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A Lieutenant Governor
Who’s Been There

Posted March 12, 2008 By ALAN GREENBLATT

"You never think it's going to be you."

If anyone understands how New York Lt. Gov. David A. Paterson feels, it's M. Jodi Rell. Rell was serving as lieutenant governor in neighboring Connecticut back in 2004 when Gov. John Rowland decided to "pull the plug" on his career, as he put it, finally stepping down in response to corruption charges.

Jodi Rell
Gov. Rell after her 2007 inaugural

Paterson is "probably shaking in his boots," Rell said in a phone interview. "You are the lieutenant governor and you're supposed to be prepared, but you're always shocked and saddened when these things happen," she said. "You never think it's going to be you."

In contrast to the usual months of transition following an election, Rell had only 10 days to prepare to take the reins. Despite that narrow timeframe, Rell decided that some sort of modest inaugural celebration was in order to signal the beginning of a new era.

She held an open house, meeting and greeting anyone who cared to meet the governor. She recalled one woman complimenting her on the fact that she had kicked her shoes off, because it signaled that she was going to be "a normal person."

More substantively, she hired an ethics czar and put the head of the Department of Public Works to work finding ways to change the state's contracting culture that had gotten Rowland and others into trouble. She ultimately moved on more than a hundred recommendations.

Over time, she also worked with the legislature to pass a sweeping campaign-finance law that advocates consider the strongest in the country. "What we did showed that we were not only different," Rell recalled, "but that we were changing the culture."

Rell, who easily won election to a full term of her own in 2006, said that Paterson, or any lieutenant governor taking charge, has to assuage the staff of the governor, who will be nervous about losing their jobs.