talkpolitics | State legislature for sale! Come get it while they're hot! OR "Why I love Pluto and plutocracies!"

North Carolina business man Art Pope

In 2010, North Carolina's state legislature went Republican in a big way. In fact, it's the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans have gained controlled over the state house. Yet only 2 years previously the state voted for Barack Obama by a razor thin margin (13,000 or 0.05 of all votes cast). The last time the state voted Democratic was for Lyndon Johnson in 1964. North Carolina will be a key state for President Obama's re-election chances. North Carolina will be hosting the Democratic National Convention in 2012. Most North Carolina political observers describe local politics as more "purple" state than red or blue, with local Democrats tending to be pro-business types, which makes sense considering the large number of technology and medical companies in the "Research Triangle" area near Raleigh/ Durham. So what changed the North Carolina political landscape so drastically? Citzens United.

Jane Myer has a fascinating feature on Art Pope in the current edition of New York magazine. Pope is a very wealthy businessman (he inherited a chain of discount stores from his father who in turn had inherited it) with extreme right wing views (they are elaborated in greater detail in the New Yorker feature) and ties to the Koch Brothers. Myer was able to interview Pope and her impressions of him are articulated in the video clip from an interview on the Rachel Maddow show. After describing Pope's political history of having served multiple terms in the state legislature, as well as having failed in a run for statewide office, Mayer said, "in a way you can see him as a frustrated politician whose ideas did not sell at the ballot box, and when he didn't really get power that way, you can see that he funded an empire of, kind of a conservative opinion machine, and poured money into political races."Mayer summed up Pope's causes as aligning with "the Republican party, and small government, almost you know anti-government, and low taxes." ^[1.] Myer describes Myer as extremely smart (he's a graduate of Duke Law school), and has an acerbic wit in a puerile way.

Through his family foundation worth over 140 million dollars, Art Pope poured money into at least political action groups that funneled money to local conservative Republican ad campaigns and funded nearly 75 percent of all Republican ads that ran in the state.What did that net Pope? In 22 state senate races that Pope funded, 18 went Republican. Moderate Republicans lost in a big way too. Two of the highest priority items on the Republican agenda when they took over the state house had nothing to do with "job creation" but instead focused on typical "family values" issues (e.g. passing a bill to put a ban on gay marriage before the voters), and of course, tightening up voter registration requirements in such a way to suppress minority votes (nearly 500,000 North Carolina voters do not have a photo id). Democratic governor Bev Perdue vetoed the bill, citing Jim Crow laws and the states sordid pass at disenfranchising African American voters. The veto will stick because while Republicans have a veto proof majority in the Senate, they don't have that luxury in the House. We can rest assured when the governor's term is over, Mr. Pope will be working overtime to get a Tea Party Republican into office and defeating President Obama in 2012.

While everyone was worried about the effects of Citizens United on national elections (i.e. the Presidency and Congress), the impact is pretty big on the local level too. And of course if you can buy enough states, you don't have to worry about the big prizes, they'll just be extra bonuses.

[1.] Summary from Huffington Post coverage of the Rachel Maddow interview.

[2.] Southern studies tracks down the Pope money.

[3.] An depth analysis of Art Pope's media outlets, think tanks and election machines.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

fizzyland.livejournal.com

So you're saying that maybe we aren't getting the best government money can buy?

I guess I think of this like those games that are free to play but if you throw some real-world cash at them, you can buy perks that give you an advantage over the hoi polloi. We're seeing this more and more - even with state referendums, you have outsiders coming in with cash to influence things the way they want - see the mormons putting cash in California and outsiders funding South Dakota's War Against Women's Rights.