How much are these denials worth, though?  That is obviously a function of how rock-solid one's overall trust in the man is.

Overall, Simmons' connections to the power elite and their foreign policy machinations remain decidedly murky - at least to myself, and probably to most other people who hail him for his almost unheard-of forthrightness on energy issues for someone of his social background.

I think that Peak Oil advocates have been too quick to give Simmons a "free pass" with regard to his murky connections to foreign policy machinations on this account, though.  For Simmons truly to live up to the hero-status that he has unquestioningly been accorded within the Peak-Oil crowd, he needs to divest himself of these morally compromising murky connections completely.

I only care if he's right or wrong with respect to the issue of peak.