CountryTimes.com: Simmons Stepping Up For GOP Run at Dodd

Thursday, 11 June 2009 10:51

Former U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Stonington), who appears to be the GOP's top challenger in next year's U.S. Senate race, said that instead of being the subject of a partial federal takeover, the troubled automaker General Motors should have gone into bankruptcy at least six months ago, which would have forced changes and concessions to make it more viable.

"That's why you have bankruptcy," said the former congressman, who has finished ahead of U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd (D-East Haddam) in three recent polls by Quinnipiac University in Hamden.

"We have nearly 10 auto companies in this country, and now those others are in competition with the government," Mr. Simmons said regarding the announcement by Democratic president Barack Obama earlier this month that the federal government would temporarily take part ownership of the large automaker, which has seen its share of the market drop considerably in recent years.

Mr. Simmons, who served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2007 in Connecticut's Second District, said the federal government should have provided each taxpayer with a $10,000 debit card that would have to be utilized within six months instead of enacting the $787 billion economic stimulus package that was approved in February and the partial takeover of General Motors.

"People would be spending that money on remodeling their homes, buying new cars," he said in a recent phone interview. "It would generate economic activity."

"The stimulus package may provide some support around the edges, but these projects are getting delayed through federal red tape," Mr. Simmons said.

The former congressman, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by just 83 votes in the sprawling district that encompasses much of the eastern part of the state, is being challenged for the GOP nomination by state Sen. Sam Caligiuri (R-Waterbury) and former U.S. Ambassador to Ireland Thomas Foley of Greenwich.

Mr. Simmons said that he also opposed the $700 billion economic rescue package that former Republican President George W. Bush signed last October, indicating that it lacked accountability and didn't focus on providing assistance to homeowners whose properties were in foreclosure proceedings.

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