The pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA has released a tough new ad against Mitt Romney in which a worker says he built his own “coffin” after Romney’s private equity firm bought his paper plant.
Former Marion, Ind. paper plant worker Mike Earnest said he and other employees of the American Pad and Paper plant were asked to build a stage from which company officials told them the news that their plant was being closed.
“Mitt Romney made over $100 million dollars by shutting down our plant and devastated our lives,” employee Mike Earnest said in the ad. “Turns out by building the stage, it was like building my own coffin. And it just made me sick.”
The new ad seeks to build on President Obama’s argument that Romney is an “outsourcing pioneer” based on his work at Bain Capital, the private equity firm he founded.
Obama used that term to rip Romney in a speech Friday. In making the claim, Obama referred to a story in the Washington Post that said Bain Capital had invested in several firms that focused on outsourcing U.S. jobs. The Romney campaign has criticized the article, calling it “fundamentally flawed.” Bain Capital bought Earnest’s paper plant, which the Priorities USA ad contends was profitable before Bain Capital’s purchase.
Romney’s campaign fired back at Obama’s claims on Friday, accusing the president of using “false and discredited attacks” to divert attention from his economic record.
The super PAC sought to build on the president's claims against Mitt Romney's business record with the ad.
“Romney will apply the same approach to the Presidency as he did as a corporate buyout specialist, pursuing policies that benefit the wealthiest Americans like himself while cutting promised Medicare benefits and slashing educational and job opportunities for the middle class,” Paul Begala, senior advisor for Priorities USA Action, said in a statement.
The ad will run on television in Colorado, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Virginia and will run online.
Most Viewed RSS Feed »
