Voting Station

Ella Grasso

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U.S. Governor

The Resume

    (May 10, 1919-February 5, 1981)
    Born in Windsor Locks, Connecticut
    Birth name was Ella Rosa Giovanna Oliva Tambussi
    Congressional Representative from Connecticut's 6th District (1971-75)
    Governor of Connecticut (1975-80)
    Posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom (1984)

Why she might be annoying:

    She had three middle names.
    She was a speechwriter for the Connecticut Democratic Party (1943), joined the Republican Party a year later, then after eight years switched back to the Democrats (1952).
    As governor, she ticked off the state's municipal leaders when she cut the amount of federal revenue sharing funds that the state would forward to cities from the $25 million promised during her campaign to $6 million.

Why she might not be annoying:

    She was fluent in Italian. (Her parents were immigrants from Genoa.)
    Starting with her campaign for the Connecticut General Assembly (1952), she never lost an election.
    She was the first woman elected governor of a state without having been married to a previous governor. (Or as she put it: 'The first lady governor who was not a governor's first lady.')
    She reimbursed the state treasury for a $7,000 raise that she could not legally refuse.
    She was widely praised for her leadership during the Blizzard of '78, when she walked a mile through deep snow to reach the command center at the State Armory and stayed at her post round the clock for the three days of the worst of the crisis.

Credit: C. Fishel


Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

Year In Review:

    In 2023, Out of 1 Votes: 100% Annoying
    In 2022, Out of 4 Votes: 75.00% Annoying
    In 2021, Out of 8 Votes: 87.50% Annoying