Super-PAC, union launch Spanish-language radio campaign against Romney

Democratic super-PAC Priorities USA and the SEIU are running new ads in Nevada and Florida starting Wednesday that accuse Mitt Romney of having "two faces" on immigration issues. The Spanish language radio ad hits Romney for his effective tax rate and for not supporting the DREAM Act, which would provide illegal child immigrants paths to citizenship.

"Mitt Romney is willing to do anything and say anything in whatever language and whatever forum to get elected," said Eliseo Medina, SEIU's Secretary Treasurer, during a call with reporters.

"Whichever Mitt shows up, the SEIU and Priorities USA will hold him accountable," he added.

The group did not disclose how much it would spend on the ad buy but called in an "extension" of its six-figure campaign in Florida during the state's Republican primary.

Bill Burton, President Obama's former deputy press secretary and co-founder of the Priorities USA super-PAC, called Romney's message on immigration "aggressively duplicitous."

"I don't think there's one person in politics who would suggest that his position on issues like the DREAM Act would be palatable," Burton said.

The Romney campaign slammed the campaign as "dishonest."

""This is a dishonest smear from President Obama's liberal allies and a desperate attempt to distract from his abysmal record," said Romney spokeswoman Amanda Henneberg. "It will do nothing to help the millions of Hispanics who have been hit especially hard as a result of the Obama economy. Hispanics, like all Nevadans and Floridians, are supporting Mitt Romney because they know he has a proven record as a conservative businessman, and is the best person to rebuild the economy that President Obama has spent three and half years destroying."

Burton also played a bit of defense when questioned why the campaign seemed to have little effect in the Florida primary, where more than half of Republican Latino voters went for Romney.

"Keep in mind the electorate is different, and the audience we're connecting with is not just Republican primary voters," Burton said.

He also downplayed SEC filings released Tuesday that showed his organization lagging behind the fundraising of some of the prominent conservative super-PACs.

"In terms of outside spending, I don't think anyone was surprised that big oil companies and private equity firms and were ready to pony up to help Karl Rove," Burton said. But the former Obama official predicted "Democrats and progressives are waking up to the importance and centrality of PACs as they're watching the Republican race."

The groups ads are expected to run for the next week, but said they might continue the campaign beyond the initial buy.

“Although Mitt Romney may walk away with the Florida GOP primary, he can’t walk back his support of treating immigrants so terribly that they are forced to self-deport,” Medina said in a statement. 

“He can’t walk back his fondness of Kris Kobach, the godfather of anti-immigrant legislation like Arizona’s SB 1070. He can't walk back the fact that while as CEO of Bain Capital he fired thousands of workers. He can't walk back the fact that as a multimillionaire he pays less in taxes than the majority of hardworking Latinos. As he heads into states with more Latinos, his ‘dos caras’ with our community will become even more evident.”

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