‘She loved people’: Nancy Wyman remembered as barrier-breaking Connecticut political pioneer

HARTFORD — The late Nancy Wyman, a former lieutenant governor and state comptroller, was remembered Tuesday as a gender pioneer, a mentor, a co-founder of the state's health insurance marketplace, and a good-humored, enthusiastic public policy expert who spread respect around the state, in high heels.

Former Gov. Dannel Malloy recalled her as a solid partner during their eight years together, culminating a public service career that started on the Tolland school board, the state House of Representatives from 1987 to 1995, then as the state's first female comptroller from 1995 to 2011 before joining Malloy, and later becoming state Democratic chairwoman.

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy said Connecticut's health exchange, Access Health CT, proved to other states where the Affordable Care Act was having trouble starting up, that they should continue to offer the public insurance coverage, which continues to function, despite attempts in Washington to kill and underfund it.

Wyman, a Brooklyn, New York native who died in August at 80, was honored during a 90-minute public remembrance in the atrium of the Legislative Office Building that brought together generations of Connecticut politicians and their policy staffers, along with her husband, Michael, and their family.

"If she were here, she'd be mad at us for making all this fuss," said Martin Heft, an undersecretary for the state Office of Policy and Management who was a trusted aide of Wyman's and hosted the event. "Or simply, she'd just forgive us for wanting to honor the life she lived and the legacy that she left."

Malloy, now the chancellor of the University of Maine System, called Wyman "an extraordinary friend" who had a gift of empathy that made it easy for her to listen to people's needs and try to help. "And Nancy was the type of person who would find the help necessary to aid that individual or that particular issue and make real progress with it," Malloy said. "I have said this before, that the administration relied on her expertise and her knowledge. After all, I was nothing more than a mayor before I became governor.

"Many of us in politics think about ourselves," Malloy told the gathering of about 100 people. "She did not. She had so many friends and so many issues that she wanted to make progress with that her days and her years were spectacular in how she was able to convince some of the people sitting before me to vote for things."

Gov. Ned Lamont recalled that back in 2006, when he defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in a Senate primary, then lost in the general election, supporters told him he had to meet Wyman in her suburban hometown of Tolland. "Small town, this lady with a bold Brooklyn accent met me. She said 'you can get the girl out of Brooklyn but you can't get Brooklyn out of the girl.'"

Lamont said Wyman's background as a X-ray technician might have given her an interest in the inner workings of government, preparing her for her 16 years as comptroller, in charge of providing healthcare for state employees and retirees.

"Nancy dedicated her entire life to the service of others," said Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz, calling Wyman a "treasured public servant and friend to all of us" and an inspiration to and supporter of women in politics. During the last two years of her stint as lieutenant governor, presiding over the state Senate with an 18-18 tie between Democrats and Republicans, Wyman, as the presiding Senate officer, broke deadlocked votes in favor of unionized state employee contracts and decriminalizing cannabis. She was also an advocate for the LGBTQ+ community, speakers said.

"She rolled out the Affordable Care Act and Access Health Connecticut at a time when the federal government was struggling with it, when other states were struggling," Bysiewicz recalled. "But she had a very smooth roll out and thousands and thousands of people got access to critical health care because of her."

"She loved people. For her, politics was all personal," said U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a former longtime state attorney general who recalled driving many miles to local Democratic events with Wyman. "All those issues: veterans, LGBTQ+, healthcare, she was fierce about those issues because they touched people's lives in a very basic way."

"Even after her passing, she still makes us feel good," said Murphy, who started in politics as a state representative, then the 5th District congressman. "I don't think you can overhype the difference that Nancy made to millions of people across this country who desperately needed healthcare and didn't have it for decades and decades." Murphy said Malloy had a lot to do in bringing the Affordable Care Act to Connecticut, too.

"I remember those days," Murphy said. "There were folks in Congress that were thinking of pulling the plug, thinking of giving up and then day after day, in Connecticut it's working. It's working It was working because of Nancy Wyman, who made sure, because of the mission she had been given by the governor, that Connecticut's exchange was going to work. Do you want to tell the story of why there are still millions of people in this country who have insurance? That story runs through Nancy Wyman."

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