By John McNamara – NBPoliticus.com
Politics was always “local” to Nancy Wyman whether it was entering the fray to become a Tolland board of education member or running to become the first woman to win a state constitutional office that had been exclusively reserved for men since it was established in 1876.
Her successful statewide campaigns brought her here frequently and to just about every other town in Connecticut for all of the years I was New Britain’s Democratic Town Chairman.
On the stump Wyman personally connected with anyone she met at a rally or meeting, making you feel you were the most important person she was coming to town to meet that day. That partly explains the deep affection and sense of loss many Democrats expressed at her passing on August 12th. And as partisan and feisty as she was on the campaign trail in her high heels, Wyman was an old school public servant, knowing that when the campaign ended, the governing had to begin. Not surprisingly many messages of condolences came from Republicans across the aisle upon her death at age 80.
Wyman was elected four times as State Comptroller (the state’s fiscal watchdog) and was the first woman to do so when Republicans occupied the Governor’s office. In 2010, Wyman joined Dannel Malloy in a closely contested gubernatorial election that ended the Democrats’ long absence from the Governor’s office. Lieutenant Governor Wyman helped lead Connecticut with Governor Malloy through crises (Sandy Hook) and difficult fiscal years. The Malloy-Wyman team came to office inheriting a $6.7 billion deficit and confronting a decades-old unfunded pension problem. At one time Wyman presided over a State Senate divided evenly between Democrats and Republicans where her leadership skills were put to the test over the budget and other issues. On at least eight occasions serving as President of the Senate between 2011 and 2019, she broke ties amid partisan gridlock in support of marijuana decriminalization, retirement security, state employee concessions agreements and net neutrality.
Former Governor Malloy, now the Chancellor of the University of Maine system, told Channel 3’s Dennis House that Wyman “was probably one of the most popular politicians in the last 50 years in Connecticut.” Malloy, praising Wyman’s “kindness” toward others, said he and Wyman became allies over marriage equality issues before he asked her to join the 2010 ticket. He credited her experience gained as a legislator and comptroller in bringing expertise to the work of his administration with “an openness to hearing other people’s opinions.”
For once and future politicians Nancy Wyman set the highest of standards for how to campaign with passion and how to govern with fairness. She will be fondly remembered by New Britain Democrats.
Nancy Wyman Through the Years with New Britain Democrats
Photo Credits: Frank Gerratana
John McNamara is a Ward 4 Alderman and the Common Council Majority Leader.
