DES MOINES, IA - Today, six Iowa Mayors and County Officials released a memo expressing their deep concerns about Mitt Romney's record of outsourcing American jobs, both as Governor of Massachusetts and an executive at Bain Capital. As job creators in their cities and counties, local elected officials are standing with President Barack Obama and his vision for a job-creating economy that's built to last, where hard work pays and responsibility is rewarded.
Memo signers are from across the state, representing large and small cities and counties:
- Mayor Chaz Allen, Newton
- Mayor Warren Woods, Creston
- Mayor Buck Clark, Waterloo
- County Supervisor Lu Barron, Linn County
- County Supervisor Rick Larkin, Lee County
- County Supervisor Tom Hockensmith, Polk County
MEMO
From: Mayors Chaz Allen, Warren Woods and Buck Clark and County Supervisors Lu Barron, Rick Larkin and Tom Hockensmith
To: Interested Parties
Re: Iowa Mayors and County Officials Concerned with Mitt Romney's Record of Outsourcing
We represent six Iowa cities and counties, large and small, urban and rural. Combined, we represent close to 800,000 Iowans. As leaders in our communities, our mission is to help our businesses grow and create jobs for hardworking middle-class families.
Manufacturing contributes more to Iowa's economy than insurance and finance, construction, and agriculture combined. Iowa ranks sixth in the U.S. for top manufacturing states in terms of GDP (17.8%). Unfortunately, middle class families in our communities have experienced the devastating impact of a company's decision to move manufacturing jobs overseas.
Thankfully, under President Obama's leadership, we have seen jobs coming back to our communities after years of watching them get shipped away. We've seen more than two consecutive years of private-sector job growth, and Iowa manufacturing is growing, adding close to 20,000 jobs since 2009. We are putting Iowa's middle class back to work, and it is the kind of progress we must continue.
Last week, the Obama administration filed an unfair trade case with the World Trade Organization to hold China accountable for unfair trade practices that hurt American workers in the auto industry. President Obama bet on the American worker when he supported the auto rescue and he knows that?with a level playing field?American workers will always win. That's why we support President Obama and his vision for a job-creating economy that's built to last, where hard work pays and responsibility is rewarded.
On the campaign trail, Mitt Romney has said he knows how to create American jobs, and suggests that his business experience gives him special insight into the economy. But Mitt Romney wanted to "let Detroit go bankrupt", which would have devastated the American auto industry and the millions of jobs it supports. Romney's record on outsourcing, both as Governor and as the head of a corporate-buyout firm, and troubling comments on job creation, is deeply concerning to us.
A recent Washington Post article revealed that under Mitt Romney's leadership, Bain Capital owned companies that were pioneers in shipping American jobs to countries like India and China - creating profits for Romney and Bain's investors at the expense of middle-class American workers. As Governor, he signed a contract that sent state call-center jobs to India and vetoed a bill that would have prohibited sending state jobs overseas.
We are working hard every day to create economic opportunities for our cities and counties, and policies enacted at the federal level are vital to our success. Mitt Romney's record at Bain and in Massachusetts threatens the work we do to protect the economic security of middle-class Iowans and are not the values we want to see in our President.
We are also concerned about the proposals Romney has said he would enact as President. One of the only plans he has detailed would eliminate taxes on companies' foreign profits, giving companies incentives to send American jobs to other countries. Instead of closing corporate loopholes or giving tax breaks to companies that keep jobs here at home - as President Obama has proposed to do - Romney's policies would eliminate American jobs and weaken middle-class security.
The policies he is advocating for are familiar and troubling to us. It's the same formula that we tried in the last decade that benefitted a few, but crashed our economy and hurt the middle class. We need a President who stands with the American worker and focuses on job creation here at home like President Obama, not policies that would ship American jobs overseas.
In our cities and counties - and the rest of Iowa - refuse to go backward. We know we can make the products Americans want right here in our communities. We know our workers are the best in the world. As Vice President Joe Biden said in Iowa last week, "The president and I don't see American workers as part of the problem. We see them as the heart of the solution."
Sincerely,
Mayor Chaz Allen, Newton
Mayor Warren Woods, Creston
Mayor Buck Clark, Waterloo
County Supervisor Lu Barron, Linn County
County Supervisor Rick Larkin, Lee County
County Supervisor Tom Hockensmith, Polk County
