M. Jodi Rell, former CT Governor, dies at 78

M. Jodi Rell, a calm and reassuring deputy to the Republican leader who stabilized Connecticut after the corruption scandal that forced Gov. John G. Rowland to resign on July 1, 2004, died Wednesday. She was 78 years old.

She died in a Florida hospital after a short illness, her family announced on Thursday.

Rell took office as a little-known lieutenant governor, but immediately became the most popular politician in Connecticut, a status she enjoyed until she left office in January 2011.

Rell’s unusually long political honeymoon extended beyond finishing the final two years of Rowland’s third term and winning election to an independent term with 63% of the vote in 2006, a modern record.

She was a moderate Republican, a supporter of abortion rights, and served in the General Assembly when it voted to codify Roe v. Wade into state law. As governor, she signed a bill legalizing civil unions for same-sex couples, which led to a court case that ended in gay marriage.

She chose not to seek a second full term, leaving office as Connecticut grappled with a massive budget shortfall following the 2008 recession.

Rell was groundbreaking as the second woman governor and the first Republican. However, she presented a fatalistic view of her ascension and the role she would play.

“My mom had this expression, I’m sure all mothers have this: ‘You are wherever you are at any time for a reason,'” Rell said.

When her portrait was unveiled in 2013, she noted ironically that she was the second woman in the gallery.

“I have to tell you, I’m kind of glad I can help Ella fight some of these men,” Rell said, looking at the portraits of many of her 86 predecessors, all but one of whom were men. Her portrait will hang near the one exception, Ella T. Grasso.

During the ceremony, she was praised for her leadership during a difficult time.

“We all know she took over at a very difficult time,” said John McKinney, former Senate minority leader. “We all know that when she took over, the Connecticut people’s confidence in their government, in the governor’s office, was as low as it had ever been and as low as it could possibly be.”

Her legacy is not so much what she did, but how she did it, he said.

“She governed with class and character,” McKinney said. “This is Jodi Rell’s great legacy to me. We can’t do what we do, we can’t serve the people of Connecticut if they don’t trust and believe in the leaders of their government. She restored that trust.”

Rell expressed her concern about the state of politics.

“I miss some people, but I don’t miss politics,” Rell said.

Three days before his first Christmas as governor in 2004, Rell was diagnosed with breast cancer. Nine days after her mastectomy, she delivered the State of the Union address to a joint session of the General Assembly. The ovation was sincere, thunderous and lasting.

Rell negotiated with majority Democrats on ethics reforms in 2005, including public campaign financing, which she accepted only as a condition of other reforms, most notably a ban on campaign contributions by state contractors.

“I hated public funding. I hated this idea. But if we wanted to get other things, we had to give a little,” Rell said.

Her first few months were so perfect that one gleeful GOP operative called her the Republican Party’s Mary Poppins, virtually perfect in every way.

However, her administration and the state struggled as the economy stagnated and the estimated budget gap grew to more than $3.5 billion. Those seeking to succeed her were sharply critical, including members of her own party.

“It’s politics and I understand it. I understand that once I’m gone there will be more shots fired,” Rell told the Connecticut Mirror. “I think society understands that. I hope the press understands that.”

She found solace in the fact that Connecticut was one of 47 states in crisis.