Welcome to the Business Journal Archives
Search for articles below, or continue to the all new BusinessJournalDaily.com now.
Search
Obama Camp Hits Romney on Shipping Jobs Overseas
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – President Obama’s reelection campaign Monday hammered away at presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney’s business experience, a key qualification he has put forth as he seeks the White House this fall.
The campaign unveiled a new ad airing in Ohio and other swing states (CLICK TO WATCH) that focuses on Romney and his partners outsourcing thousands of jobs while they operated Bain Capital by investing in companies and then sending their jobs overseas to low-wage countries. The ad follows a June 21 story in the Washington Post (CLICK TO READ) that characterized companies that Bain owned as “pioneers in the practice of shipping work from the United States to overseas call centers and factories making computer components.”
The ad also hits directly at Romney’s claim, in his “First 100 Days: Ohio” ad (CLICK TO WATCH), that he would stand up to China and demand “a level playing field: for American businesses and workers.
On an Obama campaign call with reporters Tuesday, Chris Redfern, chairman of the Ohio Democratic Party, said the ad “makes clear” what many Ohioans are learning about Romney, that he is “simply not on our side” and would do nothing to prevent jobs form being shipped overseas.
“As his record as a corporate raider shows, Romney believes we should join the race to the bottom top compete with countries like China for the cheapest labor with the fewest benefits,” Redfern said. As governor of Massachusetts Romney sent jobs overseas and vetoed legislation that would have prevented that, and as president would “completely eliminate taxes on companies’ foreign profits,” giving them an incentive to send work done in Ohio overseas, he said.
“Romney’s record and history make it clear he wouldn’t stand up to China on Day One or any other day,” said Obama national press secretary Ben LaBolt. “As a corporate buyout specialist Romney and his partners maximized their profits by actively helping companies that eliminated American jobs and shipped them overseas to low-wage countries like China.”
Further, when Obama stood up for workers by enforcing U.S. trade laws against China over ire dumping, Romney in his book called it “bad for the nation and our workers,” LaBolt said. He also said Romney invested $1.5 million of his own money in China “until of course he decided those investments wouldn’t look so good once he started running for the presidency and changed his rhetoric on China.”
The Romney campaign quickly fired back at the new ad.
“Whether it’s through misinformed surrogates or widely discredited campaign ads, President Obama continues to use misleading attacks to divert attention from his abysmal economic record,” said spokesman Chris Maloney. “Gov. Romney has received wide praise from Democrats, independents and Republicans on his business career, even former President Clinton called Gov. Romney’s business record ‘sterling.’ If President Obama had even half of Mitt Romney’s experience on job creation, he’d be able to run on his own record, as opposed to jettisoning his hope and change mantra from four years ago.”
The Romney ad currently running in Ohio also states that by the 100th day of a Romney presidency he would repeal “regulations that are strangling our energy industry and costing us jobs.”
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.