="cite_note-17"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-17">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.thesunnews.com/2011/01/13/1918141_two-outside-groups-aid-nc-republican.html#ixzz1fL5bT6jN">Two outside groups aid N.C. Republican wins - Local - TheSunNews.com</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-18"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-18">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/state-supreme-court-election-spending">http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/06/state-supreme-court-election-spending</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-19"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-19">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Rob Christensen (October 9, 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/10/09/v-print/1551327/nc-isnt-in-popes-pocket.html">"N.C. isn’t in Pope’s pocket"</a>. The News and Observer.</li>

<li id="cite_note-20"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-20">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Thursday, Posted:; Dec 20, 2012. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2012/12/20/3738165/mccrory-names-art-pope-to-be-his.html">"McCrory names Art Pope to be his chief budget writer"</a>. Retrieved 2013-11-12.</li>

<li id="cite_note-21"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-21">Jump up ^{</a></span}> John J. Miller (December 21, 2009). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.heymiller.com/2009/12/the-fishermans-friend">"The Fisherman’s Friend"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Review" title="National Review">National Review</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-22"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-22">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://ncicl.org/about/board-of-directors">Board Of Directors | The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-23"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-23">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Todd Cohen (November 21, 2011). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/north-carolina/nc-top-news/poverty-free-markets-focus-pope-foundation">"Poverty, free markets focus of Pope Foundation"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy_Journal" title="Philanthropy Journal">Philanthropy Journal</a>.</li>

<li id="cite_note-24"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-24">Jump up ^{</a></span}> Khanna, Samiha. <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/pope-foundation-failed-to-file-tax-returns-on-time/Content?oid=2140441">"Pope Foundation failed to file tax returns on time"</a>. Indy Week. Retrieved 2013-11-14.</li>

<li id="cite_note-25"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-25">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.dailytarheel.com/index.php/article/2004/11/pope_funds_prompt_uproar">The Daily Tar Heel :: Pope funds prompt uproar</a></li>

<li id="cite_note-26"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-26">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://alumni.unc.edu/article.aspx?SID=4286">"Pope Family Gives $2.3 Million for Western Civ, Football Coaches"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=UNC_Alumni_Review&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="UNC Alumni Review (page does not exist)">UNC Alumni Review</a>. October 8, 2006.</li>

<li id="cite_note-27"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-27">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.philanthropyjournal.org/north-carolina/nc-foundations/pope-foundation-gives-3-million-unc">"Pope Foundation gives $3 million to UNC"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philanthropy_Journal" title="Philanthropy Journal">Philanthropy Journal</a>. April 12, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-28"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-28">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://gazette.unc.edu/archives2/11apr27/students.html">"Gifts totaling $10.5 Million will support the University’s student-athletes in Kenan"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=University_Gazette&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="University Gazette (page does not exist)">University Gazette</a>. April 27, 2011.</li>

<li id="cite_note-29"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-29">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://projects.newsobserver.com/under_the_dome/pope_foundation_announces_800k_in_december_donations">"Foundation announces $800k in December donations"</a>. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/News_%26_Observer" title="News & Observer" class="mw-redirect">News & Observer</a>. December 13, 2012.</li>

<li id="cite_note-30"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-30">Jump up ^{</a></span}> <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.newsobserver.com/2013/10/23/3305878/pope-foundation-gives-money-to.html">"Pope Foundation gives money to ease government shutdown"</a>. Retrieved 2013-11-14.</li>

<li id="cite_note-31"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Pope#cite_ref-31">Jump up ^{</a></span}> SARAH MANSUR (2013-10-23). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.hendersondispatch.com/news/x2082475029/Pope-Foundation-steps-up-helps-three-in-Vance-County">"Pope Foundation steps up, helps three in Vance County"</a>. The Daily Dispatch.</li>

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<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:University_of_North_Carolina_at_Chapel_Hill_alumni" title="Category:University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni">University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni</a></li><li></li>

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</div><div></div><div>=<div cel_widget_id="dpx-detail-bullets_csm_instrumentation_wrapper" class="celwidget" data-csa-c-id="9052xb-sb6taw-329h7p-i6mg86" data-cel-widget="dpx-detail-bullets_csm_instrumentation_wrapper" style="font-size: small; box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="detailBullets_feature_div" class="celwidget" data-feature-name="detailBullets" data-csa-c-type="widget" data-csa-c-slot-id="btf.23" data-csa-c-component="detailBullets" data-csa-c-cs-type="DETAIL_PAGE_DYNAMIC" data-csa-c-id="yahdup-w4lg2b-nzpscb-x23qg6" data-cel-widget="detailBullets_feature_div" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><div id="detailBulletsWrapper_feature_div" data-feature-name="detailBullets" data-template-name="detailBullets" class="a-section feature detail-bullets-wrapper bucket" data-cel-widget="detailBulletsWrapper_feature_div" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-bottom: 4.5px; padding: 5px 0px;"><div id="detailBullets_feature_div" style="box-sizing: border-box;"><ul class="a-unordered-list a-nostyle a-vertical a-spacing-none detail-bullet-list" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 1px 18px; padding: 0px;"><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">mis-education:</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">PERC </li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Critical Thinking About Environmental Issues</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">December 1, 2000</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">PERC and CEI Launch New Series of Environmental Books</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Two educational and research organizations have initiated a new series of books for young people called “Critical Thinking about Environmental Issues.” Unlike many environmental books found in schools today, this series offers objective and balanced discussions of controversial issues in an attractive and readable format. The books were prepared by PERC?  the Center for Free Market Environmentalism?  and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. The series of five books includes Endangered Species, Global Warming, Pesticides, Forest Fires, and Energy. The publisher is Greenhaven Press, recognized for its library books on topical issues for students from grades three to twelve.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Evidence that environmental education has gone awry has been accumulating since the early 1990s, when parents began to notice that their children came home from school with strange ideas about the natural world. Students condemned their parents for normal behavior such as driving cars or having a job as a logger. Students worried about cities being flooded by rising seas because of global warming or feared that rain was as acidic as lemon juice.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Subsequent studies confirmed that many widely used textbooks are riddled with inaccurate science, an emphasis on advocacy, and unbalanced descriptions of potential environmental risks.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">To fill the need for objectivity, Greenhaven Press cooperated with PERC and the Competitive Enterprise Institute to initiate this series. Greenhaven is part of the Gale Group, a division of Thomson Learning.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Each book squarely addresses the controversies surrounding its topic. For example, Endangered Species, by Randy T. Simmons, explores the difficulties of knowing how many species are actually endangered, looks at various efforts being made to save species, and raises the question of whether there is an underlying conflict, “species vs. people,” that obstructs the resolution of problems.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">In Global Warming, Jane S. Shaw examines the issue of whether the earth is warming, and, if so, whether human activity is a cause. She discusses how scientists study these questions and explores the possible outcomes of government efforts to try to control global warming. In Pesticides, Samantha Beres weighs the costs and the benefits of pesticide use, both in agriculture and to fight disease, and discusses alternatives to current ways of using pesticides.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Forest Fires, by Linda Platts examines the issue of whether forest fires are a natural and necessary function to achieve healthy forests. She discusses the threat wildfires present to human life and property as well as the alternatives to fire such logging and thinning the forests. She discusses how scientists are exploring the question of whether fires should be allowed to burn and risks to human health.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">Jane S. Shaw and Manuel Nikel-Zueger use their book Energy to explore the possibility that we are running out of energy such as oil and consider what alternative types of energy are available. They examine whether our current forms of energy can be harmful to human health and how government policies influence our use of energy.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">These Greenhaven books (hardbacks) are generally sold directly to libraries. Others interested in purchasing these books may obtain them through PERC for $18 each by calling 888/406-9532.</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">----</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">https://www.libertyandecology.org/jane-shaw-stroup/</li><li style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;">
</li><li style="box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px 0px 5.5px;"><header class="entry-header" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><h1 class="entry-title" style="box-sizing: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; margin: 0px; line-height: 42px;">Jane Shaw Stroup</h1><div class="entry-meta" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin: auto auto 5px; display: inline-block; text-align: center; padding: 0px 20px; width: 690.396px;"><div class="blog-data-wrapper" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; width: 650.396px; margin-bottom: 10px; position: relative; min-height: 24px;"><div class="post-data-divider" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="post-data-positioning" style="box-sizing: inherit;"><div class="post-data-text" style="box-sizing: inherit; display: inline-block; margin: auto auto 5px; padding: 0px 20px;">Posted on <a href="https://www.libertyandecology.org/jane-shaw-stroup/" rel="bookmark" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s; margin-top: 0px;"><time class="entry-date published" datetime="2019-07-23T11:22:11-05:00" style="box-sizing: inherit; margin-top: 0px;">July 23, 2019</time></a> by <a class="url fn n" href="https://www.libertyandecology.org/author/jane/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s; margin-top: 0px;">Jane Shaw Stroup</a></div></div></div></div></div></header><div class="entry-content" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 24px;"><h3 style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; overflow-wrap: break-word; font-weight: 400; margin-bottom: 15px; line-height: 26.208px; margin-top: 0px;">Chair of the <a href="https://www.jamesgmartin.center/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal,</a> she was president of the center (then called the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy) from 2008 until 2015, when she retired. Stroup is a past president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. She is married to economist Richard Stroup.</h3>Jane Shaw Stroup (who also writes under the name Jane S. Shaw) is chair of the <a href="https://www.jamesgmartin.center/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal</a>. She was president of the center (then called the Pope Center for Higher Education Policy) from 2008 until 2015, when she retired. Stroup spent 22 years with PERC, the <a href="https://www.perc.org/" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Property and Environment Research Center</a> in Bozeman, Montana, where she was a senior fellow. Previously, she was a journalist and was an associate economics editor of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/businessweek" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: 0px; box-sizing: inherit; transition: all 0.1s linear 0s;">Business Week</a> before she joined PERC. With Michael Sanera, she coauthored Facts, Not Fear: Teaching Children about the Environment and initiated a book series for young people, Critical Thinking about Environmental Issues. She coedited A Guide to Smart Growth (Heritage Foundation) with Ronald Utt. Stroup is a past president of the Association of Private Enterprise Education. She is married to economist Richard Stroup.</div></li></ul></div></div></div></div></div><div>=</div>

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