HARTFORD, Kon. – M. Jodi Rell, who became Connecticut’s second female governor when John Rowland resigned midterm a corruption scandalhas died. She was 78.
Rell died Wednesday after a brief illness at a Florida hospital, her family said in a statement released Thursday morning. Her husband died of cancer in 2014.
Rell, a Republican, was and served as Connecticut’s 87th governor from 2004 to 2011. Known for her candor and compassion — she called people personally when they were in tough times — Rell took on the state’s top job during a challenging period for the state. Her former running mate, Rowland, was under federal investigation and facing impeachment at the time.
Flags in Connecticut lowered to half-staff
Bob Child / AP
Gov. Ned Lamont ordered flags flown at half-staff in Rell’s honor.
“Governor Rell represented the very best of Connecticut values, expanding health care and child care and making Connecticut one of the first states in the country to recognize same-sex relationships. She became governor almost reluctantly and at a time of great unrest, and she used her newfound authority to bring stability to the state government in a way that was desperately needed at the time, with an emphasis on strengthening state ethics laws and restoring the confidence of the residents of our state. Her leadership style was in no way contrived or manipulated,” Lamont said in a statement about X.
In an interview with The Associated Press in 2010, as Rell prepared to leave office, she pointed to her early efforts to “restore the honor of the state of Connecticut” as one of her most significant achievements.
“Our state has been through so much. And what we really needed to do, what we needed at the time, was to go further, to make our residents proud of our state government again,” Rell said, adding how her administration worked. to reform state campaign finance laws, impose standards for state contracting and overhaul the state ethics commission.
Rell served as lieutenant governor for 10 years and as a member of the House of Representatives for 10 years, representing Brookfield and Bethel. Rell won the 2006 election after ending Rowland’s term.
