When I last checked, North Carolina had a Republican majority in the Legislature, a Democratic governor, a state Supreme Court that has alternated between Republican and Democratic majorities over the past decade, was a vibrant Democratic “purple” state, and is again considered a close battleground state in this year’s presidential election.
In fact, rather than seeking to dismantle democracy through “bad gerrymandering,” I was an advocate and sponsor of constitutional amendments to institute independent, nonpartisan redistricting from the 1980s through the 2020s, and was a leading plaintiff intervener in the U.S. Supreme Court case Shaw v. Reno, which limited racial gerrymandering, and a successful plaintiff in the North Carolina Supreme Court case Stevenson, which limited partisan gerrymandering.
I have personally never donated a cent to the “Project 2025 architects,” nor has the John Locke Foundation donated a cent. I have strongly opposed and criticized parts of Project 2025. The John W. Pope Foundation donates to 18 members of Project 2025’s Advisory Board, and the opinions of Project 2025 and The Heritage Foundation do not necessarily represent the opinions of all of the Advisory Board partners. Additionally, Pope Foundation grants are not intended to fund Project 2025.
The $414 million in “administrative flexibility cuts” imposed on UNC in 2011 were not overall budget cuts — this refers to cuts to the budget. As recorded in official state budget records, total state funding for the UNC System actually increased from fiscal year 2010-2011 to fiscal year 2011-2012.
The 2011 Administrative Flexibility Cuts required cutting portions of the UNC budget in order to free up funds for other areas of the budget during a fiscal year in which the UNC budget overall had a net increase. In any case, that was over a decade ago, and before I served as State Budget Director (2013-2014) and met Lee Roberts.
While the James G. Martin Center (formally the John W. Pope Center for Higher Education Policy) supported proposed budget cuts for that fiscal year, this is my own opinion and does not represent my views as expressed by those at the organization. Neither then in 2011 nor now, I act as publisher or editor for the Martin Center (or the Locke Foundation) and do not know in advance what they will publish.
Rather than “targeting black and low-income communities,” I believe my company has served hundreds of communities, including African-American and low-income communities, by providing thousands of local jobs, providing affordable goods to millions of customers, and generating tens of millions of dollars in tax revenue for state and local governments, including education. I choose this over my company engaging in discriminatory practices and avoiding serving African-American neighborhoods that are often located in retail food deserts.
– Art Pope, Class of 1978
