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Women for Romney speak out against negative political ads
Posted: 10.19.2012 at 4:11 PM
Kate Allt

Kate Allt is a news reporter with KTVO

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Women who worked with Governor Romney speak on their experience to a crowd in Ottumwa.  / KTVO's Kate Allt
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OTTUMWA, IOWA -- One of the biggest issues discussed during Tuesday's debate between President Obama and Governor Romney was women in the workforce.

Friday morning, five women from across the country spoke on their experience working with Romney either during the Salt Lake City Olympics or during his time as Governor as Massachusetts. The speakers were Donna Tillery, Romney's executive assistant during the Olympics, Cindy Gillespie, former counselor to Romney, Renee Fry, former Massachusetts secretary of business and technology, Ellen Roy Herzfelder, former Massachusetts secretary of environmental affairs and Beth Lindstrom, former Massachusetts secretary affairs and business regulation.

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The women have been traveling all across the country speaking on their experience working with and working under Romney. The events were initially organized by Gillespie, who contacted her colleagues when she was frustrated with the picture the ads were painting of Romney's relationship with and views towards women.

At each stop, the group has heard similar feedback from audiences.

"They have all said the same thing - I didn't know that he had so many female executives, I didn't know that he had ten of 20 of the top positions in Massachusetts, half of the cabinet, that these were female," Gillespie said. "I didn't know this about him, they all say this- 'I didn't know'."

The speakers also touched on the "binders full of women" comment from Governor Romney that has been much talked about and has received a generally negative connotation since Tuesday's second debate.

Fry told Ottumwa's crowd she liked the phrase and what Romney was trying to convey was the fact that he had a plethora of women serving in his cabinet and that it was something he is proud of.

The Women for Romney group also made stops in Iowa City and Davenport Friday.

Women for Obama have responded to the tour with a different perspective.

“I saw firsthand that Mitt Romney had little interest in doing the hard work of governing," said Massachusetts Representative Marty Walz. "Romney was more interested in political posturing and photo-ops as he began planning his Presidential campaign than he was in actually serving the people of Massachusetts. Romney failed the people of Massachusetts and that’s the same brand of leadership he would bring to the White House.”

After the first presidential debate, Representative Harold Naughton of Massachusetts spoke out against Romney's claims of bipartisanship, saying the governor was inaccessible and distracted during his time in office.

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