Conservative
Type 40
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jun/11/barack-obama/obama-ad-says-romney-outsourced-massachusetts-jobs/
Obama lied, jobs died.
The Obama campaign pointed us to news accounts of a budget issue in 2004, the second year of Romneys term. The Democratic-controlled Massachusetts legislature sent Romney a budget with an amendment that "would prohibit Massachusetts from contracting with companies that outsource the state's work to other countries," according to the Boston Globe.
At the time, many states were contracting with companies that outsourced some form of their work overseas. The Government Accountability Office found that in 2005, 43 states had contracts with companies administering state programs in which some of the work, primarily customer service and software development, was done overseas. Expenditures for services performed offshore were relatively small, the GAO found, and services performed offshore constituted a tiny fraction of the total services provided through the contracts.
At the time Massachusetts had a $160,000 a month contract with Citigroup to process debit cards for food stamps. Citigroup outsourced its customer service call center to a facility in India.
A small but important detail: the state didnt outsource the work -- a state contractor did.
Obamas ad charges that "Romney outsourced call center jobs to India."
The Obama campaign's wording suggests a broader, more deliberate policy when the state was sending some work overseas. But in choosing to veto the bill, Romney let the arrangement continue. The statement leaves out important information. We rate it Half True.
Obama lied, jobs died.