James B. Longley Jr.
James Bernard Longley Jr. is an American politician from Maine. A Republican Party|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 [Maine gubernatorial election|1998] Republican nominee for Governor of Maine.
Biography
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.Early career
Before entering Congress, Longley served as a trial lawyer. He also managed several small businesses near Portland, Maine. In 1994 [United States House of Representatives elections#Maine|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."U.S. House of Representatives
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 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 [United States House of Representatives elections#Maine|1996], and was challenged by Former 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 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.