James Arthur Pope (born May 5, 1956)
is an
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
businessman, attorney and former government official. Pope is the owner, chairman and CEO of
Variety Wholesalers
Variety Wholesalers, Inc., is a privately held company based in Henderson, North Carolina, which owns more than 380 retail stores in the southeast including the Roses and Maxway stores, and employs more than 7,000 workers.
History
It originated ...
, a group of 370 retail stores in 16 states.
He is also the president and chairman of the
John William Pope Foundation
The John William Pope Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private charitable foundation based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that contributes to conservative public policy organizations and think tanks, educational institutions, humanitarian char ...
. He previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and recently served as the Budget Director for North Carolina Governor
Pat McCrory
Patrick Lloyd McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American businessman, politician and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd Mayor ...
.
He founded the
American conservative
Conservatism in the United States is a political and social philosophy based on a belief in limited government, individualism, traditionalism, republicanism, and limited federal governmental power in relation to U.S. states. Conser ...
North Carolina
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
the
Civitas Institute
The Civitas Institute, Inc. (Civitas) is a Raleigh, North Carolina-based conservative think tank.
History
Civitas was incorporated on March 9, 2005.
Initial members of the board of directors included the first president of the organization, R. ...
and co-founded the
John Locke Foundation
The John Locke Foundation (JLF) is a conservative think tank based in North Carolina. The organization was founded in 1990 to work "for truth, for freedom, and for the future of North Carolina." It is named after the philosopher John Locke, who w ...
and the
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal.
Pope's family foundations contributed millions of dollars to conservative causes, both nationally and in his home state.
Early life and education
Pope was born May 5, 1956, in
Fayetteville, North Carolina
Fayetteville () is a city in and the county seat of Cumberland County, North Carolina, United States. It is best known as the home of Fort Bragg, a major U.S. Army installation northwest of the city.
Fayetteville has received the All-America C ...
, to John W. and Joyce Wilkins Pope. He spent his early childhood in the town of
Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina
Fuquay-Varina ( ) is a town in southern Wake County, North Carolina, United States, lying south of Holly Springs and southwest of Garner, and north of the Harnett County town of Angier and west of the unincorporated community of Willow Sp ...
. He moved with his family to the capital city of
Raleigh, North Carolina
Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...
, in the early 1960s. Pope graduated from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
in 1978 with a B.A. with honors in political science and went on to earn his J.D. from the
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...
School of Law in 1981.
Business and professional career
Pope is the chairman and president of
Variety Wholesalers
Variety Wholesalers, Inc., is a privately held company based in Henderson, North Carolina, which owns more than 380 retail stores in the southeast including the Roses and Maxway stores, and employs more than 7,000 workers.
History
It originated ...
since 2006. Variety owns and operates 370 stores under the names
Roses
A rose is either a woody perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred species and tens of thousands of cultivars. They form a group of plants that can be e ...
, Roses Express, Maxway, and Super 10, in sixteen states. 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
Henderson is a city and the county seat of Vance County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,060 at the 2020 census.
History
The city was named in honor of former North Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Leonard Henderson, w ...
, with a distribution center in Henderson. Pope first joined Variety Wholesaler in 1986.
Before entering business, Pope was 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.
Governor Pat McCrory appointed Art Pope State Budget Director in 2013. Pope served as State Budget Director from 2013 to 2014, and then stepped down to return to the private sector.
In 2017, Art Pope became chairman of the
Bradley Foundation
The Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, commonly known as the Bradley Foundation, is an American charitable foundation (charity), foundation based in Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, that primarily supports Conservatism in the United States, cons ...
, a conservative charitable organization.
Pope is chairman and president of the
John William Pope Foundation
The John William Pope Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) private charitable foundation based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that contributes to conservative public policy organizations and think tanks, educational institutions, humanitarian char ...
, which he founded with his father, John W. Pope, in 1986.
The foundation has donated to
Campbell University
Campbell University is a private Baptist university in Buies Creek, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina (Southern Baptist Convention). Southern Baptist ConventionColleges and Universities sbc.net ...
, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,
the
John Locke Foundation
The John Locke Foundation (JLF) is a conservative think tank based in North Carolina. The organization was founded in 1990 to work "for truth, for freedom, and for the future of North Carolina." It is named after the philosopher John Locke, who w ...
(for which Pope was the founding chairman),
The Heritage Foundation
The Heritage Foundation (abbreviated to Heritage) is an American conservative think tank based in Washington, D.C. that is primarily geared toward public policy. The foundation took a leading role in the conservative movement during the presiden ...
, the
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is an American libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Ed Crane, Murray Rothbard, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Koch Industries.Koch Indust ...
, and other organizations.
Politics and public service
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
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the United States Republican Party. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal of the Repu ...
on three occasions. Pope was appointed to serve on the North Carolina State Goals and Policy Board from 1985 to 1989. He also served on the North Carolina Capital Planning Commission.
Pope was first elected to the
North Carolina House of Representatives
The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the North Ca ...
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,
[ and winning another election in 2000.] He was elected Republican Joint Caucus Leader during the 1991–1992 session. Pope was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine The Order of the Long Leaf Pine, created in 1964, is an honor that can be granted in the U.S. state of North Carolina. As of 2021, it was believed the Order had been awarded to more than 21,000 people.
The Order
The Order of the Long Leaf Pine is ...
, the state's most prestigious award for public service, in 1992 at age 36.
Pope vacated his House seat to run for the office of Lieutenant Governor
A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...
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.[. ''The News and Observer'', June 15, 2011, by Lynn Bonner, Rob Christensen and Eden Stiffman.]
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. Pope was also a member of the Electoral College in 2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
, casting one of North Carolina's electoral votes for Mitt Romney
Willard Mitt Romney (born March 12, 1947) is an American politician, businessman, and lawyer serving as the junior United States senator from Utah since January 2019, succeeding Orrin Hatch. He served as the 70th governor of Massachusetts f ...
.
In November 2012, it was announced that Pope would serve as a co-chair on North Carolina Governor-Elect Pat McCrory
Patrick Lloyd McCrory (born October 17, 1956) is an American businessman, politician and radio host who served as the 74th governor of North Carolina from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 53rd Mayor ...
's transition team, and in December Pope was announced as the state's chief budget director in the McCrory administration. 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.
On June 25, 2020, the North Carolina Senate
The North Carolina Senate is the upper chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly, which along with the North Carolina House of Representatives—the lower chamber—comprises the state legislature of North Carolina. The term of office for e ...
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
Daniel Terry Blue Jr. (born April 18, 1949) is an American politician and attorney serving as a member of the North Carolina Senate, representing the state's 14th Senate district, and is the Senate minority leader.
Early life and education
Bl ...
.
Funding and activism for conservative causes
In 1975, as a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
freshman, Pope filed a complaint under the code of student conduct against Algenon L. Marbley, President of the Black Student Movement, for shouting down David Duke
David Ernest Duke (born July 1, 1950) is an American white supremacist, antisemitic conspiracy theorist, far-right politician, convicted felon, and former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. From 1989 to 1992, he was a member ...
of the Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...
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. Pope co-founded the Libertarian Party of North Carolina
The Libertarian Party of North Carolina (LPNC) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Libertarian Party (United States), Libertarian Party.
History
The Liberatarian Party of North Carolina was founded in 1976, and has fielded candidates for pr ...
as a college student in 1976.
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."
In 2005, Pope was a founding member of the NC Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform. He joined former Democratic state Senator Wib Gulley from Durham, North Carolina, in calling for reform of the state's lobbying laws.
Pope has been a long-time supporter of legislation to establish an independent nonpartisan redistricting commission. 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. He has advocated doing away with the public financing of judicial elections in North Carolina. 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.
References
External links
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, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pope, Art
1956 births
Living people
American philanthropists
American retail chief executives
Duke University School of Law alumni
20th-century American politicians
Republican Party members of the North Carolina House of Representatives
North Carolina lawyers
North Carolina Libertarians
2012 United States presidential electors
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill alumni
Asheville School alumni
People from Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina