Republican U.S. Senate candidate Rob Simmons said Wednesday that a national controversy over a federal appellate court nominee’s personal background questionnaire highlights the seriousness of “false and misleading answers” given by opponent Linda McMahon gave on a questionnaire she filled out to gain appointment to the State Board of Education in 2009.
Noting that Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee this week are criticizing appellate court nominee Goodwin Liu for omitting information about his background from his questionnaire, Simmons called the situation is similar to that of McMahon, the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment, his opponent for the Republican Senate nomination this year.
Simmons referred to a Courant Government Watch column Sunday said that McMahon answered “no” five times on the questionnaire in January 2009 when she should have, or arguably should have, answered “yes.” In addition, she listed her 1969 degree from East Carolina University as a bachelor’s in education, when it was in French.
“Critics are right to question Mr. Liu’s fitness for high office after he omitted key information from his background questionnaire, and Mr. Liu is right to apologize for his actions,” Simmons said. “However, an honest accounting of one’s record and background as part of the vetting process is a requirement of public service and those who fail to do so raise serious red flags about both about their record and their integrity.”
Simmons said that “unlike Liu, who has apologized for certain omissions, Linda McMahon has brushed aside questions about outright false answers provided by her about her professional and educational background on her application to the Board of Education. But the Liu incident serves to remind us that honesty is not an option, it is the standard that must be met by all who seek high office. Regrettably, Linda McMahon has already begun the process of lowering the bar.”
“McMahon needs to answer whether or not she would join the Republican criticism of Liu, or apply the same standard she has set for herself,” Simmons said.
McMahon spokesman Ed Patru fired back with a statement of his own, saying: “I think a lot of people who have followed this campaign cringe when they hear Rob Simmons accuse anyone of being dishonest or misleading. In the past few months alone, he has changed his position on most every core belief he’s ever held in order to pander to Republican voters. That’s not honesty.”
Patru added: “When he needed to sound credible on the issue of job creation, he plagiarized an economic plan and passed it off as his own work. That’s not honesty.” In March, a Simmons spokesman conceded that “one of our young staffers” who helped draft the plan “made the mistake of borrowing words from another source” for a “small section of the plan.”
Patru continued: “A few weeks later we found out that, as a Congressman, he assigned levels of importance to his constituents based on whether they contributed to his campaign coffers and he encouraged other Members of Congress to do the same. That’s not honesty.” That was a reference to an earlier Government Watch column about Simmons.
Among questions McMahon answered “no” to on the questionnaire were whether she had been “publicly identified” with a “controversial national, state, or local issue” — and whether she’d “submitted oral or written views to any governmental authority … on any particular controversial issue.” The sexually suggestive content, foul language and violence of WWE programming have been controversial for years. Also, McMahon was interviewed under oath as part of a congressional investigation into the use of steroids in professional wrestling.
McMahon also answered “no” to the question “Have you ever written any books or articles?” McMahon acknowledged in a Courant interview last week that she used to write for the WWE’s wrestling magazines under a pseudonym, “Linda Kelly.”
McMahon told The Courant last week that she had answered “no” to the background questions under the assumption that everyone already knew of her activities with WWE and its past controversies.
Patru elaborated on that defense Wednesday, saying: “Linda’s association with WWE has been an open book by virtue of the fact that WWE has been heavily covered by print and electronic media for years, and it’s programming is carried on live TV every week. Every person involved in the confirmation process was aware of Linda’s association with WWE.
“Liu isn’t being attacked because he failed to mention that he wrote wrestling updates for a fan magazine 20-30 years ago; he’s under assault because he failed to disclose major public policy positions on issues like affirmative action that have relevancy to the work he would be doing on the bench.”
McMahon resigned from the State Board of Education last week, saying a new ruling by a state elections attorney might create legal complications for her Senate candidacy. The resignation came a day after The Courant indicated it would be writing about her questionnaire answers, but she said one had nothing to do with the other.