James Collins "Jimmy" Green (February 24, 1921 – February 4, 2000) was a North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

 politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives

Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives

The Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives is the presiding officer of one of the houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The Speaker is elected by the members of the house when they convene for their regular session in January of each odd-numbered year...

 (1975–1976) and as Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina

The Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina is the second highest elected official in the U.S. state of North Carolina and is the only elected official to have powers in both the legislative and executive branches of state government...

 (1977–1985).

Political career

Green served in the North Carolina House of Representatives

North Carolina House of Representatives

The North Carolina House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House is a 120-member body led by a Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the President pro-tem in the state senate....

 from 1961 through 1976. He was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1976 after defeating Howard Nathaniel Lee

Howard Nathaniel Lee

Howard Nathaniel Lee is an American politician from the U.S. state of North Carolina.After earning a bachelor's degree from Fort Valley State College and a Master's in social work from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he accepted a position at Duke University in 1966.On May 6,...

 in a Democratic primary runoff. In 1980, after a change to the North Carolina Constitution

North Carolina Constitution

The Constitution of the State of North Carolina governs the structure and function of the state government of North Carolina, United States; it is the highest legal document for the state and subjugates North Carolina law...

, Green became the first Lt. Governor elected to a second term. He defeated fellow former House Speaker Carl J. Stewart, Jr.

Carl J. Stewart, Jr.

Carl J. Stewart, Jr. is a North Carolina politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives for two terms between 1977 and 1980. He broke tradition by seeking a second term as Speaker, and since then, it has been customary for speakers to serve multiple terms.Stewart...

 in the 1980 Democratic primary, and then went on to defeat Republican Bill Cobey

Bill Cobey

William Wilfred Cobey, Jr. is a former one-term Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from North Carolina....

 in the general election.

Green was charged in 1983 with accepting a bribe from an undercover

Undercover

Being undercover is disguising one's own identity or using an assumed identity for the purposes of gaining the trust of an individual or organization to learn secret information or to gain the trust of targeted individuals in order to gain information or evidence...

 FBI agent, but he was acquitted. The next year, he ran for Governor of North Carolina

Governor of North Carolina

The Governor of North Carolina is the chief executive of the State of North Carolina, one of the U.S. states. The current governor is Bev Perdue, North Carolina's first female governor.-Powers:...

 but finished fifth in the Democratic primary behind Rufus Edmisten. Green then threw his support to the Republican nominee, Jim Martin

James G. Martin

James Grubbs "Jim" Martin is the 70th Governor of the state of North Carolina. He served from 1985 to 1993. He was the second Republican elected to the office after Reconstruction, and the fifth overall. He is also the only Republican to serve two full terms as governor.-Early Life &...

, giving him critical backing among conservative Democrats in eastern North Carolina. Martin went on to win the election.

Later life and death

He was convicted of income tax fraud in 1997 and was sentenced to 33 months of house arrest. The scandal was in connection with a multimillion-dollar tobacco fraud scheme.

He died in Bladen County hospital at Elizabethtown, North Carolina

Elizabethtown, North Carolina

Elizabethtown is a town in Bladen County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 3,698 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bladen County.-Geography:Elizabethtown is located at ....

 on February 4, 2000.

External links

• Mention at The Political Graveyard