"State for Sale" Report in the New Yorker about Art Pope in North Carolina

[Mira]

“In a very real sense, Democrats running for office in North Carolina are running against Art Pope,” one political operative says.

A Reporter at Large

State for Sale

A conservative multimillionaire has taken control in North Carolina, one of 2012’s top battlegrounds.
by Jane Mayer October 10, 2011

In the spring of 2010, the conservative political strategist Ed Gillespie flew from Washington, D.C., to Raleigh, North Carolina, to spend a day laying the groundwork for REDMAP, a new project aimed at engineering a Republican takeover of state legislatures. Gillespie hoped to help his party get control of statehouses where congressional redistricting was pending, thereby leveraging victories in cheap local races into a means of shifting the balance of power in Washington. It was an ingenious plan, and Gillespie is a skilled tactician—he once ran the Republican National Committee—but REDMAP seemed like a long shot in North Carolina. Barack Obama carried the state in 2008 and remained popular. The Republicans hadn’t controlled both houses of the North Carolina General Assembly for more than a century. (“Not since General Sherman,” a state politico joked to me.) That day in Raleigh, though, Gillespie had lunch with an ideal ally: James Arthur (Art) Pope, the chairman and C.E.O. of Variety Wholesalers, a discount-store conglomerate. The Raleigh News and Observer had called Pope, a conservative multimillionaire, the Knight of the Right. The REDMAP project offered Pope a new way to spend his money.


Read more http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_mayer#ixzz1ZjGv4OS6

[xchrom]

1. A mini Koch. Nt

[Stuart G]

2. Great Article..Thanks for posting. K and R

[salin]

3. selling to the 99% (stores) in order to use the 1% power to amass more

power and bucks.

Thanks for the link and intro to the story. Had never heard of Art Pope before.

[supernova]

4. Glad to see ole Art Pope getting wider exposure

If anyone wants to read further, there is a whole list of articles at our Independent weekly website. I guess someone at the New Yorker has been reading The Independent.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/Search?cx=005296826744349167695%3Alvszicpnne0&cof=FORID%3A9&q=art+pope&sa=Search

Here's a fave of mine, an interactive popup: :


http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/the-world-of-art-pope/Content?oid=2145190

[blm]

6. Boycott the dumbass's stores.

His stores are in areas specifically to attract penny stretching shoppers as he plots with the GOP to prevent any government program or measure that may benefit their future.

He WANTS people to stay poor - he benefits from it.

http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/lets-go-shopping-with-art-pope/Content?oid=1770426

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Rachel covered this tonight -- had the author as a guest. nt

[JPZenger]

7. Covered well tonight on NPR's Interview Program, with the author

[brentspeak]

8. kick

:kick: