Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesMitt Romney greeted coal miners on Tuesday at a campaign rally in Craig, Colo.CRAIG, Colo. – Mitt Romney chose this rural community to make his case on Tuesday that the Obama White House had hobbled local economies that rely on energy production.
But local officials attending his campaign event did not exactly cooperate.
They said that Craig, home to a coal-fired power plant, had weathered the recession better than many of its neighboring cities and towns, largely because of the health of the local energy industry over the past few years.
“The economy here in Craig and in Moffat County does seem stronger than a lot of our Western Slope communities,” said Ryan Call, the chairman of the state Republican Party. “And that’s good. That’s a good thing.”
Unemployment in Moffat County, which contains Craig, was at 8.3 percent in April, slightly above the national average, according to the State Department of Labor and Employment. That is down from a high of about 11 percent in 2010.
The city’s finance director, Bruce Nelson, said that tax revenue had bounced back strongly since last late year. “We are holding our own,” he said.
Terry Carwile, the mayor of Craig and a retired coal miner, went further, saying that the economy was “getting better” in the town of 9,500 as oil speculation intensified. He played down the suggestion that federal regulations had wounded the local coal industry.
“The policies of the federal government really aren’t that impactful to us so far,” he said. He acknowledged that they were “a concern,” though, and that residents were ever wary of government meddling in their biggest industry.
That was not the message from Mr. Romney, who spoke to about 1,000 residents in a park near the town’s center.
“I’m not going to forget Craig, Colo.,” he said. “I’m not going to forget communities like this across the country that are hurting right now under this president.”
Mr. Romney suggested that he had been motivated to visit Craig by Frank and Kerrie Moe, owners of a Best Western hotel, who appeared in a video that depicted the difficulties facing the town.
The video was a joint project of the American Energy Alliance and Americans for Prosperity. Financing for Americans for Prosperity comes from the Koch brothers, who have significant oil and gas holdings and have spent heavily to defeat Mr. Obama.
The video’s focus, though, was a recent state statute requiring that 30 percent of Colorado’s electricity be generated by renewable sources like wind and solar power by 2020.
Mr. Romney seemed to refer to the video in his remarks, as he appeared onstage with the Moes. “That’s something I saw, and I said we gotta come here and let you know that we care about what’s happening in Craig,” he said.