Simmons: Issues With Carter, Problems With The Facts
On Sunday, the Hartford Courant’s Kevin Rennie published a very eye-opening, must-read column here titled “Simmons’ Curious Affinity for Carter.” The column centers around a relatively recent letter Simmons sent to the former President in which he not only admits to having voted for Carter for President, but also “heaps praise” on him.
“I can only say, Mr. President, that the courage, character and integrity you have shown over the many years of your extraordinary career makes us all proud to have voted for you so many years ago…” wrote Simmons, according to Rennie. In the letter, Simmons goes on to say, “Jimmy Carter is the best.”
Writes Rennie about the 2005 letter to Carter: “…it’s a slobbering encomium to the meddlesome former president, whose ‘extraordinary career’ Simmons embraces.”
The Washington Times’ Amanda Carpenter also picked up the story here: “Former Rep. Rob Simmons…may be former Democratic President Jimmy Carter’s biggest Republican fan.” The report goes on to note that Simmons’ support for Carter is just the latest in a string of questionable stances Simmons has taken over his career as a political insider, stances that include support for Card Check legislation, cap-and-trade, and partial-birth abortion.
Simmons, for his part, doesn’t deny having written the letter (which also includes, according to Carpenter, a handwritten note to Carter, “near his signature at the bottom of the letter,” that reads: “Thanks so much for all you have done.”).
Instead, Simmons characteristically resorts to desperate, negative attacks. Not surprisingly, his attacks are false and misleading.
First, Simmons’ campaign claims Linda “has voted only twice” in her life. That is demonstrably false. In the last nine years alone we know from state and local voting records that Linda voted at least five times: Nov. 7, 2000; Nov. 5, 2002; Nov. 2, 2004; Nov. 4, 2008, and Nov. 3, 2009.
Simmons’ spokesman then goes even further: “…it should be pointed out [Linda] wasn’t even registered to vote until she was 36 years old.” In fact, Linda has voted many, many times in her life. Simmons is basing this false attack on the fact that the earliest voting record his researchers were able to find goes back to 1984.
But just because Simmons’ researchers can’t find voter registration records that go back further than 1984, doesn’t mean Linda didn’t vote prior to 1984. In fact, the earliest available voter registration record for Rob Simmons, only goes back to 1978 — when Simmons was 35 years of age — but as Rennie pointed out in his column, Simmons voted for Carter two years before that, in 1976.
Because his prior politics don’t square with Republican voters, Rob Simmons is shamelessly distorting Linda’s record, but his attacks simply aren’t supported by the facts.