Word: ella
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...tough, deal-cutting, back-slapping politician, and at the same time a warm, disarmingly rumpled matron. During her 28 years in public life, Connecticut's Ella Grasso never lost an election. In an era when feminism was just beginning to dawn in the male preserve of politics, she became the first U.S. woman Governor ever elected in her own right (a few others followed their husbands). Admirers talked about Grasso as a future Vice President or Cabinet member, but she preferred Hartford to Washington. She kept a sign in her living room: BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED...
...Neill will finish the two years left in her term. He is expected to continue Grasso policies, including a commitment to avoid levying a state income tax. He is known more for skills at behind-the-scenes compromise than for the high-profile leadership of his predecessor. Ella Grasso, Connecticut's favorite daughter, will be a hard act to follow...
Born in the mill town of Windsor Locks just outside Hartford, Ella Tambussi was the only child of Italian immigrants. She won a scholarship to the elite Chaffee School, and her father worked 14-hour shifts in a bakery to pay for her books. Another scholarship took her to Massachusetts' Mount Holyoke College, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1940. After earning a master's degree in economics and sociology, she became a protégée of John Bailey, longtime boss of the Connecticut Democratic organization...
...virtually paralyzed by a blizzard. Grasso promptly set up a command post in the state armory and directed around-the-clock emergency operations. When she flew by helicopter to a remote part of the state, there below her, tramped out in large letters in the snow, was a message: ELLA HELP. As the economy picked up in the spring, so did Grasso's popularity. On Election Day 1978, she won more than 75% of the state's 169 towns. Her legacy, however, is not just accessible government and a balanced budget. As her husband once said, "Ella...
...DIED. Ella Grasso, 61, effective Connecticut politician, first woman to govern a state who did not succeed her husband; of cancer; in Hartford (see NATION...