WASHINGTON — Art Pope, the wealthy owner of a chain of dollar stores, became a pioneer in the use of big money to seize power at the state level in 2010, when he underwrote a tea party takeover of the state legislature. It was the first time Republicans controlled both chambers in more than 100 years, and it was fueled largely by the Koch-allied Pope Foundation.
While North Carolina is a swing state in presidential elections, the dominance of Pope and the tea party has shifted the state’s politics in a dramatically conservative direction, sparking the Moral Mondays protests.
The tea party has pushed forward with its agenda regardless. And because North Carolina was the first state to be so thoroughly dominated by big money from a single donor with a deeply ideological agenda, what’s happening there now could serve as a window into the future fate of other states. With the rise of the Koch brothers as a political force, it also offers a glimpse into what could happen on a national scale.
If North Carolina is any indication, the nation’s system of publicly funded higher education, as of now the envy of the world, will be threatened.
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Fennebresque’s daughter disputed that charge in a comment published on the petition’s website. “His decisions are not political at all. To say so is lazy and trouble causing. Dad wants what is best for the system….bottom line and full stop,” Amy Fennebresque Burleson wrote. “He likes Tom Ross. They are friends. The system needs a fresh start. No right wing conspiracy. Just a change.”
Holmes and Fennebresque did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
As for Nichol, he is not completely pessimistic about his future at UNC.
“I remain a tenured law professor,” he said. “When the Poverty Center is abolished, I’ll have more time to write, to speak and to protest North Carolina’s burgeoning war on poor people. I plan to use it.”
