Jill Long Thompson

Infobox_Officeholder
name = Jill Long Thompson


office = Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development
term_start = 1995
term_end = 2001
predecessor =
successor = Thomas C. Dorr
president =
state2 = Indiana
district2 = 4^th
term_start2 = 1989
term_end2 = 1995
preceded2 = Dan Coats
succeeded2 = Mark Souder
date of birth = birth date and age|1952|07|15
place of birth = Warsaw, Indiana
date of death =
place of death =
spouse = Don Thompson
residence = Marshall County
profession = Teacher
religion = Christian
party = Democratic
website = http://www.hoosiersforjill.com|

Jill Lynette Long Thompson (July 15, 1952) is an American politician and educator. Born in Warsaw, Indiana, she was raised on a family farm outside of Larwill, Indiana, in Whitley County. She is the Democratic Party candidate in the Indiana gubernatorial election, 2008. She is the first woman in Indiana history to be nominated for governor by a major party. [ [http://hoosiersforjill.com/news/long_thompson_wins_democratic_primary_for_governor Jill 2008: Jill Long Thompson for Governor ] ] If elected she will be Indiana's first female governor.

She lives with her husband Don Thompson, a commercial airline pilot, in Marshall County on a farm near Argos, Ind, where they planted 2,000 trees in two days as a symbol of their love. [http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080924/NEWS0502/809240370]

Education

Long graduated from Columbia City Joint High School, in Columbia City, Indiana. Jill Long Thompson was the first in her family to graduate from college. She earned an M.B.A. (1978) and Ph.D (1984) in Business from Indiana University, and a B.S. in Business from Valparaiso University (1974).

Career

Educator

Between 1977 and 1980, Long was an assistant instructor and lecturer at Indiana University before being hired as an assistant professor Valparaiso University, where she worked between 1981 and 1988. She also served as an adjunct professor at Indiana University Purdue University Fort Wayne between 1987 and 1989. During the 2002–2003 academic year Long-Thompson was an adjunct faculty member at Manchester College in North Manchester, Indiana.

Politician

Her first elected office was as a member of the Valparaiso, Indiana, city council. She served in that post from 1984 to 1986. Long was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States Senate in 1986; two years later she was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the One Hundred-first United States Congress.

With the appointment of Dan Coats to the Senate in 1988, Long was elected as a Democrat in a special election to fill the vacancy. Long Thompson's first election to Congress in 1989 made national headlines because Indiana's 4th congressional district was considered a "safe" Republican seat once held by then Vice President Dan Quayle. Long Thompson, then known as Jill Long, easily won re-election in 1990 and 1992 despite being a top Republican target for defeat. She ran for reelection in 1994 but lost to Mark Souder as one of many Democrats to lose a seat in Congress as part of a Republican sweep that brought the Republican Party into majority status for the first time since 1952.

In 1995, Long was appointed by President Bill Clinton as Under Secretary for Rural Economic and Community Development at the United States Department of Agriculture, where she served until 2001 with the start of the George W. Bush administration. As Under Secretary of Agriculture for Rural Development, Long Thompson managed 7,000 employees and a $10 billion budget, which funded rural housing, cooperative, water/waste, and business programs. Among her accomplishments as Under Secretary were reforming the single-family loan program, helping create thousands of jobs in economically challenged communities, and improving the efficiency of the Department.

In 2002, she attempted a political comeback when she ran for the open congressional seat in the 2nd District, but lost 50%-46% to Chris Chocola.Fact|date=October 2008

Post-political career

Long served as a fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She most recently served as CEO and Senior Fellow at the National Center for Food and Agricultural Policy.

Indiana gubernatorial election, 2008

Thompson is in a tight race for governor with Mitch Daniels. [cite news | url=http://www.wsbt.com/news/local/30041899.html | title=Exclusive poll shows tight race for governor | publisher=WSBT-TV |date= September 29, 2008 | first= | last= | accessdate =2008-10-17] Thompson formally announced her gubernatorial candidacy on July 10, 2007. She defeated architect Jim Schellinger in the primary by 13,000 votes more than her opponent; both split the vote at 50%. On September 27, 2007, Emily's List endorsed her campaign. By February 25, 2008, the campaign had announced the endorsements of several leading labor unions including; United Steelworkers, United Transportation Union, Service Employees International Union, Communication Workers of America, and the Local #446 of Association of Federal, State, County and Municipal Employees.

Since entering the race for governor, she has made reforming state government, accountability and making larger investments in vocational education the focal points of her campaign. As a candidate, she has proposed campaign finance laws to prohibit businesses that are working with, or soliciting work from, state or local governments from donating to political campaigns while they are under contract and for two years following the conclusion of their work, and include regulations for lobbyists to report all expenditures, including meals, made to state government employees.

References

External links

* [http://hoosiersforjill.com Jill Long Thompson for Governor] official campaign website

Persondata
NAME=Thompson, Jill Lynette Long
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Long, Jill
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Member of the United States House of Representatives
DATE OF BIRTH=July 15 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH=Warsaw, Indiana
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=