WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- President Obama's campaign has released a new ad featuring an employee laid off from a U.S. steel company after Mitt Romney's Bain Capital took it over.
Joe Soptic lost his job when GST Steel declared bankruptcy in 2001, Fox News reported. In the commercial, Soptic says his family lost its health insurance and then his wife was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer.
"There was nothing they could do for her. And she passed away in 22 days," Soptic says. "I do not think Mitt Romney realizes what he's done to anyone."
Romney has made his experience as head of Bain a centerpiece of his campaign, arguing he has proved he can create jobs. Critics say that at least as many people lost their jobs through Bain takeovers as gained new ones.
The Soptic ad was released by Priorities, a pro-Obama Super PAC.
The Romney campaign released a statement accusing the campaign of major distortions.
"President Obama's allies continue to use discredited and dishonest attacks in a contemptible effort to conceal the administration's deplorable economic record. After 42 months of unemployment above 8 percent, it is clear that the president and his campaign do not have a rationale for re-election," a spokesman, Ryan Williams, said.
