Beware of the real Mitt Romney

As the Republican Presidential Caucus approaches this Saturday, Mainers are getting the chance to evaluate the candidates’ positions on the issues most important to them. Since Mitt Romney, the Republican front-runner is no longer answering questions from voters, I thought this was a good time to go over some of the questions he hasn’t been getting lately about his record.

Romney, the consummate politician, is saying just about anything to get himself nominated by his party. Pandering to extremists, he takes a hands-off view of many of the issues that really concern Maine people.

Romney says he supports Social Security and Medicare, but then backs an extreme budget plan that goes after both of these programs on which people in Maine rely on to an overwhelming degree.

Romney is completely out of touch with working class and middle-income Mainers — small business owners, store clerks, health care professionals, teachers and housewives — people holding down two and three jobs just to make ends meet.

These Mainers just want Wall Street to play by the same rules that we on Main Street play by.

We hear a lot about Medicare fraud these days. That’s why it’s important to remember that Romney sat on the board of directors of Damon Corporation, a medical testing company which paid a record $119 million in fines for Medicare fraud. So, while Romney was paid more than a half million dollars to sit on its board of directors, this company was committing fraud and scamming the taxpayers to the tune of millions of dollars.

As for job creation, the simple fact is, when Romney was governor of Massachusetts that state’s job creation fell to 47th out of 50 and his state lost manufacturing jobs at twice the national rate. At Bain Capital, Romney was a corporate raider who outsourced jobs offshore and destroyed many American communities.

When it comes to jobs, the contrast between President Obama and Romney could not be clearer. The January jobs report just released showed that under the president’s policies, the economy has added private sector jobs for the 23rd straight month for a total of more than 3.7 million jobs. The American auto industry and the more than 1.4 million jobs it supports

were saved, and manufacturing is creating jobs for the first time since the 1990s.

Romney’s policies would be a disaster for Maine’s men, women, seniors and working middle-class families.

Thank you, President Obama. No thank you, Mitt Romney.

Janet Mills is a resident of Farmington and currently serves as the vice-chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party. Before that she served as Maine’s first woman Attorney General.