Rob Simmons

Military career

Simmons was born in New York City and attended Haverford College, graduating in 1965. He enlisted in the United States Army as a private, serving in active duty from 1965 to 1969. He graduated from Infantry Officer Candidate School in 1967 and became a commissioned officer. He fought in the Vietnam War and earned two Bronze Star Medals for his service. He was in Vietnam for 19 months.

After his active duty service, Simmons served in the United States Army Reserve as a Military Intelligence Officer from 1969 to 2003, retiring at the rank of full colonel. He led the 434th Military Intelligence Detachment (Strategic) affiliated with Yale University, and in this capacity led the writing of the "Open Source Intelligence Guide for the Military Intelligence Officer." Under his command, the unit was subsequently selected as the best small unit in the U.S. Army Reserve in 1996 by the Reserve Officers Association.

Early political career

In 1969 he joined the Central Intelligence Agency, working as an Operations Officer for a decade, including five years on assignment overseas in East Asia. According to an article by journalist Douglas Valentine in the book "Everything you know is wrong", Simmons ran the Phu Yen Province Interrogation Center from November 1970 to June 1972 and "mounted numerous paramilitary and psychological warfare operations against" the Viet Cong. (Simmons was awarded the CIA's Agency Seal Medal in 1985.) In 1979 he earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In 1979 he became a staff member for Senator John Chafee of Rhode Island, and then in 1981 the Staff Director for the United States Senate Select Committee on Intelligence then under the Chairmanship of Senator Barry Goldwater (R-AZ).

Leaving the Senate staff, he became both a professor of political science at Yale College and the University of Connecticut, and a member of the Connecticut House of Representatives from 1990 to 2000 before running for Congress.

Overview

Simmons was a member of the House Armed Services Committee and was involved in issues concerning the district's major defense presence at the Electric Boat submarine shipyard in Groton and the nearby Naval Submarine Base New London. In 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) targeted the United States Navy's New London submarine base for closure. Simmons led the successful fight to save the base and the BRAC removed it from its closure list on August 24, 2005.

Simmons also served on the House Homeland Security Committee. While Chairman of the Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment, he was a strong advocate of improved intelligence-sharing between federal, state, and local authorities. Simmons also championed Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) on the Hill, where he was successful in inserting language into the 2006 National Defense Authorization Act which legally defined open source intelligence and required the Department of Defense to establish an OSINT program. He likewise spearheaded an effort to establish an open source intelligence unit at the Department of Homeland Security.

Electoral history

Connecticut's 2nd congressional district, 2000:

Connecticut's 2nd congressional district, 2002:

Connecticut's 2nd congressional district, 2004:

Connecticut's 2nd congressional district, 2006:

Elections

In 2000, Simmons ran for the United States House of Representatives defeating ten-term Democratic incumbent Sam Gejdenson by only 2,000 votes.

Despite being in the most Democratic GOP-held seat in the nation and being targeted by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee as a possible pickup in 2002, Simmons fought off a challenge from Democrat Joe Courtney, a former state representative from Vernon, winning 54% to 46%.

In 2004, Simmons defeated his Democratic challenger, Norwich City Councilman Jim Sullivan, by a margin of 54% to 46%.

In 2005, the NRCC listed Simmons as one of their most vulnerable members and his seat was widely seen as a possible Democratic pickup in 2006. Courtney was once again the Democratic nominee in 2006 and the race was considered a toss-up.

On election night Simmons trailed his challenger, Joe Courtney, by 167 votes out of over 242,000 votes cast. This margin was small enough to trigger an automatic recount under Connecticut law. During this recount, elections officials discovered several errors in the original vote. The recount concluded on November 14 giving Courtney an 83 vote victory over Simmons.

As Simmons fared far better than other defeated Republican incumbents it was speculated he would try for a political comeback in 2008, which he did not rule out in conceding the 2006 election to Courtney. However, on March 4, 2007, on an episode of Face the State, he stated that he would not challenge Joe Courtney in 2008.

Business advocate

On February 26, 2007, Rob Simmons was nominated by Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell to become the State's first Business Advocate. The Office of the Business Advocate was established as part of the Governor's 2006 "Jobs for the 21st Century" Act (PA 06-83), for the purpose of providing centralized assistance to businesses in the state, and to pro-actively provide assistance to businesses of broader economic significance to the State.

2010 U.S. Senate campaign

On March 15, 2009, Simmons announced his intention to challenge Senator Christopher Dodd for the United States Senate in 2010. A May 2009 poll showed Simmons leading Dodd by six points, with the lead growing to 13 points in a December 2009 poll. Sen. Chris Dodd since announced that he would not be seeking re-election to the U.S. Senate due to high pressure from the Democratic Party leaders, falling poll numbers, and controversy over business dealings with Countrywide Financial.

While he originally led in the polls early on, Linda McMahon gained traction on him in the primary and won at the Republican convention. McMahon, a billionaire, spent more than $22 million through the primary, while Simmons spent under $3 million. Simmons was deeply disappointed by his loss and later suspended his campaign. In late July – two weeks before the primary – however, he re-entered the race by airing TV ads, participating in debates, and accepting interviews with editorial boards. General election polls showed Simmons as the more electable candidate. Simmons, however, went on to lose the primary to McMahon.

Stonington First Selectman

In 2015, Simmons was elected First Selectman of Stonington, Connecticut.

Personal life

Simmons is married to the former Edith Heidi Paffard. They have a son Robert and a daughter Jane.