Rell Says She Left Politics at the'Top of Her Game'

After 25 years in politics, former Gov. M. Jodi Rell is pleased to be retired and settling into an easier routine back home in Brookfield.

She said people are already noticing she looks more relaxed. While shopping in Brookfield recently, a resident approached her, telling her just that.

At first she was taken aback. But residents have since explained to her that she looked worn down before and now seems rested and back to her old self.

Rell admits now those people are probably right. While she said she does truly miss the job, she’s ready to pull back from public life for now to be with her family, even if some members of that family may not be ready for it.

“There are some things I might like to do, some offers that are interesting,” Rell said of the next step in her life, though she does not expect to run for public office again.  “I’d love to be in the classroom,” but, she qualified, "nothing full-time.”

“I don’t have any interest in being involved” directly in politics, at the local or state level, she said, though she “will always be involved” in some capacity. “It’s time for new faces, new blood.”

For the time being, Rell, now 65, is enjoying finally getting to be a full-time grandmother.

“I see her a lot less now,” said her son, Michael Rell, who works for the House Republican Caucus in Hartford. “I see her less, but I also see more of her. I see her with my children and I see what she was like as a parent.”

Though he sees her once again as a mother and grandmother, Michael said he is regularly reminded of the achievements of his mother’s political life.

“Five/six times a week, someone asks me, ‘Can you just tell your mom to please run again?’” he said. “That makes me smile and realize that she really accomplished something.” 

Early Career

Rell began her career in 1985, succeeding retiring Republican State Rep. David Smith (R-107) and serving Brookfield and part of Bethel for five terms in the state legislature. In 1994, she joined then-Congressman John Rowland (CT-5) on the Republican ticket for governor and went on to serve as lieutenant governor into Rowland’s third term before he stepped down amid a corruption scandal.

Rell succeeded Rowland in July 2004 and won re-election in 2006, garnering nearly 710,000 votes, the highest total for any gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut history.

“We always knew she would be serving in some sort of capacity, either an elected position or serving on a school board or on the PTO,” Michael Rell said.

“In ’94, [Rowland] chose her for a reason and she said yes for a reason,” Michael said. “Not just to be lieutenant governor, but she was prepared to step up if necessary” and take the reins of the state.

“I remember when he and I sat down to coffee,” Jodi Rell said of when Rowland asked her to join the ticket. “He was the representative from the 5th District at the time and was really good for things I needed on veterans and the like,” giving her a strong respect for his office and his time in politics.

However, Rell laid down one important stipulation: “If you’re asking me because I’m a woman, don’t,” she told him.

“Opportunities in politics are often circumstantial,” said State Rep. David Scribner (R-107), who holds Rell’s former legislative seat. He added that if Rell hadn’t been asked to join Rowland on the ticket in 1994, “I don’t think anyone would have thought of Rep. Rell for governor.”

In Rell's case — serving 10 years as a state representative and nine years as lieutenant governor — she was well qualified to run the state, Scribner said.

Rell said she had considered running of her own accord in 2002 if Rowland had decided not to run for a third term.

“That was the closest I ever came” to considering an open run at the top seat in the state, she said.

Rell assumed the governorship in July 2004, after Rowland stepped down in the wake of an investigation that ultimately led him to plead guilty on charges of graft and corruption for abusing his position to garner favors.

She finished the term, and said "it was a toss up” as to whether she would run for a full term of her own. She remembered it was the advice from her son Michael that ultimately helped her make a final decision. “You should leave when you’re at the top of your game,” he told her. “And with this smirk on his face he turned around and said, ‘But you don’t know if you’re at the top of your game yet, do you?’”

Rell went on to win her full term in a landslide.

Time As Governor

Looking back on the story of her governorship, Rell said the biggest accomplishment from her perspective was the work done with the Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) Commission to stop the closure of the Groton submarine base in 2005.

“That was a big deal for the state,” for keeping jobs at the base and cultivating other business in the New London area, she said.

The former governor was also proud of the work that went into the construction of the Super 7 bypass in Brookfield, a project she began working on while a member of the state legislature.

As for the scandal surrounding her chief of staff and longtime friend, M. Lisa Moody, Rell said that she did not want to “rehash” the 2005 incident, in which Moody allegedly asked state commissioners to solicit campaign contributions at a fundraising event, contrary to state law.

“All that has been investigated, Lisa has been fined,” Rell said, adding that Moody is a very intelligent, articulate person who “served the state well and served me well.”

When speaking about failure during her term, Rell stated that she had wanted to remove the property tax on automobiles and “let the state take that tab,” however, with the economic climate at the time, the measure did not get far.

“The battles that I had were not fought against people,” she said, “They were against policies,” though often she found her positions “met with the folded-arm attitude.”

State Sen. Donald Williams, Jr. (D-29), who was a seated senator while Rell was lieutenant governor said that as lieutenant governor, Rell was “a major presence.”

As a governor, Rell had a very different style than Malloy has, Williams said.

Malloy has “much more of a hard-charging approach — much more involved in the management of government, pushing toward better performance,” in Williams’ assessment. “Gov. Rell was much more relaxed and informal.”

“You give a little and take a little,” Michael Rell said. “She realized that and understood it, but her Republican roots were never in question… Facing a Democratic majority in the legislature and in the general public, she always knew she had to work with both sides of the aisle.”

Advice for Current Administration

Malloy’s administration is “trying very hard to balance the budget,” Rell said. “But you can’t dangle numbers out there and say we expect to get $2 billion in savings — what if you don’t?”

Rell questioned certain parts of the budget, namely projected reductions in expenses that she considered unsubstantiated.

“It’s a dangerous precedent to have a budget, and have signed it, that’s not balanced,” she warned.

“If Gov. Rell had put out this budget,” she said, “They’d be ripping it apart.”

Rell remembered advice given to her in her early days as lieutenant governor by the late Dick Belden, a leader among Connecticut Republicans and a state representative from Shelton.

“Always do what’s right and follow the rules,” Belden told her. “You will never do anything wrong.”

Battle with Cancer

Less than six months after assuming the highest office in the state, Rell was diagnosed with breast cancer and was scheduled for a mastectomy 10 days before opening her first legislative session in January 2005.

“I had to give the opening session speech in January,” the first of her tenure as governor, only 10 days after surgery.

Rell promised the doctors the speech would be under 10 minutes, and while she went a little over, it was one of best, most memorable speeches of her career.

One line of the speech still resonates with Rell today on a personal level:

“Yes, it has been a difficult year for Connecticut, in so many ways. We have been tested and we have been tried, but we have prevailed. And we will continue to prevail, if we work together, with steadfastness of purpose and without the self-imposed shackles of convention and partisan politics. For this is our moment. This is our time.”

[Read the full text of the 2005 speech on the News Times.]

The former governor said that she likes to talk about her struggles with cancer.

“If somebody can read a story or see a comment I’ve made and they go and get checked,” then her willingness to speak can save lives, she said.

Rell recounted the story of a Brookfield volunteer firefighter who had seen a Valentine’s Day public service announcement featuring Rell telling husbands to “give your wife the best Valentine’s Day gift ever: bring her to the doctor.”

The firefighter did just that and though his wife was fine, she asked him to pass on a message: “Please tell Jodi I said 'thank you.'”