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Romney's Controversial Connection To A Miami Company

MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Mitt Romney has been building his campaign on calling himself the job creator, primarily due to his time at Bain Capital. But in South Florida, Bain Capital isn't exactly a name some want to hear.

"I don't know what happened man." Jose Gutierrez, a former maintenance employee at the Dade Behring said.

Gutierrez now works for the A+ Mini Storage facility that now operates the massive complex. A decade ago the sprawling building was home to medical manufacturer called Dade Behring or as natives remember it Baxter.

Today, behind locked doors, you'll find just artifacts of a multi-billion dollar operation. The freezer that held medication is now filled with piles of cardboard boxes. At the other end of the room is a pile of desks put together by Gutierrez.

"One of those desks is the CEO's." Gutierrez says. "I don't remember his name but I said 'oh my God I take his desk and put it like garbage there.' What happened with that guy? What happened with the people who worked in this place?"

Gutierrez told CBS4's David Sutta at its peak 1200 people worked in this facility alone. When Bain Capital took over in the mid-1990's everything changed. They closed the Puerto Rico plant. Just as staff brought to Miami had unpacked they were surprised again.

"Within about 60 to 90 days of their arrival in Miami they announced they were in fact closing the plant too." Cindy Hewitt told CBS4.

Hewitt was the former human resources manager at Dade Behring. It's estimated when all the campuses finally closed nearly 3,000 people became unemployed.

"I really felt that if the business environment changed and they needed to close the Dade plant that happens." Hewitt explained. "But what I could not understand, and what I could not accept, was their unwillingness to treat the employees in what I consider to be a minimally humane manner."

Ultimately, Bain Capital cashed out $242 million dollars of profit; while Dade Behring eventually went bankrupt.

"When Dade Behring closed, really I feel bad," said Gutierrez. "Because I didn't know what happened to the people."

Hewitt feels bad too. She never worked another day in hr; and now she wants voters to know why.

"I think it's very relevant," Hewitt said.

Romney's campaign responded with a statement today saying in part: "Bain Capital invested in many businesses; while not every business was successful, the firm had an excellent overall track record and created jobs with well-known companies like Staples, Dominos, and Sports Authority."

But that wasn't the case in Miami where thousands of jobs were wiped out. Just one was left; it was Jose Gutierrez's to turn the lights out.

With the Republican primary in Florida just days away, this is likely just the beginning of a big story for Mitt Romney and his track record with Bain Capital.

He's been saying it's all about job creation, but as it stands here in Miami-Dade County his track record may be saying something else.

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