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I'm Mark Sudall. Welcome back to Power and Politics. Joe Lieberman was a force in politics both here and around the world. News 12 Connecticut's John Craven has a look back at the former senator's iconic life and career. Love him or hate him. Joe Lieberman, always had your attention, a fixture in Connecticut politics who came tantalizingly close to the vice presidency. Thank you. God bless you. Lieberman was Al Gore's running mate in 2000, America's first Jewish VP candidate. But it would never happen. CNN right now is moving our earlier declaration of Florida back to the too close to call column. After a disputed race that literally hung on hanging chads, the Supreme Court ultimately awarded the election to George W. Bush. The first moment I choked up was when we got. In the car at LaGuardia and somebody had the Stanford Advocate, he's coming home. Later Democrats soured on Lieberman over his fierce support of the Iraq War. I completely disagree with Senator Lieberman. In 2006, Lieberman ran as an independent after losing a Democratic primary to a political newcomer named Ned Lamont. He won the primary. I'm exercising my right to run. an independent Democrat, Lieberman alienated Democrats again in 2008, backing Republican John McCain for president. None of the Democratic candidates asked for my support, and John McCain did. Lieberman retired in 2013, but three years later, when Donald Trump fired FBI Director James Comey, Lieberman openly considered the job. Lieberman relished his maverick status till the end. I have never shied from a good fight, and I never will. Gary, what did Joe Lieberman mean to Connecticut and America? Well, you know, many of us grew up in politics here in Connecticut when Joe Lieberman was in office in, in some, you know, capacity, uh, you know, I remember Joe Lieberman, uh, my, my actually my first experience with Joe Lieberman was not necessarily with him but with a book he wrote entitled The Power Broker, which was, which was based on. John Bailey, you know, the, the legendary Democratic leader here in Connecticut, and then I remember Lieberman when he was a, uh, state senator. He was actually a majority leader of the of the state senate. Then, you know, from there he, uh he became an attorney general and was very aggressive and got a lot of press on the lawsuits that he was waging. And then on to the US Senate and, and of course he defeated, you know, Lowell Weicker to win that, that position, which really was a major um upset and that catapulted him really into stardom. And then of course, Joe Lieberman becomes a uh vice presidential running mate. So Joe Lieberman, though, you know, he was really one of the last of the real centrist Democrats though. And so I think that's, that's tremendously missed within that party. And we also had. Another politician we lost one of Connecticut's most popular politicians, died this year. Former Governor Jody Rell. Roll helped the state heal after a corruption scandal sent her predecessor John Rowland to prison. Seven years later, she left office with historically high approval ratings. John Craven looks back. You do solemnly swear Jody Ray was never supposed to become governor, at least not like this. In 2004, she stepped in after John Rowland resigned amid a corruption scandal. It's truly been an honor. It has, it's been my privilege to serve as governor. I never thought I would be governor of the state. Critics called Rell the accidental governor, but she cleaned up state government. She implemented things like the clean election laws. She Worked with really just making sure that government was something that the people could trust again. And after 7 years, Rell left office as one of Connecticut's most popular politicians. Jody Rell uh was someone that was universally liked and admired by people on both sides. of the aisle. That's one of the things I always try to talk to candidates about, and I think Jody was the perfect example of that. Rell was also a champion for gay rights when it was politically unpopular. She helped former state rep Joe Graybars pass the nation's first anti-discrimination law. Later, as governor, Rell made same-sex marriage legal. I am positive that she wanted to do it for personal reasons, and she expressed to me, um. How personal it was for her to do that. Raise your right hand. Wells's last public appearance was Governor Ned Lamont's first inauguration. The two remained close. She was a friend, was always there at our holiday party at the residence, always there to greet the young people as they came in and with a big smile as she left office, Rell had one word of advice for politicians Trust the people. They're very smart, and they will help you if you just. I said to my husband Gayle, how do you think Jody R should be remembered? I think she's gonna be remembered in a very good light. She came in during a really hard time for, you know, Connecticut residents given the scandal that she kind of walked into and had to help everybody heal from that. Not only that, but you know she was able to put the constituents above politics and party and a lot of times she signed things into law that she personally disagreed with, you know, the gay rights bill. Was one of them that allowed you know for unions between same sex couples um so I think that has a lot to do. I also think she's just very personable and the folks who have met her I think will remember that interaction. I remember the first time I met her, uh, she crouched right down and start talking to my kid about Legos because he was building a Lego set, right? So like she's that kind of person where she just she wants to know you and and that's I think uh something that we don't see a lot with politicians today. So I think she's gonna be remembered for that. All right, new state laws went into effect this year. Our analysts weigh in.

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Dozens of new state laws went into effect this year. One of them stemmed from school bus incidents in Bridgeport. Now municipalities can use cameras to detect and find drivers who will legally pass stop school buses. The fine is $250 and the money is used for public safety initiatives. The cameras can only record a vehicle's license plate, not the driver or its passengers. Gary, how important is this law to protect our children? I think it's a great. I was thrilled when I when I heard that this law had passed, you know, as one who has grandchildren actually and some in the school systems here in Connecticut, um, I, I was very happy that finally we can start, you know, clamping down on this because, quite honestly, Mark, I have noticed over the years a lot of reckless driving. Disrespectful driving of people out there on the streets, not just in cars, but on motorcycles today just coming here, so I saw a car weaving in and out of traffic and it just seems to be proliferating too. So quite frankly, having cameras on school buses now to, you know, to record these people who have no respect for a a school bus and quite frankly, no respect for children when they do that. I'm glad that they can actually be. Recorded and fined and quite frankly I don't think $250 is enough. I'd rather see it doubled to $500. I really would. So I think it's an excellent law and and I give the state legislature and Lamont a lot of credit for signing that because actually it's long overdue. It really is. Now Gail, early voting was certainly a big one this year. Yeah, about half of the ballots that were cast were done earlier absentee, majority early voting. Um, I think that you know when we utilize the new law, everybody really likes it, right? And so and I want to see down the road if that trend continues personally to see that increase in turnout, but the idea here is, is really that it's allowing voters to vote at a time and a and hopefully a location that's a little bit more convenient for them and therefore there might be more. Apt to vote if they can't get to the ballot box on our traditional Tuesday, which really is archaic because you know it was created back when we were you know in you know in agricultural society um and and scheduled around that so um I I'm glad we have it. The people wanted it it got implemented so we have no excuse absentee voting coming next, which really is kind of the the big early voting, um, couple that you wanna see. All right, Gail and Gary, thank you so much. Appreciate it. That's all our time. I'm Mark Sudall. Thanks for watching.

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Professor Gayle Alberda from Fairfield University and Professor Gary Rose join the show to break down the year in politics. 

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Power & Politics: 2024 year in review – biggest stories in Connecticut politics

Professor Gayle Alberda from Fairfield University and Professor Gary Rose join the show to break down the year in politics.

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