User:A13ean/Art Pope sources

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 * "State Republicans had an above-average fund-raising year, boosted by massive expenditures by Raleigh businessman Art Pope to support groups aligned with the GOP. Freed from limits on corporate contributions by a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling, those outside groups flooded districts with campaign mail attacking Democrats and bought large blocks of time on radio and television. "
 * "Orr's proposed source of funding for the center was $600,000 in grants from the John William Pope Foundation, the family foundation headed by Art Pope, who has overseen the expenditure of millions of dollars to finance conservative causes and Republican politics."
 * "Pope, who heads a regional retail chain, has become a political lightening rod because he - through his family foundation - has poured tens of millions of dollars into a network of conservative organizations both in North Carolina and nationally. He also was the major financial backer of the Republican takeover of the legislature last year. "


 * The voters in Democratic Rep. Chris Heagarty's western Wake County district of have been inundated with mailings portraying him as a big spending, anti-education politician who wants a pay raise for himself, along with a host of other political sins. Targeting Heagarty were five mailings from a group called Real Jobs NC, three from a group called Civitas Action Inc., and two from Americans for Prosperity. What all three groups have in common is they are connected to one individual: Art Pope, a Raleigh retail executive who is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars of his company's money to help Republicans win control of the legislature next week. Pope's influence is omnipresent this election season, with groups tied to Pope spending $2.1 million so far to influence the legislative races, according to state and federal campaign records filed in recent days.
 * "Besides sending streams of campaign literature as well as beaming TV advertising into targeted Democratic districts across the state, Pope-connected organizations conducted a bus tour across the state to build support for conservative candidates. And it was a Pope-connected group that held "tea party summits" in May in Hickory and Wilmington to help organize conservatives.
 * "Groups tied to the Raleigh businessman had put $2.1 million toward unseating Democratic incumbents."
 * "But Pope has taken on a broader role since 1989, using his personal fortune to bankroll a network of think tanks seeking to move North Carolina toward his vision of a more limited government. He has been the major funder of the John Locke Foundation, the J.W. Pope Civitas Institute, the John William Pope Center for Higher Education and the N.C. Institute for Constitutional Law. Pope's family foundation has provided more than $17 million to finance the network over the years, according to recent study by the liberal-leaning Institute for Southern Studies. ### CORRECTION: The News & Observer incorrectly reported Wednesday that the family foundation of businessman Art Pope has provided more than $17 million to finance a network of conservative think tanks through the years, according to the Institute for Southern Studies. That figure only applies to the John Locke Foundation. The Pope family foundation has spent more than $28.7 million on the think tanks, according to the institute. ###"