A Connecticut legend, 77-year-old William O'Neill, died this afternoon.
O'Neill took office after the death of Gov. Ella Grasso, then won full terms in 1982 and 1986. He stepped down in 1990, but was active in political circles until illness slowed him this year.
Gov. Jodi Rell, who ordered flags at half staff in his honor, called O'Neill "one of the titans of Connecticut politics."
"No description of him would be complete without the words 'decency' and 'fairness' and he understood that government must take its lead from the people it serves," Rell said in a statement announcing O'Neill's death.
"He served our state in so many ways and was a friend and mentor to many of our current leaders," Rell said. "Governor O'Neill embodied public service, held it in the highest esteem and truly honored it. My thoughts and prayers go out to [O'Neill's wife] Nikki at this time of great loss."
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Contact Steve Collins at scollins@bristolpress.com
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Here's the Associated Press story:
HARTFORD, Conn.—William Atchison O'Neill, a two-term Democratic governor who frustrated allies and opponents alike with a willingness to buck public opinion, died Saturday afternoon at his home, Gov. M. Jodi Rell said. He was 77.
Rell said she was told by O'Neill's wife, Nikki, that the former governor died at his home in East Hampton. Jim Gaylord, a family friend answering the phone at the O'Neill home, declined to comment to The Associated Press Saturday night.
"Bill O'Neill was one of the titans of Connecticut politics," Rell said. "No description of him would be complete without the words 'decency' and 'fairness' and he understood that government must take its lead from the people it serves."
David McQuade, chief of staff in O'Neill's adminstration, said he last saw the former governor a couple months ago. He said O'Neill had been in poor health and shuttled back and forth between a nursing home and the hospital.
"Politically, his rise to power, I think, was because people underestimated him," McQuade said Saturday. "He was a man I considered to have native intelligence. He had a lot of wisdom about him."
The former governor reduced his public appearances in recent years and was seen at times with an oxygen tank. But he remained an influential figure in Connecticut politics, meeting privately with old staff members, his successors in the governor's office and political candidates.
"His legacy is in the people who are in government service today. He has encouraged a lot of people to run for run for the General Assembly," Secretary of the State Susan Bysiewicz, a fellow Democrat, once said.
State Democratic Party chairwoman Nancy DiNardo called O'Neill a great governor.
"I knew him first when he was party chairman and he certainly was a role model for me back then," she said.
O'Neill was the state's lieutenant governor when Gov. Ella T. Grasso resigned in ill health on Dec. 31, 1980. He was elected to full terms in 1982 and 1986 -- the last Democrat to hold Connecticut's highest office.
His 10 years, 10 days in office made him the longest-serving governor of the state in the 20th century.
O'Neill was fond of saying he would "do the right thing" and to hell with the polls. He decided against seeking a third term in 1990 after calling for nearly $1 billion in new and increased taxes -- a move he acknowledged was unpopular but said would not have kept him from winning re-election.
Rather, he said, it was the thought of a three-way race that turned him off.
A former tavern owner, O'Neill was elected to the state House of Representatives in 1966 and served six two-year terms -- the last four years as majority leader.
In 1975 Grasso made him chairman of the state Democratic Party, succeeding the legendary John M. Bailey, who died earlier that year. O'Neill headed the party until 1978, when Grasso tapped him to be her running mate in a bid for a second term. The pair were easily elected that fall.
An Air Force veteran from the Korean War, O'Neill never graduated from college. He frequently mangled the language -- saying "astigmatism" when he meant "stigma" and "abstinence" when he meant "absence" -- but that down-to-earth quality only seemed to help endear him to voters.
He told one reporter he preferred to be called Bill even after he became governor because, he said, "Bill is a common name and I consider myself a common man."
When a section of the Mianus River Bridge on Interstate 95 in Greenwich collapsed in June 1983, killing three people, O'Neill responded with a 10-year, $6.5 billion road and bridge repair plan. The same year, he raised taxes $250 million to fend off a state deficit.
O'Neill named the first woman chief justice of the state's Supreme Court and the first black justice on the high court.
O'Neill also appointed Clarine Nardi Riddle the state's first woman attorney general, replacing Joseph Lieberman in December 1988 when he was elected to the U.S. Senate.
In announcing his decision not to run in 1990, O'Neill said his years at the Capitol had been full of highs and lows.
"Never in my wildest imagination as a young man or a boy or as a matured adult did I expect to be governor of this state and at age 59 to be able to say I've done it all," O'Neill said.
During his years in office, the governor had a heart attack, heart bypass surgery and operations to remove colon polyps, one of which was cancerous.
O'Neill was hospitalized in December 1999 for pneumonia and bronchitis.
O'Neill got involved in politics in the 1950s after returning from the Korean War and was elected to the East Hampton Democratic Town Committee in 1954. He would spend the next 25 years as a member.
After two unsuccessful bids, he won a seat representing his hometown in the House in 1966 and served continuously in elective office until retiring in 1991.
As governor, O'Neill was criticized early for indecisiveness. His administrations suffered several scandals -- a number of his commissioners were arrested or otherwise forced from office -- but his own reputation was untouched and there was never any suggestion that he was involved in wrongdoing.
Despite his longtime affiliation with the Democratic party, O'Neill was able to forge friendships on both sides of the aisle and his down-to-earth style served him in all the offices he held.
After his retirement, he became close to former Republican Gov. John G. Rowland, who frequently called O'Neill an adviser and friend. When Rowland resigned amid a corruption scandal in 2004 and was sent to prison, O'Neill praised the three-term Republican as a good governor.
"I think he did the proper thing in resigning for many reasons, for himself and the people in the state of Connecticut," O'Neill said. "He's done a good job as governor, made mistakes like anybody else, and then he did some things he shouldn't have done."
In 1998, O'Neill was among the few Democrats who cautioned former U.S. Rep. Barbara B. Kennelly about challenging Rowland for governor. Kennelly, the daughter of John Bailey, was seen by many Democrats as a savior who could reclaim the state's top office after eight years in exile, but she never seemed comfortable with local issues and was defeated soundly.
Bysiewicz said she sought O'Neill's counsel when she was running for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. She later dropped out of the race.
"It's important, I think, for people who are interested in being governor or being elected governor to visit and get his advice," she said.
O'Neill has been married since 1962 to the former Natalie Scott Damon, known universally as Nikki.
Rell ordered state and U.S. flags flown at half-staff until the date of O'Neill's interment, which has not yet been determined.
Steve:
AS a Republican, I have to say that Bill O'Neill was one of the most honest politicans you will ever meet in politics.
He was a great man and he will be sorly missed.
Will there be a post burial party at his private cottage on Lake Pocotopaug, which the state built for him?
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