Mitt Romney’s comment during Tuesday’s debate that he was brought “binders full of women” to select members of his Massachusetts Cabinet was one of the most talked-about moments of the night and continues to make waves Wednesday.
Romney said, in part, “a number of women’s groups said, ‘Can you help us find folks,’ and they brought us whole binders full of women.”
Jesse Mermell, who is currently a selectman in Brookline, Mass., and who served as the executive director of the Massachusetts Women’s Political Caucus from 2004 to 2008, said Romney isn’t telling the truth.
Decrying what she said was Romney’s “1950s ‘Mad Men’ attitude,” she said Romney employed fewer females in senior administration posts than his predecessor, Jane Swift, a Republican, and his successor, Deval Patrick, a Democrat. She said women were 14 of Romney’s first 33 appointments, but that the number sank as his term continued.
“To be perfectly clear,” she said, “Mitt Romney did not request those resumes.”
Mermell was joined on the conference call by Obama volunteer Cecile Richards, who is also the president of Planned Parenthood and the daughter of former Texas Gov. Ann Richards, and Lilly Ledbetter, whose eponymous Fair Pay Act was the first piece of legislation signed by President Barack Obama.
“My pension and Social Security were based on an unfair salary,” Ledbetter said.
Ledbetter said binders like the ones Romney referenced last night “never helped” her get a job or receive equal pay for her work.
On other issues, Richards said, Romney “tried to mislead” people, especially regarding access to birth control, Richards said.
“Mitt Romney refused to be honest about his plans,” she said.