Romney To Visit Electronics Plant In Town Where Bain Laid Off Hundreds Of Electronics Workers

By Josh Israel/Think Progress

Today, Mitt Romney will bring his campaign to EIT, a circuit-board and electronics manufacturing company, in Sterling, Virginia. But while he is likely to highlight the success of the company, it represents a curious location choice for the Romney campaign.

A decade ago, the Northern Virginia suburb was home to a major circuit-board factory for the DDI Corp. DDI, based in Anaheim, CA, was a major Bain Capital investment during Romney’s tenure with the firm. Romney personally invested in the company and Romney’s name appeared on a 2001 SEC filing as a designated liaison from Bain’s management committee for the company.

While Romney and Bain made tens of millions on its investment in DDI, the company saw large layoffs in Sterling and ended up in Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2003. A 2003 Washington Business Journal report noted:

Circuit board maker Dynamic Details has laid off 167 people at its Sterling manufacturing plant since the beginning of July — and a total of 460 over the past two years — as it weathers the lingering effects of the tech and telecom industry implosion.

According to the same story, the Sterling plant employed 550 in 2001 and just about 130 in 2003. While the Romney campaign has repeated claims that Bain is responsible for creating thousands of jobs, hundreds lost theirs at DDI, at least in part thanks to Romney and Bain.

Additionally, today’s company — EIT — appears to contradict the Romney campaign’s gloomy assessment of the nation’s economy. Virginia state legislator Joe May (R), who owns the company, told the Washington Post that his private sector firm is indeed doing “just fine.”