News-Record.com

Maybe he has room enough he could have Nifong move in and hide-out for awhile.

His predicament began with a nice job of reporting by Don Carrington of Carolina Journal on Jan. 26.*Doug

When can we expect a tour of Don employer Art Pope manison in North Raleigh? Fair and Balance Doug or do we have to go to Home and Gardens of the rich and infamous Republicans to find it?

Inquiring Home Builder minds want to know?

What's Art Pope running for, Connie?

face it, most folks who run for President have BIG HOUSES and are willing to take a 4-8 year cut in pay. Unfortunately, it is the way things are. I dont like Edwards but I do believe he is sincere. However, my support and approval ends there.

Mick

As Doug noted in his column, Edwards' wouldn't have as much of a problem with this new mansion, if he hadn't been running for the past two years on the "Two Americas" theme. He has every right to build his bride lavish digs, even being a politician, but he presents himself in so doing as a political, hypocritical hack. He obviously lives in the Rich America, and it is hard to believe him when he says he is only a poor boy, whose father was a mill worker, that is only concerned about poor people. As they say in the country, "That dog won't hunt, John".

And, I am sure that John has his $50 million estate locked up pretty good in tax shelters, so that when he raises taxes on the rich and near rich, he won't be touched. This is exactly what all of the rich liberals do. Put it in a trust, so it's all about OPM (other people's money). I'm tired of this class warfare being waged by rich politicians trying to aggravate poor people against others. You know who'll pay for it, the middle class working people.

I think Edwards is mostly sincere, although like all politicians he positions himself where he think he'll gain an advantage. I also think everyone who becomes very, very wealthy, no matter how he started in life, probably loses a little perspective. I doubt Mrs. Edwards appreciated the irony in saying on her blog (link posted above) that we all need to make "small sacrifices to improve our energy profile." How many sacrifices do you make when you live in a 28,000-sq-ft home?

Instead of running for the Big House, Hillary already has it in the bag, Edward's needs to concentrate on resolving the poverty issue in the States by constantly telling us nobodies that others were luckier than the 95% of the rest of us and that in order to resolve this inequity, a redistribution of wealth plan needs to be instituted.

What's Art Pope running for, Connie?*Doug

Maybe from the Wake property tax man Doug. After all it was just chump change that he forgot to pay his Mansion property tax of 25 grand from last November. As a former conservative Republican, we certainly can't let that happen and I am sure the check is in the mail by now. Or maybe this just might explain what Art is running for. I would have thought you would have been thrilled that Edwards is paying mucho property taxes to Orange County like any good North Carolina citizen.

CHAPTER II- WHO IS ART POPE?

Before addressing the finer points of the campaign, you need to know about another individual that I encountered in my quest for office. If you are running in North Carolina, it is imperative that you know of him. If you are located outside North Carolina, perhaps you have someone in your own state that is like him. His name is Art Pope.

When I first moved to North Carolina, I lived in North Raleigh. I had no knowledge of who he was at the time. I just knew that he was the legislator for my district. For his own reason, he did not seek to run for his own or further office. Instead, he decided to use his family wealth behind the scenes. I am not against people who are wealthy and I am not against people who seek to use their wealth to benefit their community. But from what I have seen, Art Pope is not someone who just wants to use his wealth to benefit his community. Instead, he wants to control his community. And it is this that I am against, for I do not want to live my life as how others think that I should live. Others, regardless of their wealth or lack of it, do not dictate my morals or the governance of my life.

I see Art Pope as someone who wants to control everything in this state. He believes that this really is a "Republican" state and that he controls the levers of power. He controls some of the major radio stations and newspapers, as they conveniently write stories that he wants to be printed, papers like the Fayetteville Observer and the Salisbury Post. The three major radio stations in this area are controlled by the Curtis Media Group, as well as some minor ones like State Government Radio, but it is Art Pope’s messengers who are in control of the message. He is behind the effort to unseat House Speaker Jim Black. He was instrumental in defeating Richard Morgan, Rick Eddins, David Miner and other “Morganistas,” all of whom were participants in the power-sharing deal in which Jim Black and Richard Morgan were made co-speakers of the state house.

Art Pope has many fronts, too. He is behind the John William Pope Civitas Institute, the Pope Center, Americans for Prosperity, the John Locke Foundation, the Carolina Journal, and the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law. He is behind the lawsuit to stop the lottery, although that was unsuccessful. He was behind the effort to get Frank and Gary Ballance. He attempted to donate money to UNC to fund a course of studies. UNC rejected it and he has taken his offer to NC State.

Art Pope approves of who will or will not be certain candidates. I became aware of this during or shortly after my first campaign. Someone that I talked with told me that the junior partner who ran for office lost his bid because "Art Pope did not approve." He obviously did not approve of me either and that is why I was so viciously attacked by my own party. I did not worship at the throne of King Art and get his approval.

And then there is the lawsuit. What lawsuit, you ask? It seems that Art Pope and his siblings conveyed their interests from variety stores, Variety Wholesalers, Inc., to a trust. Art Pope's brother then married but passed away unexpectedly. Apparently the decedent's wife wants her share of the estate and also is seeking the deceased's share of the trust, which is worth approximately $50 million. I have not looked at the specifics of the case and cannot discuss the merits of it. However, I do know that the parties are fighting over a nice chunk of change and that both parties have money and are well represented, so this case will undoubtedly be appealed to the state Supreme Court, unless a settlement is reached. The suit was filed in 2004 and its now 2006. The Clerk of Court, who lost her bid for re-election, was put in place by Art Pope. She ruled in favor of Art Pope and the case is now in court. I have not received further information on it and do not know where the case stands procedurally.

Perhaps this is just conspiratorial nut/Pelican Brief type of speculation on my part. Perhaps there is at least a kernel of truth to it. I don’t know, but judging from all of the hostility and things that I witnessed, I have come to conclude that this man does seek power and control over this state and he wants it to be as he desires, not as we desire. If he does get control, he will become a petty tyrant. And that cannot be allowed to happen here or anywhere else.

Connie, would you mind sharing who was the author of that paranoid tripe? Art Pope controls the Fayetteville Observer and the Salisbury Post? I don't think so. Controls who runs for office? Right.

Trying to get Jim Black out of office? Horrors. But Black himself blames the Charlotte Observer. Maybe Art Pope controls the Observer, too.

Pope funds the John Locke Foundation? Good for him. The JLF has elevated the level of political discourage immensely in this state.

I don't know Art Pope. I don't recall ever meeting or speaking with him. But you need more than some anonymous rant to convince me he's some kind of sinister force at work in North Carolina.

Connie, would you mind sharing who was the author of that paranoid tripe?*Ed

My wife Doug. You remember her? Gosh you are getting like a mainstream establishment journalist, sorted like Ed calling her batshit crazy during the campaign.

Great book Doug, you should read it when it gets though the focus groups and the test markets comments like yours.

I am impress that you have not met Art, but how about John and the boys.

The JLF has elevated the level of political discourage immensely in this state.* Doug

I agree! In fact the State Republican Party has been elevated immensely and appears to be meeting in Phone Booths after it's purges by Art.

title & preface

PLAYING POKER
HOW I BLUFFED MY WAY THROUGH TWO POLITICAL CAMPAIGNS
AND ROCKED THE POLITICAL FOUNDATIONS OF NORTH CAROLINA

(C) 2006 - R. L. HUNTER, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
PREFACE

Early on in my political campaign, I was a guest on a radio show and
was asked by a caller named Teddy why I wanted to run for office and
participate in such a corrupt system. I confess that I really did
not have an answer at that time. However, I have given much thought
to this question throughout my campaigns.

I do not want to be part of a corrupt and broken system and that is
what we have in this country, whether it is on the local, state or
national level. We have a national senate that has become a
millionaires' club. We have sycophants from both sides of the aisle
who care nothing for us or what is in our best interests, but only
about what will keep them in power and what the special interests and lobbyists dictate. Not all individuals are of this ilk and I do
not mean to taint them. Unfortunately, such individuals are rare
and, if they are so fortunate as to attain office, they are often so
marginalized as to be rendered of no consequence.

So why would I or anyone else want to be a participant in such a
system? The short answer is that I don't. Like so many others, I
could simply abstain and not even bother to vote as my vote will not
really make a difference anyway. From one perspective, that is
true. Those who are in control have such immense power that there is
little that ordinary people can do to fight it. But every once in
awhile, one person makes it through or at the very least thwarts
those in power. I wanted to be the one that made it through. I
wanted to do my part to clean up my little corner of the world for
which I was responsible. And others throughout my career have
commented on my writing and research skills and my "fine analytical
mind" as one of my professors long ago opined. I wanted to put
these skills and talents to work where I felt they could be best
used. And I wanted to change the justice system.

A long time ago, I came across a cartoon that depicted attorneys
meeting their client for the first time. The client was in jail.
The lawyers asked him, "Just how much justice can you afford?" That
cartoon was telling.

We have one brand of justice for people like Dick Cheney, Rush
>Limbaugh or Patrick Kennedy. How many ordinary people like you or I
would have received the kind of special treatment that each of them
received? Its not only that kind of treatment. Some police
officers are little more than thugs with badges. When I was in
Pennsylvania, an individual stopped for a traffic violation ended up
dead. In Atlanta, the police killed an elderly woman. Last week, a
young man was shot through the head by police officers, even before
he opened the door. A few months’ ago, a motorist was allegedly
>dragged from his car and beaten merely because he did not park
right. A cook at a restaurant here was beaten up by off-duty police
officers. Another individual was killed by an off-duty officer
>because he tried to steal her car. The list can go on. I am not
sympathetic to those who commit crimes, but most of these people
received a sentence of death with no trial and often for relatively
trivial crimes. The ones who were only beaten were fortunate; at
least they were allowed to live.

And it is not just police officers. Some prosecutors are out of
>control. Because of the publicity, most people are familiar with
the antics of the district attorney in the Duke Rape case, Mike
Nifong. Other prosecutorial tricks are to pile on criminal charges
against a hapless defendant and abuse of the plea-bargaining system.
Its not about justice, its about winning and use of the
prosecutor’s office onto higher political office. Read “The Hunt
for Confederate Gold” to see how the federal prosecutor in that case
wanted to use the prosecution as a stepping stone to higher office.

And the problem is not limited to just the criminal justice system.
Its prevalent in the civil justice system too. I have heard far too
many stories of judges and/or lawyers being in cahoots with each
>other. Yes, some of these people are disgruntled litigants. Fifty
percent of the people who are in court must necessarily lose their
>case. But there is more than a kernel of truth to their story. It
is clear that justice for the most part has fled from the
courthouses. I wanted to change that and restore the concept of
justice to our legal system. I felt that I had to try.
It is hoped that this book will serve as a guide to others who, like
me, feel impelled to try and change the system we have for there are
few other alternatives. There are far too many of us and too few of
them. They cannot battle everyone at the same time. The only hope
that we have if we are to save what is left of our country is to
wrest control back. With this in mind, here then is my story.

Thanks, Connie. That explains it all.

Thanks, Connie. That explains it all.*Doug

No Big deal Doug! It appears that the big story in the Edwards camp is that the blogging program has broken down with the hiring of new blogging professionls who cuss in Atlanta airports with their laptops. So forget the Plantation story and the poor.

It is my understanding that one of the local bloggers beat everybody to the blogging story, including scooping Ed on the breaking news section at the Foxx network.

Is there a Doctor in the house?

Doug, if you don't mind my asking, do you choose to live in a smallish home for reasons of savings on upkeep, etc.?

I for one do not envy Edwards' home. Even if you paid an army of staff to maintain it, the sheer headache of knowing it's all there, all the time, slowly falling to bits around you...it's like a scene out of Citizen Kane, Kublai Khan's Xanadu and all the rest...

The comparison to the Taj is apt: built as a pleasure palace for Shah Jehan's favorite wife, she died and it became her tomb...but shortly after, as the shah built a companion tomb of black stone across the reflecting pool, his own son dethroned him and threw the former shah in prison, hauntingly nearby but never allowed to go into the Taj.

And while I don't think Edwards is fomenting class warfare, he does hit a nerve when one sees the obscenities of conspicuous consumption around...and now Edwards is treading the same waters. But voters probably like signs of material success in politicians, just as they like in movie stars.

Abe from the log cabin (also part myth) would be impossible to elect today.

We've been in the same house since 1984. Back then, my wife wasn't working full time so a small mortgage payment was necessary. Now that our kids are (finally) through college, we probably could upgrade, but we don't need as much room now. Whenever we move again, we might even downsize a bit -- for efficiency and for less maintenance. What in the world would you do with a mansion? Just think of the furnishings you'd need.

I wasn't aware that you needed to take a vow of poverty to be concerned about the poor. Nor did I realize that being concerned about the poor was the same as envy. Nor did I realize that a person advancing an anti-poverty campaign was essentially the equivalent of the Bolsheviks.

Learn something new every day.

John, you couldn't have learned those things from reading my column because I didn't write them.

You right about the down size our children are are no longer home. Heat,cool,tax, that is what half of our house amounts to.

You are on the same path as Warren Buffet, Doug. He also lives modestly. I agree, furnishing and maintaining such a monstrosity as Edwards built is more than enough to outpace whatever savings his CFL bulbs and solar panels, etc. could bring. Waste and conspicuous consumption have driven the "tribal leaders" since the dawn of civilization. Witness the extravagant traditional ritual of the potlatch in Tlingit, haida and other NW Native American clans.

The first time I visited the Biltmore House, when I was in my idealistic teens, I was kind of appalled at the degree of extravagance. Of course, in its day it employed a whole village of people and now it's an industry unto itself so it has served some useful purposes over the last 110 years or so. Maybe the Edwards estate will become a national treasure someday if he becomes president. But there's only a small chance of that.

Just running for president employs a small army, if not a whole village.

And, you know, it takes an army to raze a village.