James C. Green

Jimmy Green
Jimmy Green
	Green circa 1971
28th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina
	In office; January 8, 1977 – January 5, 1985
Governor	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Preceded by	James B. Hunt, Jr.
Succeeded by	Robert B. Jordan, III
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives
	In office; 1961–1976
136th Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives
	In office; 1975–1976
Preceded by	James E. Ramsey
Succeeded by	Carl J. Stewart, Jr.
Personal details
Born	James Collins Green; February 24, 1921; Halifax County, Virginia
Died	February 4, 2000 (aged 78); Elizabethtown, North Carolina
Resting place	Clarkton Cemetery, Clarkton, North Carolina
Nationality	American
Political party	Democratic

James Collins "Jimmy" Green (February 24, 1921 – February 4, 2000)^[1] was an American politician who served as Speaker of the North Carolina House of Representatives (1975–1976) and as the 28th Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina (1977–1985).

Political career

Green served in the North Carolina House of Representatives from 1961 through 1976.^{[citation needed]} He was elected lieutenant governor in 1976 after defeating Howard Nathaniel Lee in a Democratic primary runoff.^{[citation needed]} He was sworn in on January 8, 1977.^[2]^[3] In 1980, after a change to the Constitution of North Carolina, Green became the first lieutenant governor elected to a second term. He defeated fellow former House Speaker Carl J. Stewart, Jr. in the 1980 Democratic primary, and then went on to defeat Republican Bill Cobey in the general election.^{[citation needed]}

Green was charged in 1983 with accepting a bribe from an undercover FBI agent, but he was acquitted. The next year, he ran for Governor of North Carolina but finished fifth in the Democratic primary behind Rufus Edmisten. Green then threw his support to the Republican nominee, Jim Martin, giving him critical backing among conservative Democrats in eastern North Carolina. Martin went on to win the election.^[4]

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.^[5]

He died in Bladen County hospital at Elizabethtown, North Carolina on February 4, 2000.^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Who's who in the South and Southwest - Google Books.
^ Stewart, Elizabeth (January 13, 1977). "Inauguration a Chilling Experience". King's Mountain Mirror-Herald. Vol. 88, no. 4. p. 2B.
^ Blue, Cliff (January 13, 1977). "People & Issues : Jim Green". The News-Journal. p. 2.
^ Political grudges are nothing new, Carolina Journal Online, John Hood, 11 October 2013. Retrieved 17 April 2014.
^ "Before Black". The News Observer. Archived from the original on March 5, 2016. Retrieved October 3, 2008.