Public Invited to the State Capitol Tuesday to Pay Tribute to Former Governor Rell

By Lawrence Cook

December 2 @ 11:15 am

Members of the public can pay tribute to former Gov. M. Jodi Rell, who will lay in state at the Capitol in Hartford Tuesday, nearly a week after news of her death was met with statements of mourning from residents and officials across Connecticut.

Rell, who was 78, died in a Florida hospital on Nov. 20 following a brief illness. She will lay in state at the Connecticut State Capitol from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., when the public is invited to pay tribute. That will be followed by a 2:30 p.m. mass of Christian burial at the Cathedral of Saint Joseph, 140 Farmington Avenue in Hartford.

Following news of her death, Rell was remembered as a moderate and bipartisan Republican governor who worked with Democrats to pass various public policy issues and who helped Connecticut recover from the scandal of her predecessor, Republican Gov. John G. Rowland, who resigned from office in July 2004 as he faced an impeachment inquiry and a federal corruption investigation into his personal relationships with people doing business with the state.

In a statement last week, Senate President Pro Tempore Martin M. Looney and Senate Majority Leader Bob Duff recalled Rell as a “gracious, compassionate, and intelligent leader,” who guided Connecticut and reassured its citizens in the aftermath of Rowland’s corruption scandal.

“We always found her to be thoughtful, bipartisan, hardworking, and dedicated to improving the lives of Connecticut citizens,” Looney and Duff said. “We extend our sympathies to her family and friends and encourage them to take comfort in the shining legacy that she has left the people of Connecticut.”

Sen. Joan Hartley, a veteran Democrat from Waterbury, remembered serving with Rell when both were elected to the state House.

“Governor Rell, only the second woman to serve as governor, leaves behind a legacy of restoring public trust in government, a long list of accomplishments achieved through bipartisanship and pragmatism, and her unwavering dedication to the people of Connecticut,” Hartley said.

Several other Democratic legislators issued statements describing the former governor as a steady hand in a moment of turbulence and uncertainty in Connecticut history.

Sen. Matt Lesser, D-Middletown, pointed to many of the policies which Rell supported during her tenure as a public servant, including Connecticut’s successful public campaign financing system, a public health insurance option, and reforms of the Medicaid program.

“Governor Rell was charming, moderate and pragmatic – a Republican who raised taxes on the wealthy,” Lesser said. “She had personal integrity, and also knew how to say no to the loudest and angriest voices in her party in order to represent the needs of Connecticut.”

A private interment ceremony will occur at the Connecticut State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown on a date yet to be determined. Governor Rell will be buried alongside her husband Lou Rell, a veteran of the U.S. Navy, who died in March 2014.