COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is bashing the National Labor Relations Board in a new South Carolina ad airing the day after the Obama administration announced recess appointments to the labor panel.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley had challenged GOP presidential hopefuls to take positions on the NLRB's legal action threatening jobs at a Boeing Co. plant in North Charleston. The NLRB charged that the company was building the facility in South Carolina in retaliation over labor contract fights.
Haley's endorsement of Romney has caused consternation among some in the tea party. Reuters reported:
Karen Martin, a self-employed editor of management training manuals who is an organizer for the Spartanburg Tea Party, said Haley spends too much time cheerleading for jobs and not enough time removing regulations.
But like some other Tea Partiers, Martin's biggest gripe is Haley's decision to support Romney.
Many in the Tea Party see Romney as a villain for instituting a healthcare overhaul in Massachusetts that required residents to have health insurance.
"It will not help Romney. It will absolutely hurt her," Martin said of Haley's endorsement. "She will have a Republican challenger who the Tea Party supports. There are Tea Party people who will work actively against her. The betrayal is so huge."
In the 30-second ad set to air Thursday, Romney appears to talk from the factory floor with wood and scaffolding in the background. The scene changes to an exterior shot of a Boeing Co. plant, a jet engine and the 787 Dreamliner that Boeing is building in South Carolina and Washington state.
Romney accuses President Barack Obama of adopting policies that "affect our economy based not upon what's right for the American worker but, instead, what's right for their politics." He goes on to contend that the board is stacked with "union stooges" and calls the board's action "simply un-American" and "political payback."
The Boeing issue was resolved last month when Boeing and the union reached a contract extension and the NLRB dropped its legal action.
On Wednesday, Obama made three recess appointments to fill the NLRB to five members. The recess appointments allow the agency to continue to operate and avoid intervention by GOP opponents who say the agency favors unions.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged Obama to withdraw the appointments and called on House and Senate committees to investigate contacts between the NLRB and Boeing's machinists union.