Recently on the N&O’s political blog, Under the Dome, Rob Christensen wrote a post titled “It's not just Art Pope bankrolling the Locke Foundation.” What’s noteworthy about this post is not necessarily the actual content (although it is interesting to see that the John Locke Foundation has many nefarious corporate backers in addition to Art Pope), but the framework from which the post comes from. Christensen starts off with the assumption that people know who Art Pope is and what his influence on the John Locke Foundation is. This is big because it’s an indicator that the discussion surrounding Art Pope and his influence has changed.

Now, as a prominent businessman and former NC House member, Pope has been on the radar for a while. Indeed, Christensen even has an “Art Pope” tag on his blog, but, before October, the conversation around Pope was piecemeal and circumstantial. Now, thanks to the efforts of websites like ArtPopeExposed.com and especially the fantastic write up about Art Pope in the New Yorker, the public is starting to really understand who he is and how he’s singlehandedly attempted to take over the political system here in North Carolina.

This is good news. Hopefully this knowledge will help deflate Art Pope’s influence in the coming 2012 election by exposing how his name is attached to several conservative think tanks like the John Locke Foundation and Civitas as well as political candidates themselves like Renee Ellmers, who he will undoubtedly be backing.