M. Jodi Rell
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| Jodi Rell | |
| Image:Mjodirell.gif | |
| | |
| July 1, 2004 – present | |
| Lieutenant Governor: | Kevin Sullivan (2004-present) Michael Fedele (elected) |
|---|---|
| Predecessor: | John G. Rowland |
| Successor: | Incumbent |
| Born: | June 16, 1946 Norfolk, Virginia |
| Political party: | Republican |
| Profession: | Legislator |
| Spouse: | Lou Rell |
| Religion: | Episcopalian |
Image:RellTakesOver.jpg M. Jodi Rell (born June 16, 1946) is a Republican politician who became the 87th Governor of the U.S. state of Connecticut on July 1, 2004. She had been the Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut until Governor John G. Rowland resigned during a corruption investigation. Rell is Connecticut's second female Governor.
Born Mary Carolyn Reavis<ref>FORMER ODU STUDENT NAMED CONN. GOVERNOR. (2004, June 22) Old Dominion University News</ref> in Norfolk, Virginia, Rell attended Old Dominion University, but left in 1967 to marry Lou Rell, a US Navy pilot. She moved to Brookfield, Connecticut in 1969 and later attended Western Connecticut State University. She received an honorary law doctorate from the University of Hartford in 2001.
In April 2006 she became a grandmother. Her 2006 campaign ads featured her with her grandson.
Rell served as a Connecticut State Representative for the 107th District in Brookfield from 1985 until 1995. She became Lieutenant Governor after the 1994 election and won reelection in 1998 and 2002. Becoming governor in 2004 after Rowland's resignation, Rell was elected to her own full term in 2006. She received approximately 710,000 votes, the highest total for any gubernatorial candidate in Connecticut history.<ref>CNN</ref>
Rell is married and has two grown children. In April 2006 she became a grandmother.
In her first months in office, Rell had enormous approval ratings, with a December '04 Quinnipiac University poll showing her at 80%, the highest rating ever for a governor in Connecticut. She announced in October 2005 she would seek a 4 year term in 2006, and was nominated by the Republican Party in May 2006 to seek a full term of her own. Stamford businessman and former state representative Michael Fedele was nominated as her running mate as Lieutenant Governor.
Rell handily defeated Democratic opponent, New Haven Mayor John DeStefano in the 2006 Connecticut Gubernatorial election<ref>With Defeat Very Clear, DeStefano Concedes Race (November 8, 2006) Hartford Courant</ref>. See also Connecticut gubernatorial election, 2006.
On December 27, 2004, Rell underwent treatment after discovering she was in the early stages of breast cancer. <ref>Rell has long history promoting Breast Cancer Awareness. (2004, Dec. 27) WTNH </ref>
Rell is considered a liberal Republican.
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[edit] Governor of Connecticut
On April 20, 2005. Rell signed into law a bill that made Connecticut the first state to adopt civil unions for same-sex couples without being directed to do so by a court. The law gives homosexual couples all of the 300+ rights, responsibilities, and privileges that the state gives to heterosexual couples, including the right to adopt children, awarding state income tax credits, inheritance rights, requiring employers to give equal insurance benefits as they would to heterosexual couples, and allowing homosexual partners to be considered next-of-kin when it comes to making medical decisions for incapacitated partners. The bill was amended to define marriage as "between a man and a woman" after Rell threatened a veto. Rell signed the bill despite some Republican opposition to it, including from the Chairman of the State Republicans at the time.
During Rell's administration, Connecticut carried out the first execution in New England since 1960 when serial killer Michael Ross was put to death on May 13, 2005. Rell, who is a supporter of the death penalty, declined a request by Ross's lawyers to delay the execution in order for the state legislature to debate eliminating the death penalty. Legally, the Governor of Connecticut cannot commute a death sentence. <ref> Rell Feels Pressure on Both Sides Over Execution (2004, Dec. 2) Associated Press</ref>
Rell supported the state's constitutional spending cap against pressure from groups favoring expanded state government to bypass the cap. As a result in late June 2006 the state reported a $910 million surplus for the prior year and the state's Rainy Day Fund exceeded $1 billion in deposits for the first time.
Rell supports a lawsuit in response to the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal filed the lawsuit against the US Department of Education to force Congress and President George W. Bush to amend the act because, Rell contends, it would compel Connecticut to spend tens of millions to meet impossibly high standards, even as the state's schools perform at one of the highest levels in the nation. The act requires states to pay for standardized testing every school year, instead of every 2 years. Rell's State Department of Education says the extra testing will provide little new information about students' academic progress.
In 2005, Rell signed into law a Democratic plan to revive the Connecticut estate tax, despite, again, the opposition from most Republicans. The tax only applies to estates worth $2 million or more. Critics say the tax will encourage wealthy citizens to leave and take their money with them. In 2006 Rell proposed the phase-out of her own tax, but the Democrat-controlled legislature ignored the proposal.
In 2005 Rell signed into law a campaign finance bill that banned contributions from lobbyists and would provide public financing for future campaigns. The law received support from Arizona Senator John McCain, who campaigned for Rell in Hartford on March 17, 2006.
In June 2006 Rell intervened with New London city officials, proposing that homeowners displaced by the Kelo v. New London court decision be deeded property so they may retain homes in the neighborhood. A settlement was reached with the homeowners on June 30, 2006. <ref> Rell: Deeds For Fort Trumbull Homeowners. (2006, June 2). Associated Press </ref>
Various Democratic state legislators have questioned Rell's Chief-of-Staff Lisa Moody regarding a December 2005 political fundraiser that Moody invited state commissioners to attend. A number of attendees settled their dispute with the State Election Enforcement Commission by paying fines. Moody was not charged with a violation this because Chief State's Attorney Christopher Morano said Moody was not considered a political appointee.<ref> http://www.wtnh.com/Global/story.asp?S=4601022</ref>
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| Preceded by: Eunice Groark | Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut 1995–2004 | Succeeded by: Kevin Sullivan |
| Preceded by: John G. Rowland | Governor of Connecticut 2004 – present | Incumbent |
| Governors of Connecticut <td style="vertical-align: middle; width: 1px" rowspan="2"> </td> |
|---|
| Trumbull Sr • M Griswold • Huntington • Wolcott • Trumbull Jr • Treadwall • R Griswold • Smith • Tomlinson • Peters • Edwards • Foot • Edwards • Ellsworth • Cleveland • RS Baldwin • Toucey • Bissell • Trumbull • Seymour • Pond • Dutton • Minor • Holley • Buckingham • Hawley • English • Jewell • English • Jewell • Ingersoll • Hubbard • Andrews • Bigelow • Waller • Harrison • P Lounsbury • Bulkeley • Morris • Coffin • Cooke • G Lounsbury • McLean • Chamberlain • Roberts • Woodruff • Lilley • Weeks • S. Baldwin • Holcomb • Lake • Templeton • Bingham • JH Trumbull • Cross • R Baldwin • Hurley • R Baldwin • Snow • McConaughy • Shannon • Bowles • Lodge • Ribicoff • Dempsey • Meskill • Grasso • O'Neill • Weicker • Rowland • Rell |
