(RALEIGH) -- Major Republican donor Art Pope has been tapped to serve on the Golden LEAF Foundation board of directors. Pope, a Raleigh businessman and former state lawmaker, was appointed by Senate president Phil Berger, R-Rockingham. The decision didn’t require legislative approval.

The Golden LEAF Foundation provides grants to non-profits and government entities in tobacco-dependent regions of the state. Funding for the organization comes from half of the state’s annual share of the master tobacco settlement.  That translates to about $67 million a year, although the proposed budget would divert roughly $17.5 million to the General Fund.

According to an analysis from the left-leaning Institute for Southern Studies, Pope and his family gave large sums of money to key legislative campaigns and conservative groups that ran ads in districts targeted by Republicans.  Pope’s contributions went to Americans for Prosperity, Civitas Action and Real Jobs NC. He also gave money directly to 22 Republicans running for state House and Senate seats.

In addition, the Pope-backed Civitas Institute has produced several articles highly critical of the Golden LEAF Foundation.  A report published earlier this year described the organization as a “web of political cronies” that has a board with “a history of being packed with generous campaign contributors, partisan fundraisers, party operatives and even a close relative of [former Senate president] Marc Basnight.”

Civitas also released polls suggesting North Carolinians favored defunding Golden LEAF over a number of solutions that would help close the current budget shortfall. A 2009 Civitas report even called for dissolving Golden LEAF altogether.

Berger wasn’t immediately available for comment on this story. Spokesman Ray Martin said Berger approached Pope about the position, not the other way around. Martin also confirmed the appointment was made last week.

Update: Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt questioned Pope’s appointment. “It’s probably the largest pot of money – other than the state treasury – that anyone could have their hands on and obviously that’s where he wanted to sit,” said Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe. “He wanted to go where the money was.”

“I want to see that public money is used to serve the public, not politicians,” Pope later said when asked about Nesbitt’s comment.

Berger said his decision to appoint Pope “will lend a great deal more credibility to what the board does” and “help instill more confidence in the public.” Likewise, he said Pope’s appointment wasn’t a reward for political contributions.