Being from Connecticut, this one caught my eye right off. Rob Simmons is another lapdog that is more than willing to tow the NeoCon party line. His first election for the congressional seat was the nastiest in Connecticut in years. He, of course, blamed it on the Republican National Comittee, saying that he had no control over the ads that the RNC decided to run. While this is very probably true, many of us noticed that the other congessional districts in the state had much less nastiness associated with them. His second election campaign was basically a flag-waving rally laying down the Republican party line... 9/11, Fear, WMDs, Fear, Attack 'em over there, Fear, etc, Fear.Rob Simmons is, by the way, ex-CIA.
SIMMONS CONTRIBUTES TO DELAY'S DEFENSE, DELAY CONTRIBUTES TO SIMMONS RE-ELECTION
Simmons Contributed to Tom DeLay's Defense Fund. According to the Hartford Courant, "Rob Simmons thought Tom DeLay was being unfairly persecuted, so he wrote DeLay's legal defense fund a $1,000 check." Questioning the validity of the accusations facing DeLay, Simmons said, "Why did I do it? Because I had been the target of bull---- accusations myself." [Hartford Courant, 4/17/05]
Tom DeLay Raised and Gave Campaign Cash for Simmons. Simmons has received over $39,000 in campaign contributions from DeLay's leadership PAC, Americans for a Republican Majority, or ARMPAC. Moreover, Simmons has been a beneficiary of DeLay's Retain Our Majority Program, which raises money for vulnerable Republican members of Congress. According to the Hartford Courant, Simmons, "took an estimated $128,000 this year from ROMP, the Retain Our Majority Program, a DeLay-run effort that directs money from members of Congress with lots of cash and safe seats to their more vulnerable colleagues." According to Roll Call, Simmons was set to collect $110,000 from ROMP in 2001. Simmons has been a beneficiary of DeLay's fundraising efforts since he came to Congress in 2001. [Political Moneyline, www.tray.com; Hartford Courant, 4/17/05; Roll Call, 5/7/01; Congress Daily, 5/29/03; Washington Post, 3/6/05]
SIMMONS HAS TIES TO FUNDRAISERS WHO COST CONNECTICUT MILLIONS
Simmons Attended Fundraiser at Home of Lobbyist Involved in Busted $220 Million Enron Deal. In March 2005, Simmons attended a fundraiser at the home of Anthony Ravosa. Ravosa and his wife have donated $8,500 to Simmons' Congressional campaigns. Ravosa was a fundraiser for now disgraced former Governor John Rowland and was involved in the state trash authority's ill-fated $220 million deal with the Enron Corp. [Political Moneyline, www.tray.com; The Day, 4/1/05]
Simmons Took Contribution from Head of Firm that Cost Connecticut Pension Fund Millions. Simmons took a contribution of $1,093 from Theodore Forstmann, the head of Forstmann Little & Co, which was sued by Attorney General Richard Blumenthal for improperly investing and losing $125 million in state pension money. According to the Financial Times, "A jury eventually found that Forstmann Little was negligent and violated a contract when it took minority stakes in McLeodUSA and XO Communications…" The lawsuit was settled for $15 million. [Federal Elections Commission, www.fec.gov; Associated Press, 5/28/04; Financial Times, 5/4/05; Associated Press, 9/21/04]
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