Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick slammed GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney’s record on jobs as governor in the state as “not good enough” Sunday.
“When Gov. Romney was governor of Massachusetts incomes were declining in Massachusetts while they were increasing across the country,” Patrick said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “We were behind 47 or 46 other states in Massachusetts in job creation at a time when the economy was relatively growing.”
“Gov. Romney was following a trend of relatively good economic conditions in the country at a time very different from now where President Obama has turned that trend, has bucked that trend and we're getting job creation where we were getting job loss,” he added comparing the two records.
Deval, an Obama supporter, joined a slew of campaign officials and surrogates on Sunday who defended the president’s record on the economy, after a Friday jobs report showed only 69,000 jobs added in the month of May and the unemployment rate jumping to 8.2 percent.
With voters saying the economy is the most important issue this election cycle, the Obama campaign has hit hard on Romney’s claims that he can manage the economic recovery.
Last week, ahead of the jobs report, the campaign accused Romney of leaving a legacy of “broken promises” as governor of Massachusetts and of being weak on bringing new jobs to the state.
Patrick, who has helped lead the administration’s attack on Romney’s tenure in the Bay state, continued those criticisms on Sunday.
Romney’s campaign however says that the governor managed to lower the unemployment rate from 5.4 percent to 4.7 percent during his tenure.
Independent estimates say that the state gained between 25,000 and 40,000 jobs under Romney.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R), a Romney supporter, defended the presumptive GOP nominee. “He created tens of thousands of jobs and the unemployment went down,” he said of Romney’s tenure as governor.
Patrick also blamed GOP lawmakers for the sluggish job growth figures, saying Congress needed to act on White House proposals for boosting the economy.
“There is a certain amount of uncertainty,” said Patrick of business leaders’ concerns over the economic recovery. “And that comes in part because the plans that the President keeps putting before the Congress get ignored. Those are plans we know work.”
“What we have right now is a Congress which has decided that there is a political advantage in stymieing this president and putting ideology ahead of country. And that is what is this election is about and what has been rejected,” he added.
Obama’s team said that while they hoped the pace of job growth would accelerate, the administration’s policies had led to job gains and that GOP lawmakers could further boost employment by acting on further White House proposals.
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