Wash Post Fact Check: Romney Jobs Creation Claim 'Overstates the Case'

Mitt Romney's claims that, while at Bain Capital, the companies in which the firm invested added over 100,000 jobs “overstates the case.” The Washington Post, in a fact check of the assertion, also notes that the purpose of Bain was not to create jobs but maximize investment.

“Romney never could have raised money from investors if the prospectus seeking $1 million investments from the super wealthy had said it would focus on creating jobs,” the Post wrote. “Instead, it said: ‘The objective of the fund is to achieve an annual rate of return on invested capital in excess of the returns generated by conventional investments in the public equity market and the private equity market.’ Indeed, the prospectus never mentions ‘jobs,’ ‘job,’ or ‘employees.’ ”

The Post reports that when former Massachusetts Gov. Romney ran for the Senate in 1994 his campaign only claimed he had created 10,000 jobs. The claim has now “increased tenfold, apparently in part because of Bain investments in which Romney had at best a tangential role.”

“In the 2008 presidential campaign, as far as we can tell, Romney never highlighted any number for jobs created, having learned a lesson from how ruthlessly he was attacked by Sen. Edward Kennedy in that Senate race for jobs lost through Bain investments,” the Post wrote. “We asked the Romney campaign for a response, but did not get one.”

The Post concluded by awarding Romney’s assertion three out of a possible four Pinocchios for “significant factual error and/or obvious contradictions.”

“Romney certainly has a good story to tell about knowing how to manage a business, spotting opportunities and understanding high finance,” the Post said. “But if he is to continue to make claims about job creation, the Romney campaign needs to provide a real accounting of how many jobs were gained or lost through Bain Capital investments while the firm managed these companies — and while Romney was chief executive. Any jobs counted after either of those data points simply do not pass the laugh test.”