A Tea Partier Takes Charge of North Carolina's Budget

North Carolina is about to find out what happens when a Tea Party die-hard gets his hands on the levers of government. Art Pope, an original board member of Americans for Prosperity, the conservative group founded by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, became the state’s budget director in January.

Once dubbed the “knight of the Right” by Raleigh’s News & Observer, Pope was appointed by Pat McCrory, the state’s first Republican governor since 1993. Pope, 56, is taking a leave from his job as chairman of Variety Wholesalers, his family-owned operator of retail store chains in seven Southern states. He’s spent the past two decades funding a network of think tanks and political groups that promote limited government. Between 2001 and 2010, Pope, his family, and their foundation spent $35 million on these groups, according to Democracy North Carolina, a Durham-based organization that monitors political fundraising. In 2010, Pope, his family, and their company spent $550,000 to help Republicans capture both chambers of the legislature for the first time in a century.