Angus King

For the pro wrestler, see Glenn Jacobs.

Angus S. King, Jr
King in 2010
72nd Governor of Maine
In office January 5, 1995 – January 8, 2003
Preceded by	John R. McKernan, Jr.
Succeeded by	John E. Baldacci
Personal details
Born	March 31, 1944 (1944-03-31) Alexandria, Virginia
Political party	Independent
Spouse(s)	Mary Herman
Profession	Businessman
Religion	Episcopalian

Angus S. King, Jr. (born March 31, 1944) served two terms as the 72nd Governor of Maine from 1995 to 2003. Since 2004, King has been a distinguished lecturer at Bowdoin College teaching a course called "Leaders and Leadership"; in the fall of 2009, he also taught a similar course at Bates College. He also became employed at a law firm and a mergers and acquisitions advisory firm (Leaders LLC) in Portland, Maine. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College in the class of 1966, and the University of Virginia School of Law class of 1969. He currently works on issues of sustainable and renewable energy. In spring 2009 he endorsed the Maine Green Energy Project, a summer program for young people to learn to build and advocate for green energy in Maine.

Early life

King was born in Virginia but spent most of his adult years in the state of Maine. After early political experience as a legislative assistant to Senator William D. Hathaway, King entered private law practice in Brunswick, Maine. In the 1980s King served as Vice President of a company which developed alternative energy (hydro and biomass) projects in New England. In 1989 King founded Northeast Energy Management, Inc. The company developed, installed, and operated large-scale electrical energy conservation projects at commercial and industrial facilities throughout south-central Maine.

Election as Governor

Before being elected Governor, King was well-known statewide as a television host on public television in Maine and a successful businessman. King was first elected in 1994, defeating both Democratic former Governor Joseph Brennan and Republican Susan Collins.

The key to the King strategy was a large investment in television advertising during Maine's unusually early June primary, allowing him to emerge from the primary season on an equal footing with his partisan rivals. Collins, a protege of U.S. Senator and future Secretary of Defense William Cohen, was relatively unknown in Maine but benefited from a chaotic eight-candidate Republican primary by winning with fewer than a quarter of the votes. Brennan was in his fifth campaign for governor - two successful - and beat back three challengers in the Democratic primary.

King's election as an independent was not unprecedented in Maine politics, as independent James B. Longley had been elected twenty years prior. As governor, King's bipartisan ways proved extremely popular: in 1998, he was reelected with 59 percent of the vote to 19 percent for Republican Jim Longley Jr. (the son of the former governor) and 12 percent for Democrat Thomas Connolly. King was so popular, his reelection with 59 percent of the vote in 1998 was the highest since Democrat Joseph E. Brennan was reelected in 1982, with 62 percent of the vote. Brennan's reelection in 1982 was the last time before 1998 that a gubernatorial candidate was able to get a majority of the vote, and King's reelection in 1998 was the last time in a Maine gubernatorial election that the winner got a majority of the vote.

During his tenure, he was one of only two governors nationwide not affiliated with either of the two major parties, the other being Jesse Ventura of Minnesota.

Term as Governor

While in office, Governor King launched the Maine Learning Technology Initiative, or MLTI, to provide laptops for every public middle school student in the state of Maine, a first of its kind in the nation. It met with considerable resistance due to costs, but was enacted by the Maine Legislature. On September 5, 2002, the state began the program with a four-year, $37.2-million contract with Apple Computer to equip all seventh- and eighth-grade students and teachers in the state with laptops. "I think we're going to demonstrate the power of one-to-one computer access that's going to transform education," said Governor Angus King in a Wired Magazine interview. "The economic future will belong to the technologically adept." While ushering in the program, King quipped "We've still got fish but we're heavily into the chips," in reference to the State of Maine's fishing industry and the new laptop initiative.

One of the more controversial initiatives of Governor King was a law requiring all school employees, including volunteers, and contractors working in schools to be fingerprinted by the Maine State Police, and have background checks conducted on them. The program purported to protect children from abuse by potential predators working within the schools, but met with strong resistance from teachers' unions, who considered it a breach of civil liberties. Supporters of the law claimed the fingerprinting requirement would stop previous offenders from coming to Maine to work in the schools, and if Maine did not have this requirement, it would send a message to previous offenders that they could work in Maine without fear of being identified as a child abuser. Critics of the law maintained that there was no evidence of a problem with child abuse by school employees, and the fingerprinting represented a violation of constitutional guarantees (a claim which was not backed up by Supreme Court rulings on the issue). 57 teachers from across the state resigned in protest of the fingerprinting bill. The Maine Legislature voted to exempt current school employees, but this was vetoed by Gov. King in April 1997. The cost of the requirement was initially to be paid for by the school employees themselves, but the Legislature voted to have the state fund the costs of the measure.

Post-Governor

King in 2008.

The day after he left office in 2003, King, his wife, Mary Herman, and their two children – Ben, 14, and Molly, 10 – hit the road in a 40-foot motorhome to see America. Over the next six months, the family traveled 15,000 miles and visited 34 states before returning home in June 2003.

Based on his experience, King offered some advice. "Get on the road!" said King. "See the country. Do it with the kids. It was one of the greatest experiences I've ever had in my life."

Governor King is also involved in a wind power utility company, Independence Wind, co-founded with Robert Gardiner. In August 2009, Independence Wind along with joint venture partner Wagner Forest Management won Maine DEP approval for construction of a proposed $120-million, 22-turbine, utility-scale wind power project along a prominent mountain ridge in Roxbury, Maine.

Of the project King has said in part: ""However, the people who say wind is only an intermittent resource are looking for a one-shot solution. And my experience is that there are rarely silver bullets, but there is often silver buckshot. Wind is an adjunct source of energy. Ten percent, 20% can be very significant..." King is also interested in solar energy and in spring 2009 he endorsed the Maine Green Energy Project, a summer program for young people to learn to build and advocate for green energy in Maine.

Gov. King is currently a lecturer at both Bates College and Bowdoin College, where he teaches classes on leadership.

Presidential endorsements

According to the Portland Press Herald, King, who was a supporter of George W. Bush in 2000 (but endorsed John Kerry in 2004), endorsed Barack Obama in the 2008 Presidential election, stating that the Illinois Democrat "...leads with hope and not through fear."

Gubernatorial endorsement

King endorsed independent candidate Eliot Cutler in Maine's 2010 gubernatorial election. Cutler was narrowly defeated by Republican Paul LePage.

External links

• June 2006 Speech by Angus King on the Maine laptop program
• King family site documenting the motorhome trip. (retrieved September 13, 2006)

Political offices
Preceded by John R. McKernan, Jr.	Governor of Maine 1995–2003	Succeeded by John E. Baldacci