It's hard these days to keep up with all the crooks and liars in North Carolina politics. But keep up we must, especially when one of them is tracking down the Rove-Delay-Abramoff trajectory like a laser guided asshole. Because the threat to democracy doesn't stop with Republicans in Congress. We have our own man who would be king right here in the Old North State: Mr. Art Pope.
A quiet coup is underway in North Carolina, and it could have all of the tragic consequences of Bushco. Only this one is Popeco. And based on filings now being considered by the State Board of Elections:
1. Art Pope has created a 527 organization called the Republican Legislative Majority (RLM) of North Carolina, Inc.
2. RLM has been funded by channeling corporate money from Art Pope's business, Variety Wholesalers.
3. RLM engaged in illegal electioneering during North Carolina's May primaries, pouring more than $600,000 into three legislative races, subverting both the letter and the intention of state and federal law.
4. RLM illegally coordinated its activities with Republican candidates in those primary races.
5. The May primaries were a pilot program Art Pope used to refine his illegal electioneering model.
6. Members of the NC State Board of Elections are dragging their feet in responding to formal complaints filed by Richard Morgan (one of the people Pope's corporate money helped defeat in the May primaries).
7. Art Pope has mobilized his empire in a full-court press to defend his illegal actions.
For those of you who might prefer a simpler version of the story, it is this:
Popeco is contaminating North Carolina politics with the sleaze and corruption of corporate money, just as is the national Republican Party. He seeks to polarize the legislature and the electorate, destroy common ground, punish those who reach across the aisle, and subvert the will of the people.
But here's the great irony. If Art Pope were doing all this with his own personal money, we'd have no basis to complain. His personal intervention in North Carolina races would be legal. The problem, though, is that Art Pope is the runt of the Pope family and doesn't really have that kind of money. The Pope family money is all tied up in his daddy's foundation and in his retail businesses. But that hasn't stopped Art. He's redirecting foundation money and corporate profits to build his empire - and will apparently stop at nothing to get his way. He's already spending $200,000 a month of daddy's money (that we know of) to promote his free-market fantasies, and now he's hell-bent on buying the legislature, too.
There is so much wrong with this picture that it's hard to know where to start. Over the next week, I'll be laying out the gory details. In the meantime, here's the first and most important thing you can do. Spread the word. Recommend this diary. Email this to your friends in North Carolina. Contact the North Carolina State Board of Elections and encourage them to schedule hearing on the complaint currently before them (attached below).
Mailing Address: PO Box 27255, Raleigh, NC 27611-7255
Main Number: (919) 733-7173
E-Mail: Elections & Voting - elections.sboe@ncmail.net
Board Members:
Larry Leake (D) 828-253-3661
Lorraine Shinn (R) 252-758-6534
Charles Winfree (R) 236-273-8998
Genevieve Sims (D) 919-834-7775
Robert Cordle (D) 704-444-3500
Until the SBOE takes action to dismiss or hold hearings, the illegal influence of corporate money hangs like a sword over the head of North Carolina's democracy. And the media aren't covering it. Editorial pages have barely raised an eyebrow. Which means the SBOE is caught between a rock and a hard place. They're stretched thin and have huge pressures from the Pope machine to dismiss the complaint.
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The essence of Art Pope's defense is that his corporate money wasn't used to influence a particular legislative race. He freely admits he used corporate money, but argues that is was "issue" advocacy and was not part of a concerted effort to affect any particular candidate.
That's not how it looks to me. Sorry for the poor quality, but even you can see that this mailer was about Richard Morgan, a Republican primary candidate who wasn't far enough to the right to suit the Puppetmaster. Art Pope funded Morgan's opponent with corporate money. And now he owns another seat in the NC House of Representatives. Sound familiar?