Rell: Malloy “lies”

Then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell, left, and then-Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy discuss a 2006 fire that destroyed numerous businesses in the city's South End.  Andrew Sullivan/Staff photo

Then-Gov. M. Jodi Rell, left, and then-Stamford Mayor Dannel Malloy discuss a 2006 fire that destroyed numerous businesses in the city’s South End. Andrew Sullivan/Staff photo

She was the last Republican to win a statewide election in Connecticut.

Eight years later, former Gov. M. Jodi Rell may have accidentally thrust herself back into the cauldron as an unlikely messenger for the GOP.

Rell, who has shied away from playing armchair general since leaving office, broke her silence Wednesday night on the stewardship of the state under her successor, Democrat Dannel P. Malloy.

The honoree at a Waterbury Republican Town Committee dinner, Rell didn’t pull any punches either, calling Malloy’s claims that he inherited a $3.6 billion deficit from her when he took office in 2011 “lies.”

“I’ve never seen Jodi that pissed off,” said a Republican who was in the room for Rell’s speech and asked not to be identified. “She was on fire.”

Rell blamed the aforementioned deficit on the Democratic-controlled Legislature, saying that she didn’t sign the budget that went into effect in 2009.

“She said she’s mad and that Malloy keeps blaming his predecessors,” the same audience member told Hearst Connecticut Media.

A request for comment was left Thursday for Rell at her home in Brookfield, as well as for Malloy’s re-election campaign.

Rell’s indictment of Malloy received rave reviews from the partisan audience.

“There was clearly a buzz in the room,” said Jason Van Stone, chairman of the Waterbury RTC. “She said a lot things that a lot of the room was feeling that, frankly, most of Connecticut is feeling.”

Rell is also said to have mocked Malloy’s preference to be called Dan as opposed to Dannel, which she characterized as political.

Witness to Rell’s candid remarks was Linda McMahon, the professional wrestling matriarch who spent $100 million of her personal fortune on two unsuccessful bids for the U.S. Senate.

McMahon was accompanied by a handler to the dinner, who is said to have video footage of Rell’s lambaste of Malloy.

There is said to be growing pressure in GOP circles for that video to be released and for Rell to own her blistering remarks.

Van Stone said there is an appetite for Rell to reprise her message.

“I think she articulated a feeling that is rampant in the Republican Party and is present in unaffiliated voters and even some Democrats,” Van Stone said.

Neil Vigdor