Public Employee Union Puts $1 million into Super PAC ads attacking Romney

This should give Republicans some pause. Apparently public employee unions think that it is a good investment to put money into Super PAC attack ads against Romney. The obvious question is: why? Do they believe that Romney is the strongest candidate for the fall? Do they think that these attacks between Republicans are going to weaken the party for this fall? One thing seems pretty certain: this isn't good news. From the Washington Times (Public employees union heaps cash into GOP ad attacks on Romney, January 22, 2012):

An unlikely combatant has jumped into the big-money battle between independent groups running ads weighing in on the Republican presidential primary: a national union representing public employees. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) spent $1 million Friday on an ad accusing former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney of greed, Federal Election Commission records show.

The liberal group’s intent is to sway the outcome of the Republican primary in Florida, with ads running there before the state’s party elections Jan. 31. The strategy seems to indicate that the union views Mr. Romney as the most realistic threat to President Obama and would much prefer to see Republicans field another candidate, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, against Mr. Obama in the general election.

The piling-on of a liberal group on top of the Republican organizations attacking Mr. Romney highlights an irony to the 2010 Supreme Court decision that injected massive independent expenditures into politics with a ruling cheered by many conservatives: The majority of the spending thus far has been used to demonize Republicans. . . .