Civitas was incorporated on March 9, 2005. Initial members of the board of directors included the first president of the organization, R. Jack Hawke; businessman Robert Luddy; and Art Pope, a businessman, political figure and philanthropist. Pope resigned from the Civitas board in December 2012 to serve as Deputy Budget Director in the administration of Governor Pat McCrory. The organization's name honors Art Pope's father, John William Pope, also a businessman and conservative philanthropist.
Activities and advocacy
In late 2012, Civitas commissioned a study on the effects of lowering or eliminating state income taxes. In July 2013, the legislature passed and the governor signed into law lower corporate and personal income tax rates. The organization has also called for elimination of North Carolina's state corporate income tax. A Civitas study of the State Board of Elections led Civitas to call on top state officials for an investigation of the board and its ties to a lobbyist. In 2013, Civitas launched a website to attack the Affordable Care Act, portraying the health care reform legislation as an assault by elites against middle-class North Carolinians. Civitas has repeatedly sued the State of North Carolina over the same-day voter registration process, which Civitas opposes. A suit filed by Civitas seeking to halt the final count of votes in the 2016 North Carolina gubernatorial election was dismissed in December 2016, but the organization subsequently renewed its litigation. Civitas commissions live-caller opinion polling of North Carolina voters. Civitas also advocates for increased school choice for students in North Carolina.
The Civitas Institute publishes a monthly newspaper, the Civitas Capitol Connection, an internet magazine, the Civitas Review and the Civitas Blog. The Civitas Institute has published a number of pieces online critical of the Moral Mondays protests. In one article, William Barber Rakes in Taxpayer Dollars Leads Moral Money Mondays! the Civitas Institute criticized Rev. William Barber, head of the state's NAACP, because a non-profit overseen by Barber's church received federal support. Barber responded, stating "People know I'm a volunteer, even with the NAACP. Other work I do, I volunteer. I am a pastor." The Civitas Institute also released a web page which compiles data on protestors arrested in the course of the civil disobedience actions, which includes demographic information and comments on their voter registration status.
