Art Pope

James Arthur "Art" Pope (born May 5, 1956)[2] is a North Carolina businessman, philanthropist, attorney and former government official. Pope is the owner, chairman and CEO of Variety Wholesalers, a group of 370 retail stores in 16 states.[3] He is also the president and chairman of the John William Pope Foundation.

Art Pope
Budget Director of North Carolina
In office
January 6, 2013 – September 2014[1]
GovernorPat McCrory
Preceded byCharlie Perusse
Succeeded byLee Roberts
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives
from the 61st district
In office
April 13, 1999 – January 29, 2003
Preceded byChuck Neely
Succeeded byStephen W. Wood
In office
1989–1993
Preceded byCasper Holroyd
Succeeded byBrad Miller
Personal details
Born
James Arthur Pope

(1956-05-05) May 5, 1956
Fayetteville, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
OccupationBusinessman, attorney, philanthropist

He previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and recently served as the Budget Director for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.[4]

He co-founded the American conservative North Carolina think tanks the John Locke Foundation and the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.[5]

Early life and education

Pope was born May 5, 1956 in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to John W. and Joyce Wilkins Pope. He spent his early childhood in the town of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina. He moved with his family to the capital city of Raleigh, North Carolina in the early 1960s. Pope graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1978 with a B.A. with honors in political science, and went on to earn his J.D. from the Duke University School of Law in 1981.[2]

Business and professional career

Pope has served as chairman, president and CEO of Variety Wholesalers since 2006. Variety owns and operates 370 stores under the names Roses, Roses Express, Maxway, and Super 10, in sixteen states, with 8,500 employees. Sales for Variety Wholesalers, Inc., a privately held company, are estimated to be at least $700 million and up to $1 billion. The company headquarters is located in Henderson, North Carolina, with a distribution center in Henderson. In 2016 Variety Wholesalers opened a second distribution center in Newnan, Georgia, to support expansion in the southeastern, midwestern and south central United States.[6] Pope first joined Variety Wholesalers, a family business, in 1986. Variety Wholesalers originated in 1949 as a small group of retail stores owned by the Pope family and has expanded by purchasing a number of other retail chains to become one of the largest in the US.[3]

Before entering business, 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 Governor Jim Martin in 1985.[2] Governor Pat McCrory appointed Art Pope State Budget Director in 2013.[7] Pope served as State Budget Director from 2013 to 2014,[8] and then stepped down to return to the private sector.[9]

In 2017 Art Pope today was elected chairman of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, one of the nation's largest conservative grantmaking charitable organizations.[10]

Philanthropy

Pope is chairman and president of the John William Pope Foundation, which he founded with his father, John W. Pope, in 1986.[11] The Pope Foundation has nearly $150 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. The foundation has four areas of activity; humanitarian, public policy, education, and the arts.[12]

Eighteen percent of the grants went to support higher education, including Campbell University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. According to the Washington Post, "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."[5] His gift to Campbell University was the largest in the history of the Law School.[13]

Ten percent of the Pope Foundation's grants support community philanthropy, including the Habitat for Humanity in Wake County and Food Bank of Eastern & Central North Carolina. In 2012, for the foundation's 25th anniversary, it raised $300,000 at a dinner for Step Up Ministry, a Raleigh charity that serves 600 homeless and poor people annually to move to stability, housing, and employment.[12] In December 2012, the Pope Foundation announced $810,500 in grants to community charities, schools, churches, and the arts.[14] 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.,[15] including three charities in Vance County.[16] In July, 2015 Pope announced financial support for re-building the community gymnasium in Elizabethtown, which he described as a "backbone" of the community.[17]

The Foundation's support for the arts includes grants to the North Carolina Symphony, Carolina Ballet, North Carolina Theater and North Carolina Opera.

Half of the Pope Foundation's grants have gone to support public policy and think tanks in North Carolina, with the largest single recipient being the John Locke Foundation. The Pope Foundation has donated through the years more than $28.7 million to think tanks, including $17 million to the John Locke Foundation,[18] for which Art Pope was the founding chairman.[19] Seventeen percent has supported national conservative and libertarian public policy think tanks, including The Heritage Foundation and the Cato Institute.[20]

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,[21] 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.[22] In 2011, the Pope Foundation gave the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill $3 million for its Student-Athlete Academic Support Center.[23][24] In 2014 the Pope Foundation donated $1.3 million to endow a professorship and grant program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center.[5]

In 2018, the Pope Foundation made a $10 Million commitment to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, consisting of $5 Million to the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; $3.75 million to the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Program in the College of Arts & Sciences; $1 million to track-and-field scholarships in the Department of Athletics; and, $250,000 to the UNC Horizons Program to conduct a follow-up study with up to 125 women and their children enrolled in the program.[25]

Public service

Art Pope 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 North Carolina GOP State Convention. Pope has also served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention 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 North Carolina House of Representatives 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,[26] and winning another election in 2000.[2] He was elected Republican Joint Caucus Leader during the 1991–1992 session.[27] Pope was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state's most prestigious award for public service, in 1992 at age 36.[28]

Pope vacated his House seat to run for the office of Lieutenant Governor in 1992. After winning a three-way Republican primary in May 1992, Pope lost the general election to Democrat Dennis Wicker.

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.[29]

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.[30] Pope was also a member of the Electoral College in 2012, casting one of North Carolina's electoral votes for Mitt Romney.[31]

In November 2012, it was announced that Pope would serve as a co-chair on North Carolina Governor-Elect Pat McCrory's transition team, and in December Pope was announced as the state's chief budget director in the McCrory administration.[32][33] In October, 2016 Governor McCrory appointed Art Pope, along with former Democratic Governor Beverly Perdue, to serve on a bipartisan committee to evaluate and recommend relief and recovery measures from Hurricane Matthew.[34]

On June 25, 2020 the North Carolina Senate elected Art Pope to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, by a vote of 32-15, for a term beginning July 1, 2020. All Republicans voted for Pope, as well as some Democrats, including the Democratic Senate Minority Leader, Senator Dan Blue. [35][36]

Funding and activism for conservative causes

In 1975 as a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill freshman, Pope filed a complaint under the code of student conduct, against Algenon L. Marbley, president of the of the Black Student Movement, for shouting down David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan during a campus speech. Pope explained that while he condemned the Klan and thought it was a horrible organization, he was defending free speech for everyone.[37] Pope co-founded the Libertarian Party of North Carolina as a college student in 1976.[26]

According to the News and Observer, 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."[38]

During the 2010 North Carolina legislative races, the Democratic Party spent almost $8 Million compared to $6 Million by the Republicans. But the gap was narrowed by the independent groups Real Jobs NC and Civitas Action spending $1.7 Million on advertisement and mailers critical of 22 Democrats incumbents for their votes in recent years on increasing taxes and spending. Sixteen of the those Democratic candidates lost, helping the Republicans win a majority of the state Senate and House for the first time since 1898. Art Pope's family owned company gave a total of $390,000 to the two groups, though the largest single donor was the Republican State Leadership Committee that gave $1.25 Million. .[39][18]

In 2005, Pope was a founding member of the NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform.[40] He joined former Democratic state Senator Wib Gulley from Durham, North Carolina, in calling for reform of the state's lobbying laws.[41]

Pope has been a long time supporter of legislation to establish an independent nonpartisan redistricting commission.[42] In 2019 Pope spoke on behalf of a bipartisan coalition to support a constitutional amendment, sponsored by both Republican and Democratic legislators, to end gerrymandering in North Carolina.[43] He has advocated doing away with the public financing of judicial elections in North Carolina.[44] As an alternative to the election of judges, Pope stated he supported the appointment of judges by the governor with confirmation by the state legislature.[45]

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See also

References
  1. WFAE: Art Pope resigns as NC Budget Director, Lee Roberts to take over
  2. Cheney, John L. Jr. (ed.). North Carolina Manual 2001–2002. Raleigh, North Carolina: Secretary of State of North Carolina. p. 570. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  3. Mildenberg, David (Jul 3, 2017). "Art Pope's Variety Wholesalers comes up Roses amid recent retail tumult". Business North Carolina. Retrieved Jul 19, 2017.
  4. WRAL (2012-12-20). "Pope, Shanahan find place in McCrory cabinet :". WRAL.com. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  5. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-nc-conservative-donor-art-pope-sits-at-heart-of-government-he-helped-transform/2014/07/19/eece18ec-0d22-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html
  6. "Variety Wholesalers bringing 320 jobs to Newnan". Atlanta Business Chronicle. Aug 3, 2016. Retrieved Jul 19, 2017.
  7. Jarvis, Craig (Dec 20, 2012). "McCrory names Art Pope to be his chief budget writer". The Charlotte Observer. Archived from the original on November 12, 2013. Retrieved 2013-11-12.
  8. News, WUNC. "Art Pope To Step Down As State Budget Director". www.wunc.org. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  9. "N.C. Budget Director Art Pope resigns". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  10. Art Pope named Chairman of Bradley Foundation
  11. John J. Miller (December 21, 2009). "The Fisherman's Friend". National Review. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
  12. http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/01/20/1790656/lets-not-demonize-art-pope.html
  13. "Campbell University News | Campbell University". News. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  14. "Foundation announces $800k in December donations". News & Observer. December 13, 2012. Archived from the original on December 16, 2012.
  15. "Pope Foundation gives money to ease government shutdown". Retrieved 2013-11-14.
  16. SARAH MANSUR (2013-10-23). "Pope Foundation steps up, helps three in Vance County". The Daily Dispatch. Archived from the original on 2013-10-29. Retrieved 2013-10-24.
  17. Journal, Bladen (2015-07-24). "White Oak School gymnasium effort receives $5,000 grant". Bladen Journal. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  18. Rob Christensen (October 27, 2010). "Art Pope: a one-man Republican equalizer". The News and Observer.
  19. Board Of Directors | The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law Archived December 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  20. Todd Cohen (November 21, 2011). "Poverty, free markets focus of Pope Foundation". Philanthropy Journal. Archived from the original on November 23, 2011.
  21. "Pope funds prompt uproar". The Daily Tar Heel. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  22. "Pope Family Gives $2.3 Million for Western Civ, Football Coaches". UNC Alumni Review. October 8, 2006.
  23. "Pope Foundation gives $3 million to UNC". Philanthropy Journal. April 12, 2011. Archived from the original on December 22, 2011.
  24. "Gifts totaling $10.5 Million will support the University's student-athletes in Kenan". University Gazette. April 27, 2011.
  25. UNC-Chapel Hill receives $10 million commitment from Pope Foundation to advance core areas of excellence and service
  26. Mayer, Jane. "State for Sale". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  27. Cheney, John L. Jr. (ed.). North Carolina Manual 1991–1992. Raleigh, North Carolina: Secretary of State of North Carolina. p. 313. Retrieved November 27, 2011.
  28. "The Long Leaf Pine Society - View Roster". longleafpinesociety.org. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  29. Art Pope will have say in agency he criticized Archived November 17, 2011, at the Wayback Machine. The News and Observer, June 15, 2011, by Lynn Bonner, Rob Christensen and Eden Stiffman.
  30. "Key legislators, business leaders on UNC strategic planning group". News and Observer. September 13, 2012. Archived from the original on November 9, 2012.
  31. News & Observer: Romney awarded NC's 15 electoral college votes Archived January 1, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
  32. "McCrory unveils transition team, defends selection of conservative-activist Art Pope". Winston-Salem Journal. November 8, 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  33. "McCrory names Art Pope to be his chief budget writer". News & Observer. December 20, 2012. Retrieved December 21, 2012.
  34. "McCrory: Hurricane Relief Timetable Includes Special Session". Retrieved 2016-11-11.
  35. "Conservative political donor Art Pope will join UNC Board of Governors". News & Observer. June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  36. "GOP Donor, Ex-Lawmaker Art Pope Elected to Join UNC Board". US News & World Report, Associated Press. June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  37. https://www.chronicle.com/article/Adding-Republican/249090?bc_nonce=hm2qg1se9sooby4c40wm9&cid=reg_wall_signup
  38. Art Pope subject of New Yorker profile | newsobserver.com projects Archived October 4, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  39. "RALEIGH, N.C. - Two outside groups aid N.C. Republican wins - Local -…". archive.is. 2013-02-04. Archived from the original on 2013-02-04. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  40. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2011-10-15.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform: Coalition Members
  41. "Lobbyist and legislators: How N.C. can do better". News & Observer, March 22, 2005, by Art Pope and Wib Gulley. Archived from the original on 2012-03-29.
  42. "Gerrymandering in NC results in few competitive races". News & Observer. January 7, 2014.
  43. "Supporters want gerrymandering issue on 2020 ballot". The Courier-Tribune. February 23, 2019.
  44. Suderman, Alan; Wieder, Ben. "Secret Money Is Now Swaying State Judicial Elections". Mother Jones. Retrieved 2020-01-31.
  45. "Art Pope: Attorney fees for political campaigns unconstitutional". News & Observer. June 17, 2013.
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