Art Pope versus Richard Morgan - Chapter One - Three Friends

I’ve known Richard Morgan just a little longer – almost thirty-two years – than I’ve known Representative Robert Grady and former Representative Art Pope. Richard, Robert and Art all served together in the State House, and in the beginning they were friends. Now these friends are at one another’s throats and, today, Art Pope is moving heaven and earth to defeat Robert Grady and Richard Morgan in their primaries.

What happened?

When I first met Richard Morgan he couldn’t have been more than twenty- two years old. I met Robert Grady a year later when the Congressional Club was building Ronald Reagan’s first campaign for President in North Carolina. Robert had been Jesse Helms’ County Chairman in Chapel Hill – while Robert was still a student at UNC – and in 1976 he was Reagan’s Co-Chairman in Onslow County. I met Art Pope – I believe in 1983 – through his father, John. Art had just finished law-school and I think I talked to him about working in Senator Helm’s campaign against Jim Hunt. Instead, Art decided to work with his old friend Jack Hawke – who later became State Republican Party Chairman – in Governor Jim Martin’s campaign.

I don’t believe I’ve ever had a cross word with Art Pope or Robert Grady. They’re both unusually easy-going, soft-spoken and, generally, they’ll go out of their way to avoid a fight. Richard’s a little different. Richard can be charming, but Richard’s also got a little bit of porcupine in him. There’ve been years when we gotten along fine and there’ve been years when we didn’t get along at all.

Over the last two months, leading up to today’s election, Art has helped fund a bitter, bare knuckled political fight to defeat Morgan and Grady. About the kindest thing the ‘527’ group Art is supporting has said about Richard Morgan and Robert Grady in its mailings are…well, that they are really Democrats. Which is a pretty slanderous thing to call someone when they’re running in a Republican primary.

Not that Art is the only one throwing punches. Richard is throwing his share too. His latest is to accuse Art of breaking state law by spending corporate money to defeat him. Richard says he wants the Board of Elections to investigate his former friend Art Pope…just like it did Jim Black.

Robert Grady tried to explain it all to a local newspaper this way. He said it was like a messy divorce, that he’d done his best to get along with everyone but that just wasn’t possible.

How did all this happen?

To be continued tomorrow…Chapter 2 – “Roots of a Holy War”

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