27 Facts About Art Pope

James Arthur Pope was born on May 5,1956 and is an American businessman, attorney and former government official.

Art Pope is the president and chairman of the John William Pope Foundation.

Art Pope previously served in the North Carolina House of Representatives and served as the Budget Director for North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory.

Art Pope founded the American conservative North Carolina think tank the Civitas Institute and co-founded the John Locke Foundation and the James G Martin Center for Academic Renewal.

Art Pope spent his early childhood in the town of Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina.

Art Pope moved with his family to the capital city of Raleigh, North Carolina, in the early 1960s.

Art Pope is the chairman and president of Variety Wholesalers since 2006.

Art Pope headquarters is located in Henderson, North Carolina, with a distribution center in Henderson.

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.

Art 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, a conservative charitable organization.

Art Pope has served as a delegate to the Republican National Convention on three occasions.

Art Pope was appointed to serve on the North Carolina State Goals and Policy Board from 1985 to 1989.

Art Pope served on the North Carolina Capital Planning Commission.

Art Pope was first elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives in 1988 to represent House District 61.

Art Pope 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.

Art Pope was awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the state's most prestigious award for public service, in 1992 at age 36.

Art Pope vacated his House seat to run for the office of Lieutenant Governor in 1992.

In June 2011, Art Pope was appointed to the board of directors for Golden LEAF, a nonprofit grant-making organization whose mission is to spur economic development in tobacco-dependent areas of North Carolina.

Art 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.

Art Pope was a member of the Electoral College in 2012, casting one of North Carolina's electoral votes for Mitt Romney.

In November 2012, it was announced that Art Pope would serve as a co-chair on North Carolina Governor-Elect Pat McCrory's transition team, and in December he was announced as the state's chief budget director in the McCrory administration.

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 Black Student Movement, for shouting down David Duke of the Ku Klux Klan during a campus speech.

Art Pope explained that while he condemned the Klan and thought it was a horrible organization, he was defending free speech for everyone.

Art Pope joined former Democratic state Senator Wib Gulley from Durham, North Carolina, in calling for reform of the state's lobbying laws.

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.

Art Pope has advocated doing away with the public financing of judicial elections in North Carolina.