Mitt Romney and Outsourcing

Romney himself has a history of outsourcing jobs as the chief executive of Bain Capital.

Mitt Romney photo courtesy: biography.com

(CHICAGO) - Sensata Technologies, a business based in Freeport, Illinois, owned by Bain Capital, is laying off workers in order to hire employees in China. Last year, Bain took over the Freeport plant and announced that it would layoff 165 workers and close it.

Some of the workers, according to Sensata employees, have been forced to train their Chinese replacements.

Since Bain took control of the firm well after Romney’s departure, the candidate has thus far steered clear of the controversy.  But according to documents detailing Romney’s finances obtained and published last week by Gawker, Romney holds a direct investment in Sensata through one fund titled “Bain Capital Fund IX, L.P.,” dated December 31, 2009, meaning he has likely financially from the plant’s closure and the outsourcing of the jobs to China.

According to his 2011 personal financial disclosure, Romney still holds the Bain Capital fund that contains the Sensata investment.

Romney himself has a history of outsourcing jobs as the chief executive of Bain Capital.

The Washington Post reported in June that under Romney’s leadership Bain “invested in a series of firms that specialized in relocating jobs done by American workers to new facilities in low-wage countries like China and India.”

Romney also puts his policies where his money is. His plan to reform the corporate tax code by instituting a territorial tax system would make it easier for American companies to outsource jobs, while at the same time encouraging them to store even more money in offshore tax havens.