“To his credit, he made the adjustment,” Travaglini said. “He understood that friendships were important, that inclusion and courtesies and notifications were part of the daily routine.”
As negotiations over the health-care bill dragged on, Romney showed up unannounced at Travaglini’s East Boston home one Sunday morning to encourage him to “keep the faith and get it done,” Travaglini said.
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This was one of Romney’s go-to techniques of connecting and persuading. Myers said Romney routinely would wander around Beacon Hill, popping in on mid-level and low-level staffers unannounced — ostensibly to say hello, but really to see for himself what they were up to.
But around rank-and-file Democrats, Romney was standoffish. Romney stood out as unusually worldly, well educated and traveled, and high-achieving. Democratic lawmakers and party leaders said they saw in Romney’s distant coolness and formality a looking down on those who made their careers on Beacon Hill.
“I don’t think he really had much use for politicians,” said Phil Johnston, who chaired the state Democratic Party at the time. “He just felt they were there to get in the way.”
Johnston added: “He was not an easy person to know. His staff kept him in a bubble. He wasn’t particularly accessible to the media or to the legislators — or to anyone, really. When he would go to an event, he’d come in with his SUV, go to the podium and give his statement, and get out.”
At the beginning of his tenure, Romney, grappling with the budget deficit, went to his first meeting with the state’s mayors to deliver bad news. He was seeking authority from the legislature to cut the amount of state money that flowed into cities and towns.
“He goes and delivers the message,” recalled Cindy Gillespie, one of his senior administration officials. “He is not somebody that turns to staff and says, ‘Okay, you go tell them.’ ”
The legislature gave Romney the authority he sought, and he made the cuts, helping to balance the budget.
Two years into his governorship, Romney printed a flier to voters touting his top 10 accomplishments. “On the cover, I had my picture — after all, I paid for this brochure and stuffed it in the Boston Globe,” Romney said. “But I also had a picture of the Senate president and speaker of the House, because they also helped achieve those things.”
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