In N.C., conservative donor Art Pope sits at heart of government he helped transform

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Posted in Politics 2014 as well as in NC Forum due to Koch brothers provenance.

In N.C., conservative donor Art Pope sits at heart of government he helped transform



Art Pope spent a quarter-century helping turn North Carolina red. Now he’s the state’s budget director. (Ted Richardson/For The Washington Post)

By Matea Gold July 19

....
There is no one in North Carolina, or likely in all of American politics, quite like Art Pope. He is not just a wealthy donor seeking to influence politics from the outside, nor just a government official shaping it from within. He is doing both at the same time — the culmination of a quarter-century spent building a sphere of influence that has put him at the epicenter of North Carolina government and moved his state closer to the conservative vision he has long imagined.
....

From the outside, Pope’s family foundation has put more than $55 million into a robust network of conservative think tanks and advocacy groups, building a state version of what his friends Charles and David Koch have helped create on a national level.
....

Pope, 58, oversees the action from his fifth-floor corner office overlooking the colonnaded State Legislative Building. He serves as a top adviser to {Republican Gov. Pat McCrory} with some familiar faces; at least four of the governor’s staffers worked at Pope-backed groups, including the chief of staff, Thomas Stith, and the policy director, Chloe Gossage.

[merrily]

1. the "heart" of a government formed by 1%ers has to be an oxymoron.

[otohara]

2. It's Easy To Win

when the other side sits at home during midterms/special elections and says, meh!

[Todays_Illusion]

3. The libertarians have control of several states now,

North Dakota, Wisconsin, Kansas of course, and Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas still a mix of the two conservative halves. They are not as successful in the deep south even though they are relentlessly racist, and that is the problem only a minority of the southern racists are that unrelenting about it and the deep south states consider the libertarians to be kind of carpet baggers, down disrupting their traditions.

The important issue is the libertarians unlike the more traditional Heritage Foundation Republicans are very serious about dismantling the U. S. Government as it currently exists, and they have the money to do it.