me_gov_CONNOLLY

(CBS) 


TOM CONNOLLY

Age: 41

Born: September 25, 1957; Boston, Massachusetts

Education: University of Maine, J.D. (1982); Bates College, B.A. (1979)

Military: None

Family: Married - Elaine; Three children

Hometown: Scarborough, Maine


Religion: Catholic

Career: Practicing attorney (1982-present)

• Connolly was born in Boston, Massachusetts at the same hospital where President John F. Kennedy was born 50 years earlier. Connolly grew up as part of an Irish Catholic family in Canton, Maine.

• He attended Bates College and graduated as Valedictorian of his class in 1979. He continued his education at the University of Maine School of Law.

• After graduating from law school in 1982, Connolly opened a private law practice in Scarborough, Maine. Thomas J. Connolly, Esquire, Attorney at Law, has been his home office ever since. During his legal career, Connolly has argued more than 50 cases in front of the Maine Supreme Court.

• One of his less successful but more publicized cases was defending Dennis Dechaine, a farmer who was convicted in 1989 of murdering a 12 year old babysitter. Dechaine is serving a life sentence in prison.

• Connolly has a reputation as one of MaineÂ's leading lawyers on the environment. He has been active in the ANo Tanks@ effort: an anti-natural gas tanks movement in Maine.

• Connolly was a delegate to the 1996 Democratic National Convention and has been a delegate to the Maine Democratic Convention since 1980.

• The 1998 campaign is ConnollyÂ's first bid for elective office. He trounced racetrack owner Joseph Ricci in the Democratic primary, taking 82% of the vote.