As we close out 2024 there will be some folks who we will deeply miss. For me there is a special governor, senator, and congresswoman that quickly come to mind - Connecticut Governor Jodi Rell, Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman and my classmate at Yale, Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee.
First, Governor Jodi Rell. Jodi, as I knew her, was placed in an unusual predicament. At the time she was completing her ninth year as Lieutenant Governor of Connecticut. She had to succeed a governor who was forced to resign amidst acts that betrayed the public trust. It resulted in a plea deal that landed her predecessor in prison. She not only assumed the governorship, filling out his term, but she went on to regain the trust of the people of Connecticut in a manner that resulted in a landslide re-election in her own right.
As a Republican, she masterfully got Democrats and Republicans to come together often to pass meaningful legislation during her years in office (2004 - 2011).
The year 2006 also marked the last time a Republican won a statewide office in a state that has been a lock for Democrats ever since.
In fact, Connecticut's one-party grip on the state, I would argue, is why 40% of its residents feel serious financial pressures. Yes, once the perennially wealthiest state in the union now has some of the poorest cities in the country. It is a true picture of the haves and have nots with little hope of real change. That is because it has been run like a Democrat fraternity, much like the fortunes of other locations that Democrats have controlled over the decades.
When I served in Congress, New England had Republican members of the U.S. House of Representatives. For more than a decade they have had none. In fact in Connecticut we often had a split U.S. House delegation and prior to the 1990s had one Republican and one Democrat senator.
I would argue one-party monopolies do not serve the general public well.
In Connecticut there is a feeling of despair that I have never witnessed before in our inner cities. You have hospitals in distress and nursing homes for the poor closing. You also have Catholic inner-city schools that disproportionately serve Black and Hispanic children allowed to close their doors. Ironically, in many instances the local government has given the Catholic church money to purchase the building, enriching the Catholic Archdiocese in Hartford. It must also be noted that the Hartford Archdiocese over the years has paid millions of dollars in settlements involving priests molesting children.
From an election perspective, Connecticut is a state where the largest three or four cities can determine the fate of every Republican candidate. The state does not require a strict voter ID system and does not require a photo ID. During the 2020 (COVID) election the Secretary of State sent absentee ballots to all voters on the voting rolls only to get back over 200,000 absentee ballots as the people did not exist (or at least not at their former addresses).
Why is that important? It is the fundamental ingredient to "dead people" voting. I know, I have been there. I experienced it firsthand. Self-serving Democrats will make sure the practice continues. As a result, you have had extraordinarily little political competition for statewide positions and Congress. This is regrettable.
Rell was on a shortlist to be the running mate of Senator John McCain in 2008 as she quietly and quickly had earned the respect and admiration of national figures.
For a time, I was Jodi's congressman as she resided in Brookfield, Connecticut, where she served as a state representative. Little did she know that I was looking over my shoulder to see if she had any ambitions to run against me in a primary challenge. She always assured me that she had "other" plans. I was happy to hear that as she would have been hard to beat. In fact, I do not think she ever lost an election. She decided not to seek a second full term as governor in 2010.
She was always a friend and a staunch supporter of mine. When I took on a suicide mission of running for the U.S. Senate, she was quick to endorse me and welcome me to her office to offer encouragement and guidance. But Mother Theresa could not have gotten me over the top in that race.
Rell led the state with high competence, class, steadiness, and good ole fashion straight talk. That was Jodi. A true governor to be remembered.
This year we also lost Senator Joe Lieberman. In an earlier column I gave my tribute to this great American.
We also lost Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee, a Democratic Congresswoman from the great state of Texas. We were both members of the Congressional Black Caucus. But Sheila and I knew each other going back to the 1970s when we were both attending Yale University. She entered Yale a few years before me, and I entered Congress a few years before her.
When the CBC, a taxpayer funded "supposedly" bipartisan body, was voting to throw me out (as the only Black Republican) because of my conservative views, Jackson-Lee refused to participate in the circus-like act. She left before the vote, as did many members who were my friends, before the unanimous vote. Due to the extremely negative press, the CBC quickly "invited me" back in.
Years later, our friendship remained, largely due to our college connection.
When Sheila spoke everyone listened. In that she remained in the tradition of her predecessor, the dynamic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Sheila was a highly effective member of Congress who will be missed.
Thus, we say goodbye to leaders who displayed the courage and willingness to give so much to help so many. We thank God for their presence at critical times in our history.
And I am so proud, humbled, and honored that I could call them all my friends.
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