"The judgment I'm making now is, is this a good guy? Has he done a good job? Has he been responsive to his constituents?"
Rob Simmons
Senate Democrats have controversially kept the injured Andrew Maynard on the ballot for next week’s election, despite serious questions about his ability to do the job. Now they’re receiving support from an unexpected source.
Former congressman Rob Simmons, a Republican, has known his Stonington neighbor Andrew Maynard, a Democrat, a long time, since before Maynard’s 2006 election to state senate. Maynard introduced Simmons’s daughter Jane to the man who’s now her husband.
"When Andy was injured, when he was hurt," said Simmons, "among the very first people to go to the hospital in Rhode Island were my daughter Jane and my son-in-law Dan Meiser, and we have followed his progress since then with great interest."
Maynard suffered a traumatic brain injury on July 21, when he fell from the steps outside his home in the early hours of the morning. He’s since been moved to the Hospital for Special Care in New Britain for rehabilitation.
Maynard is still a candidate for re-election, despite the fact he’s been unable to campaign or debate his Republican opponent, and hasn’t appeared in public since the accident.
Some local Democrats have privately expressed doubts about that decision. The Day of New London refused to make an endorsement in the race, saying there are too many unanswered questions about Maynard’s condition. Senate Democrats have not responded to repeated requests for comment on the situation, only forwarding statements from Maynard's family.
Yet Simmons said he will be voting for Maynard. He said, "My advice to the family has been, keep him on the ballot. I think he’s going to win. If in actual fact he’s elected to his fifth term, he doesn’t really have to do anything till next February." That’s the date when the Senate reconvenes for business.
"That is three more months of recovery," Simmons said. "We can make the final judgment next year. We don’t have to make it now. The judgment I’m making now is, is this a good guy? Has he done a good job? Has he been responsive to his constituents? Has he been independent? Well, he’s been all of the above."
If Maynard is re-elected and proves unable to serve by February, Simmons said the process for the senate to call a special election is clear. He said if that is the eventual outcome, the legislature should also vote to provide Senator Maynard with an early retirement and health care benefit, something he normally would not be eligible for until he’d served out a fifth term.
