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James Bernard Longley Jr. (born July 7, 1951) is an American politician from Maine. A Republican, he served one term in the United States House of Representatives representing Maine's 1st district from 1995 to 1997, and was the 1998 Republican nominee for Governor of Maine.
Jim Longley | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maine's 1st district | |
| In office January 3, 1995 – January 3, 1997 | |
| Preceded by | Tom Andrews |
| Succeeded by | Tom Allen |
| Personal details | |
| Born | James Bernard Longley Jr. July 7, 1951 Lewiston, Maine, U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
| Education | College of the Holy Cross (BA) University of Maine, Portland |
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Longley was born in Lewiston, Maine, the son of former Independent Governor Jim Longley Sr. and his wife, Helen. Longley attended Phillips Andover Academy. He received his B.A. from the College of the Holy Cross, and then returned to study law at the University of Maine. He is also a veteran of the United States Marine Corps.[1]
Early career
Before entering Congress, Longley served as a trial lawyer. He also managed several small businesses near Portland, Maine. In 1994, when Democratic Congressman Thomas Andrews opted to not seek re-election in the 1st District to instead unsuccessfully run for the United States Senate seat being vacated by Democrat George J. Mitchell, Longley ran to succeed him. He faced State Senate President Dennis L. Dutremble, the Democratic nominee, in the general election. Though the Portland-based district had long favored Democratic candidates, Longley narrowly defeated Dutremble as part of the "Republican Revolution."
Congressional career
In one of his first actions in Congress, he offered testimony before a Congressional committee considering a minimum wage increase. In his testimony he presented the concept of cutting taxes paid by minimum wage workers to provide a greater increase in their take home pay. He pointed out that minimum wage increases cause small businesses to not only pay more in wages (hurting the businesses and forcing them in some cases to cut jobs and reduce their workforce to make up for wage increases) but that cutting the payroll taxes would actually increase the employees take home pay by a larger amount than raising the overall minimum wage. Longley noted in his testimony that minimum wage increases cause businesses, as well as employees, to pay more in federal taxes through employee percentage withholding and the business match of payroll taxes. He then accused the Democrats on the committee of only seeking a minimum wage increase to increase tax revenues for the federal government – a backdoor tax increase on American small business, he claimed. Democrats on the committee accused him of wanting to harm his constituents, led by a rant from Congressman Pete Stark, who was gaveled down by the Chairman for being out of order after Stark made reference to how they would use the issue against him in the next election. Longley's idea did not succeed.
He quickly became a prime target of the Democratic Party in 1996, and was challenged by Portland Mayor Tom Allen. In the race labor unions and left leaning groups spent millions of dollars in a coordinated effort to defeat him. It was the largest effort of its kind on behalf of a Democratic candidate (or in opposition to an incumbent Republican) within the nation during the 1996 election cycle. Of course, smaller, but similar, sums were spent by business and professional organizations, and right-leaning special interest groups, in a coordinated effort to defend the seat. Longley lost to Allen by a wide margin, and is the last Republican to have represented Maine's 1st congressional district.
Campaign for governor
In 1998, Longley ran for Governor of Maine. He won the Republican primary against State Representative Henry L. Joy and faced incumbent Governor Angus King, an independent, in the general election, along with attorney Thomas J. Connolly, the Democratic nominee. Longley came in second place and received 19% of the vote.
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