James Bernard Longley, Sr. (April 22, 1924 – August 16, 1980) was an American politician. He served as the 69th Governor of Maine from 1975 to 1979, and was the first Independent to hold the office. In 1949, he married the former Helen Angela Walsh, who died on September 13, 2005. They had five children, including former Republican U.S. Representative James B. Longley, Jr. (born 1951). Longley, Sr., a graduate of Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, resided in Lewiston and Auburn, Maine.
The owner of a successful insurance agency in Lewiston, Longley got his first opportunity in statewide politics when then-Governor Kenneth M. Curtis asked him to lead a state government commission called The Maine Management and Cost Survey Commission, which was intended to make government more efficient, and cut costs. After some initial reluctance, Longley accepted the position and pursued the job with vigor.
Longley made several recommendations that were projected to save the state in excess of $24 million dollars. One of his major proposals included restructuring the Maine university system, which he felt was grossly inefficient. His work at the commission gave him a prominent state-wide profile, something he decided to try to turn into an electoral mandate when Governor Curtis retired in 1974.
Longley had been a lifelong Democrat, but due to earning a maverick reputation acting in a non-partisan role on the cost-cutting commission and because he inadvertently missed the filing deadline for party candidates in the gubernatorial election, he ran as an independent. Some Maine observers believed he knew he would be unable to beat both former Edmund Muskie adviser George J. Mitchell and state Senator Joseph E. Brennan in a Democratic primary, causing him not to file with the party. He ran on the slogan "Think About It," a phrase he often used with insurance customers to get them to consider his products.
Longley promised during his campaign that he would serve only one term, and he did not run for re-election in 1978.
Longley died of cancer on August 16, 1980, and was interred at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lewiston.
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