WASHINGTON – Priorities USA Action is pressing its attack against Mitt Romney over his work at Bain Capital, underscoring the inroads the “super PAC” has made at turning the Republican presidential challenger’s business experience against him.The group, which was started by two former aides to President Obama, is launching an emotionally charged television commercial Tuesday featuring a former employee of GST Steel, a Kansas City mill that went bankrupt after it was purchased by Romney’s private equity firm.
In the spot, former employee Joe Soptic recounts how his family lost healthcare after GST Steel closed and suggests his wife was afraid to seek medical care because of the cost. She died of cancer.
“I don’t know how long she was sick, and I think maybe she didn’t say anything because she knew that we couldn’t afford the insurance,” he says in the ad. “And then one day she became ill and I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admitted her for pneumonia and that’s when they found the cancer, and by then it was stage four. It was, there was nothing they could do for her. And she passed away in 22 days.”
“I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he’s done to anyone, and furthermore I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned,” he concludes.
The Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau reported last year that GST Steel was part of a company Bain formed in the early 1990s by merging plants in Missouri, South Carolina and other states. The company went bankrupt in 2001, two years after Romney took a leave from Bain to run the Salt Lake City Olympics. More than 700 workers were fired, losing not only their jobs but health insurance, severance and a chunk of their pension benefits. Bain partners received about $50 million on their initial investment, a 100% gain.
The story of GST Steel has given Romney’s rivals ample fodder. In May, the Obama campaign launched a two-minute ad quoting former employees talking about how they watched their employer “bleed to death” after Bain took control.
At the time, PolitiFact, which rates campaign ads, called the Obama ad “mostly true,” but noted that Romney had already left Bain when the steel company failed, which occurred as the steel industry across the country was faltering.
The new Priorities USA Action ad is running in Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania, part of a $20-million campaign focused on Romney’s business record.
Combating such attacks on Bain is a top priority of the Romney campaign, which has been constrained because much of its money cannot be used until he is formally nominated at the Republican National Convention at the end of the month.
Once those resources are freed up, they plan to devote some to portraying a more compelling picture of Romney’s business career. They have explored the possibility of telling some of the stories of companies that thrived after Bain’s intervention and Romney’s role in that turnaround.
[email protected]
Maeve Reston in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
In the spot, former employee Joe Soptic recounts how his family lost healthcare after GST Steel closed and suggests his wife was afraid to seek medical care because of the cost. She died of cancer.
“I don’t know how long she was sick, and I think maybe she didn’t say anything because she knew that we couldn’t afford the insurance,” he says in the ad. “And then one day she became ill and I took her up to the Jackson County Hospital and admitted her for pneumonia and that’s when they found the cancer, and by then it was stage four. It was, there was nothing they could do for her. And she passed away in 22 days.”
“I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he’s done to anyone, and furthermore I do not think Mitt Romney is concerned,” he concludes.
The Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau reported last year that GST Steel was part of a company Bain formed in the early 1990s by merging plants in Missouri, South Carolina and other states. The company went bankrupt in 2001, two years after Romney took a leave from Bain to run the Salt Lake City Olympics. More than 700 workers were fired, losing not only their jobs but health insurance, severance and a chunk of their pension benefits. Bain partners received about $50 million on their initial investment, a 100% gain.
The story of GST Steel has given Romney’s rivals ample fodder. In May, the Obama campaign launched a two-minute ad quoting former employees talking about how they watched their employer “bleed to death” after Bain took control.
At the time, PolitiFact, which rates campaign ads, called the Obama ad “mostly true,” but noted that Romney had already left Bain when the steel company failed, which occurred as the steel industry across the country was faltering.
The new Priorities USA Action ad is running in Iowa, Florida, Ohio, Virginia and Pennsylvania, part of a $20-million campaign focused on Romney’s business record.
Combating such attacks on Bain is a top priority of the Romney campaign, which has been constrained because much of its money cannot be used until he is formally nominated at the Republican National Convention at the end of the month.
Once those resources are freed up, they plan to devote some to portraying a more compelling picture of Romney’s business career. They have explored the possibility of telling some of the stories of companies that thrived after Bain’s intervention and Romney’s role in that turnaround.
[email protected]
Maeve Reston in Los Angeles contributed to this report.