One of Mitt Romney’s latest campaign ads features a number of seemingly disgruntled miners standing behind the Republican presidential candidate. But the reason for such gloom might have less to do with Obama than with Romney himself.
That's because, as Grist first pointed out, some of the miners work at Century Mine in Beallsville, Ohio. The mine faced criticism in mid-August after it was discovered that the Murray Energy Company made the miners miss a day of work, without pay, to attend a Romney campaign rally.
"Our managers communicated to our workforce that the attendance at the Romney event was mandatory, but no one was forced to attend," Rob Moore, Chief Financial Officer of Murray Energy Company, which owns the mine, told local news radio WWVA shortly thereafter.
The ad, which was posted on YouTube Wednesday amid a tumultuous week for the Romney campaign, features co-workers of the men that feared not attending the event could cost them their jobs. That despite already sacrificing a day’s pay after the mine was shut down for the event.
The ad’s contention that the Obama administration has hurt the coal industry is suspect, as Philip Bump of Grist points out. In big coal mining states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia, the number of coal jobs has actually increased since 2009.