The Democrats on Friday responded to a new TV ad that touts Mitt Romney's record as governor of Massachusetts.
The new ad, which began running Friday, said Romney has “the best job record in decades” and the state had a 4.7 percent unemployment rate and a balanced budget when he left office.
But Rep. Jeffrey Sanchez, a Democratic lawmaker from Massachusetts, who served with Romney, said his job creation dropped from 36th to 47th. “The entire country needs to know what Romney economics did to us during his four years as governor,” Sanchez said in a teleconference. “He won't tell you that the ads he is running don't resemble anything close to the truth.''
He said Massachusetts debt grew by 16 percent, leaving the state with the highest per capita debt in the nation. Sanchez said the tax burden went up $1200 per person under Romney, largely because of increases of fees, from anything from the cost of getting married to burials.
Sanchez later held a news conference at Joe's Diner in Durham with Durham Mayor Bill Bell and Joseph Bushfan, the diner's owner. Sanchez is traveling around to such battleground states as Iowa and Colorado on behalf of President Barack Obama's re-election campaign.
UPDATE: The Romney campaign said that Massachusetts' unemployment rate fell from 5.6 percent to 4.7 percent and the economy added thousands of jobs during his governorship.
"Having abandoned 'Hope and Change,' the Obama campaign only 'Hopes To Change The Subject' from an abysmal jobs report," said Romney spokesman Robert Reid. "We're happy to compare the 4.7% unemployment rate Mitt Romney achieved in Massachusetts to President Obama's weak record any day. President Obama's policies have failed to get Americans back to work - it's time for a president who has worked in the real world economy and understands how to get this economy moving again."
