William Thomas Culpepper III (born January 23, 1947)[1] was a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly representing the state's second House district, including constituents in Chowan, Dare, Gates, Perquimans and Tyrrell counties.
Regarded as the greatest and most powerful Rules Chairman of all time, Culpepper will be remembered as the main architect of the co-speakership (James B.
Black and Richard T. Morgan) in 2003 and the driving force behind passage of the state's education lottery in 2005.
Culpepper resigned from the legislature in 2006 when he was appointed by Governor Mike Easley to North Carolina's Utilities Commission.
[2] A graduate of Hampden–Sydney College and Wake Forest University School of Law, Culpepper was a third generation member of the North Carolina House of Representatives.