Politics
Election 2012: Obama seeks to undercut Romney’s record on jobs
Obama’s new ad, which reprises criticism leveled at Romney during the Republican primaries, focuses on one of those unsuccessful companies, GST Steel.
Bain was the majority shareholder in GST Steel beginning in 1993. The company eventually filed for bankruptcy in 2001, a period in which the U.S. steel industry was roiled by a flood of cheap steel imports. About 750 workers lost their jobs, and were left without any health benefits and reduced pensions. The federal government was forced to infuse US$44 million into the company’s underfunded pension plan.
Bain received US$12 million on its US$8 million initial investment and at least US$4.5 million in consulting fees, according to a January report by Reuters.
The commercial shows interviews with former workers at the Kansas City plant who said Bain’s role led to job losses and slashed benefits. It intersperses their claims with clips of Romney promoting his business background and empathizing with the jobless during campaign events. There also are images of a closed factory, run-down buildings and a road sign that says “Dead End.”
“Bain Capital walked away with a lot of money that they made off this plant. We view Mitt Romney as a job destroyer,” said steel worker John Wiseman.
David Axelrod, a senior adviser to Obama’s campaign, said Romney wants to “create the illusion that somehow his experience equips him to lead the economy but there’s nothing about the record that would support that.”
“His central premise is that he’s an economic wizard who can really get this economy moving and if that’s the only claim he is making for this office, that’s a premise worth examining,” Axelrod said.
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.
