Simmons’ Office Prepares to Pack Up After Losing One of Nation’s Closest Races
SIMMONS
New London Day
Margaret Stevenson
Boston University News Service
November 16, 2006
WASHINGTON, Nov. 16 —Filled cardboard boxes, taped and ready to be shipped back to Connecticut, were stacked up in the congressional office of Rep. Rob Simmons (R-Conn.) on Thursday morning, proof that after six years in office and a tough fight in the midterm elections, he is going home.
“It’s sort of like going through old photographs,” Todd Mitchell, Simmons’ chief of staff, said with a touch of nostalgia. “There are files from when Rob was a freshman.”
Clad in a dark Tommy Hilfiger sweater, jeans, flip-flops and capped with a hat from the basketball team of University of Maryland, his alma mater, Mitchell moved about the office, packing and throwing away trash.
Two large trash containers sat in the hallway outside of his congressional office, filled with shredded paper, newspapers and crushed boxes.
After losing his run for reelection by less than 100 votes to Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) in one of the tightest congressional races in the nation this year, Simmons conceded Wednesday and is to vacate his congressional office by Dec. 3.
“It was a classy way to end it,” Mitchell said of Simmons’ concession.
Mitchell said he thought people in Connecticut’s 2nd District, would quickly miss the work Simmons has done.
“Joe Courtney has some big shoes to fill,” he said. “We wish him good luck.”
Mitchell said he was sure Simmons would be sitting down with his family and taking stock.
“Politics is still in his blood and bones,” Mitchell said. “It will take time to figure out where he will go from here.”
His staff will be looking for new work and Mitchell said it would not be easy finding a new job on the Hill given the recent Democratic majority. He estimated that 900 Republican staff jobs were lost in the election.
William Cox, a staff assistant in Simmons’ Washington office, said he was looking for another position after joining Simmons’ staff in June, shortly after he graduated college.
“We are spending this time wrapping up constituent services and leaving the office in order,” said Cox, of eastern Connecticut.
Mitchell, who has worked on the Hill for 15 years, the last six with Simmons, said he wasn’t really scrambling to find new work right away.
“I think I’ll spend some time with my nine-month-old baby and maybe lose the 25 pounds I gained while working here,” he joked.
Simmons, who has been in Connecticut for the recount, will not be returning to Washington until Dec. 4, according to Mitchell, who said there are essentially no votes until Dec. 5.
Simmons will be dropping by his office to pack up his things before they have to be out, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said the transitional period is a difficult one, but that closing up the office properly, serving constituents, and making sure the staff is heading in the right direction are his top priorities.
“We want to make ‘a seamless transition’ like Rob said,” Mitchell said.
The office is still dealing with a few last spending requests and, Mitchell said, he hoped that Courtney will follow some of Simmons’ more popular policies.
“Rob Simmons has been vocal about two submarines a year for Connecticut and tax relief, among other issues” Mitchell said. “Will Courtney take a seat on the Armed Services Committee? Is he going to finish Route 11? Will he support tax relief?”
Mitchell said Simmons brought tax cuts to the 2nd District in Connecticut, which he called “the most taxed state in the nation.”
Unanswered letters from constituents that the staff will be unable to get to and reports regarding individual constituent issues from the 2nd District will be transferred to Courtney, Mitchell said.
Mitchell said he wished the race had been more about Simmons and his record and not about the president’s popularity. He said this midterm election was national and not local.
“This was possibly the worst political environment since Watergate,” he said.
He called Simmons “collateral damage” of the message being sent to President Bush and the Republican-led congress.
“There were more moderates getting bumped out,” Mitchell said. “People are moving further apart and Rob was one of the middlemen.”
Mitchell called the race against Courtney “tough but fair.”
Mitchell said he had no regrets and that he worked for “a great man” who served the people of eastern Connecticut well.
“That’s the frustration about it—less than 100 votes,” Mitchell said. “It’s pretty maddening when you think of everything you’ve done.”
Mitchell said that politics aren’t easy and that going into the field, you know there is always a winner and a loser.
“I guess I better get back to packing,” Mitchell said.
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