News & Updates

On August 6, 2014, North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory announced that Art Pope will step down as state budget director.  Pope served as state budget director since January 2013, staying on for one additional year at the governor’s request. Press Release from the Governor’s Office: Governor Introduces New State Budget Director – August 6, 2014 Raleigh, N.C. – Governor Pat McCrory announced today that Art Pope will step down as state budget director. Pope, who has served as budget director since January 2013, will return to the private sector. “Art Pope has been an invaluable public servant for the people of North Carolina,” Governor McCrory said. “His knowledge and leadership helped produce historic tax reform while producing two balanced budgets that put North Carolina back on the road to prosperity. He has dedicated much of his life to the betterment of North Carolina and it has been a privilege to have him at my side.” Pope’s public service began in 1985 as Special Counsel for Governor Jim Martin. He was later appointed the State Goals and Policy Board, which was given the task of evaluating balancing the state’s capital needs for public school facilities, prisons and road construction. Pope previously served in North Carolina House for more than 7 years. As a legislator, Pope served on both the Finance and Appropriations committees, where was one the primary sponsors of legislation to create the state’s “Rainy Day Fund.” Governor McCrory announced that Lee H. Roberts will succeed Pope as the state’s new budget director. “Lee has a terrific sense of fiscal sensibility and responsibility, and I’m excited to have him join our team,” said Governor McCrory. “North Carolina state government will thrive under his oversight. His experience in the global marketplace will provide a useful and original perspective, and his leadership skills will further our administration’s goal of thoughtful, deliberate stewardship of taxpayer dollars.” Roberts has extensive experience in financial management. He recently served as managing director of Piedmont Community Bank Holdings in Raleigh. He was the executive vice president and chief operating officer of VantageSouth Bancshares, a bank holding company. He also founded a real estate investment and advisory firm, Coley Capital, LLC. He has worked for Morgan Stanley & Co., Cherokee Investment Partners and as an associate with Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLP. Roberts received his undergraduate degree in political science from Duke University. He graduated cum laude from Georgetown University, where he received his J.D. Governor McCrory appointed Roberts to the North Carolina Banking Commission in 2013. He also serves on the Board of Trustees for the Ravenscroft School, is the vice president of the Duke Alumni Association and is involved in many other area organizations.

The Burlington Times-News offers this human interest story about Alice Allen, a longtime employee of Roses who is about to retire after 52 years on the job: As a senior in high school, when Alice Allen was hired part-time at Roses to assemble Easter baskets, working her way up through the company over the next five decades was never her intention. But 52 years later, Allen is ready to retire. … Allen has weathered some uncertain times with the company, including the company filing for bankruptcy in the 1990s before Variety Wholesalers took over the Rose family’s chain. “That saved everybody’s job,” she said. “There wouldn’t be a Roses if they wouldn’t have bought the company.” And it’s a good thing they stayed afloat, at least for all the workers she’s given jobs over the years. “I’ve hired a lot of people throughout my time here,” she said. “I’ve hired people, then hired their children — and I’ve gotten a few of their grandchildren. Three generations of people.”

The editorial page of the Raleigh News & Observer writes that Deputy Budget Director Art Pope raised “proper questions” about the University of North Carolina system’s proposed $2.8 billion budget for the 2014-2015 fiscal year: A stern cautionary note from state budget director Art Pope to the University of North Carolina system comes down to this: This is my second memo about the state budget. You guys must not have gotten the first one. Pope has sent UNC system officials back to the budget drawing board, and because he is viewed as the top adviser to Gov. Pat McCrory and the most influential person in the executive branch, the message will be received. Pope told university officials in a Feb. 28 memo that they’re asking for too much money. He noted that to satisfy the university system’s request for a budget increase of $288 million, or 11.3 percent, the state would have to make “major reductions” in other agencies, including the court system and public schools. He noted the state also has a major obligation with Medicaid, the health care system for the poor and disabled. The university system is seeking the money as the legislature readies to convene this spring to adjust the second year of its two-year budget. …. [It's] fair and appropriate for Pope to question the UNC system’s budget request. Peter Hans, chairman of the UNC system’s Board of Governors, gave exactly the right response in saying he and the board “welcome tough questions about how the university proposes to spend public dollars.” He said Pope was “doing what taxpayers should expect him to do.”  

David W. Riggs, Executive Vice President of the John William Pope Foundation, made this statement in response to a recent documentary by Bill Moyers: Bill Moyers, through Moyers & Company, recently released a documentary titled “State of Conflict: North Carolina.” Broadcast through the PBS network on Jan. 3, the one-hour program falsely portrayed the charitable work of the John William Pope Foundation and of our Chairman and President, Art Pope. “State of Conflict: North Carolina” repeated the false claim that Art Pope and the Pope Foundation “bought” the state of North Carolina, mostly through giving to public policy nonprofits that advocate for common sense free-market reforms. Mr. Moyers presented nothing new in his documentary — in fact, he’s late to the party. Many left-wing operatives have hurled similar accusations for years. The claims have never stuck because they are entirely false. But Mr. Moyers doesn’t merely repeat a falsehood. Worse, he conceals the fact that the Pope Foundation is not the largest grantor to public policy groups in North Carolina. While the Pope Foundation gives around $5 million to conservative, free-market organizations in North Carolina each year, that number pales in comparison to the $11 million given annually by left-wing foundations to progressive groups in the Tar Heel State. In 2011 alone, three progressive foundations gave generously to left-of-center, liberal groups in North Carolina: The Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation ($9.2 million in grants), the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation ($614,000 in grants), and the A.J. Fletcher Foundation ($968,000 in grants). If North Carolina can indeed be bought, as Mr. Moyers and his allies claim, then shouldn’t it go to the highest bidder, the side that spent the most money? Click here to read the rest.

The Daily Dispatch, based out of Henderson, N.C., yesterday reported on the Pope Foundation’s $35,000 in grants to food pantries in Vance County. The grants were part of a larger $185,000 given by the Pope Foundation in October to humanitarian charities.  LifeLine Outreach Inc., a nonprofit based in Vance County that alleviates homelessness and assists women and children in crisis. (Photo credit: Daily Dispatch) The Dispatch reported: Local non-profits and faith-based organizations took a hit when the federal government closed for 16 days. The John William Pope Foundation made its yearly donations to Vance County charities a few months early this year to help offset the impact of the shutdown. “We heard on the ground that the federal government shutdown was having an effect on these charities doing this humanitarian work and what we decided to do was to expedite our end of the year funding to cover the shortfall caused by the shutdown,” said David Riggs of the Pope Foundation. The foundation is a private family foundation focused on humanitarian charities in Wake and Vance counties. The foundation donated $5,000 to Area Christians Together in Service, $10,000 to Life Line Outreach Inc. and $20,000 to the United Way of Vance County. Twanna Jones, executive director of ACTS, said her organization has not received a Pope Foundation grant in the past. “They heard about the great work that we were doing in the Vance County community,” Jones said. ACTS provides a daily soup kitchen on weekdays, a food pantry, backpack buddies, and Meals on Wheels for the disabled and elderly. Jones has plans to expand her operation with a mobile feeding program that supplies meals to all areas of need. She said the grant money would help with the expansion as well as day-to-day operations. “My goal is to have a seven-day a week soup kitchen that feeds twice a day,” Jones said. For the first time this year, ACTS will serve lunch on Thanksgiving Day from 10 a.m. to noon. (Note: A subscription is needed to view the entire article, but there is no cost.)