Gov. M. Jodi Rell is one of the most popular governors in Connecticut history, but state historians will likely not judge her administration so kindly.

The Republican governor's tenure is ending, her successor set to be sworn-in within a couple of weeks. With the budget disaster he inherits, and the tough and likely unpopular decisions that he must make, it is hard to imagine the incoming governor, Democrat Dan Malloy, maintaining the persistent approval ratings north of 70 percent that were a hallmark of the Rell years.

It remains puzzling why, when the state faced a fiscal crisis, Gov. Rell refused to cash in her ample political capital. Even after deciding not to seek re-election, her administration remained unwilling to take a hard-nosed stand in negotiations with the Democratic leadership in the legislature.

The governor could have demanded a much tougher deal with state labor unions and taken steps to address the growing gap between pension obligations and available funding. Instead of allowing a flawed budget to pass into law without her signature, Gov. Rell could have stood tough and demanded genuine spending cuts and a truly balanced budget.

Gov. Rell contends such criticism is unfair, arguing that she fought the tough fight to keep spending under control, but had to deal with large Democratic majorities in the House and Senate. She argues the $800 million in savings from the labor deal was a remarkable achievement. But the $3.5 billion deficit facing the next governor is testimony she did not push the legislature hard enough and that the labor deal was inadequate.

Yet it would be unfair to equate the fiscal mess alone with the Rell legacy.

What many will remember was Gov. Rell's ability to restore confidence in the governor's office after scandal drove John G. Rowland from office in 2004 and, eventually, to a one-year prison term.

Anyone who has spent time with Gov. Rell knows she is a genuinely nice person. That comes through in her public appearances and on the medium of television. Her positive personality comforted state residents who had watched Gov. Rowland dourly blame others for his downfall - chiefly the news media and political opponents - before accepting responsibility.

Gov. Rell achieved substantive reforms. Creation of a Contracting Standards Board ended the directing of contracts to the politically connected. She led the fight to approve campaign finance reform and a system to provide public financing of campaigns. No longer do candidates for state offices have to fund their candidacies by soliciting money from special interest groups seeking influence.

Mr. Malloy became the first publicly funded candidate in Connecticut to win an election for governor, beating a self-financed millionaire, Republican Tom Foley.

There have been ethical missteps, most troubling the use of a University of Connecticut political science professor to provide the Rell administration political advice while working on the public dime. But there was no hint of true scandal.

Gov. Rell played a significant role in the nonpartisan fight to keep the Naval Submarine Base in Groton open after the Pentagon targeted it for closure. And she has been a proponent, though not always as aggressively as some might like, of maintaining and expanding the state's commuter rail service.

Assuming the executive chair after a scandal, then re-elected in her own right by a landslide in 2006, many will fondly remember Gov. Rell's service, but unfortunately not for her fiscal stewardship.