John Simmonds now hates growth? Say What?

Simmonds has never voted no on any annexation and I'm pretty sure he's voted yes on every rezoning application for greater density. Simmonds has been the biggest preacher of growth on the current city council, it's almost a religion with him. I've had numerous discussions and disagreements with him on this issue over the years and he has given me several newspaper and magazine articles that were pro-growth to bolster claims made in his discussions with me. These were friendly disagreements, nothing personal or hateful, just two guys arguing issues.

But make no mistake: Simmonds always took the side that growth is good for Venice in these discussions, the more growth, the better.

When I saw this ad, my jaw dropped to the floor.

Simmonds is a heck of a nice guy, but he's just not being truthful here
I like John Simmonds, he's a nice guy. Unlike a lot of politicos that I've had to deal with, I can't really say anything bad about the guy. I don't think he's dishonest, I don't think he's crooked, but I do think he's wrong. I disagree with him on a few issues and agree with him on a few more. Three years ago, this web site did not endorse him because he was still a staunch supporter of then-city manager George Hunt.

That said, this ad is just flat out dishonest, as far from the truth as possible and is the exact opposite of Simmonds' previously stated stance on growth. It's akin to President Bush taking out an ad and claiming to be pro-choice. Without trying to sound mean, the plain fact is that Simmonds has never met an annexation or a rezoning or a developer that he didn't like. This ad is a gross attempt to dishonestly back-pedal away from a voting record that has been staunchly pro-growth.

So, in the interest of fairness, I fixed his ad for him. While Simmonds doesn't actually work for Boone, the second ad is really no more dishonest than the first with its "hates growth" claim.