M. Jodi Rell, Former CT Governor, Dead at 78

M. Jodi Rell, the calm and reassuring Republican second-in-command who strengthened Connecticut after a corruption scandal forced the resignation of Gov. John G. Rowland on July 1, 2004, died Wednesday. She was 78.

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

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

Rell’s extraordinarily long political honeymoon extended beyond completing the final two years of Rowland’s third term to winning election to a term of his own with 63% of the vote in 2006, a modern record.

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

She chose not to seek a second full term, leaving office as Connecticut struggled with a gaping budget deficit after the 2008 recession.

Rell was a trailblazer as only the second woman to serve as governor and the first Republican. But she offered a fatalistic view of her ascension and the role she would play.

“My mom used to have this expression, I’m sure all moms do: ‘You’re in any place at any time for a reason,'” Rell said.

When her portrait was unveiled in 2013, she wryly noted her status as the second woman in the gallery.

“I have to tell you, I’m kind of happy to help Ella take on some of these men,” Rell said, glancing at portraits of many of her 86 predecessors, all but one man. Her portrait will hang near the one exception, Ella T. Grasso.

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

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

Her legacy was less what she did than how she did it, he said.

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

Rell expressed his dismay at the state of politics.

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

Three days before her first Christmas as governor in 2004, Rell was diagnosed with breast cancer. Nine days after a mastectomy, she gave a State of the Union address to a joint meeting of the General Assembly. The applause was hearty, thunderous and sustained.

Rell negotiated ethics reforms with the Democratic majority in 2005, including public financing of campaigns, which she accepted only as a condition of other reforms, most notably a ban on campaign contributions from government contractors.

“I hated public funding. I hated the idea of it. But if we were going to get the other things, you had to give a little bit,” Rell said.

Her successor, Dannel P. Malloy, was the first statewide candidate to qualify for public funding in a statewide election.

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

But her administration and the state struggled as the economy stagnated and the estimated budget gap grew to more than $3.5 billion. Those vying to succeed her were sharply critical, including those in her own party.

“It’s politics, and I understand that. I understand that when I’m gone, there’s going to be more shootings,” Rell told the Connecticut Mirror shortly before leaving office. “I think the public understands that. And I hope the press understands.

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

“All states are currently suffering from the worst national recession we’ve had since the Great Depression,” Rell said. “And I think the public is realizing that it’s not the fault of any one individual. It’s not the fault of any one party. Frankly, I think it’s coming to the surface that we have to work, really work together if we’re going to address it.”

Rell’s husband, Lou Rell, a former Navy aviator and commercial airline pilot, died in 2014 at age 73. He was a booster of her career and encouraged her to run for the General Assembly from Brookfield, where they lived and raised two children.

Her survivors include her son, Michael, and daughter, Meredith, and several grandchildren. Funeral arrangements were incomplete.

Mary Carolyn Reavis Rell was born in Norfolk, Virginia, Jodi was a nickname.

She attended Old Dominion University, but left without graduating to marry Lou.

They eventually settled in Brookfield, a popular location for airline pilots based in New York. Her rise in politics was typical of women of her generation: she participated in local campaigns, stuffed envelopes and kept books.

In 1984, David Smith, an airline pilot who had represented Brookfield and neighboring Bethel in the General Assembly, told her he would not seek another term and it was her turn to run.

Rell immediately backed down.

“She said, ‘Absolutely not, I couldn’t do it,'” Smith recalled for a Northeast Magazine profile in late 2004.

Smith assured her she could do the job, and Lou Rell promised he could take time off during the busy weeks at the end of each session of the part-time General Assembly. Their son was 11, their daughter 14. Jodi Rell ran and won with 64% of the vote.

Her style as a legislator and governor can be that of a no-nonsense mother, the impression her inaugural address left on Meredith O’Connor, her daughter.

“I was moved, just the way she delivered it. ‘I’m taking over. I’m in charge.’ It reminded me of when I was 14, “Here’s the curfew,” O’Connor said in an interview for the profile. “She’s a mom first.”

Her approach to her cancer diagnosis was direct. Her tumor was small and had not spread. She could choose to have the tumor removed, followed by radiation and chemotherapy.

Rell opted for a mastectomy, which would not require the potentially debilitating follow-up.

“She treated it like a little blip on the radar screen,” O’Connor said.

At the end of his term, Rell cited campaign finance reform, saving the Groton submarine base, new rail cars for Metro North and a program to encourage stem cell research in Connecticut as memorable accomplishments. She did not mention the legalization of same-sex civil unions and, following a court decision, gay marriage.

On nearly all of these issues, she compromised with lawmakers. Her proposal to create a $10 million program to quickly fund stem cell research was considered too timid. The Legislature turned it into a 10-year, $100 million plan that Rell eventually accepted.

She was convinced that a one-year commitment would not attract any serious research proposals and that she needed to be bolder. Rell admitted that the 10-year plan was correct.

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M. Jodi Rell, Former CT Governor, Dead at 78

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