Well into Mitt Romney’s tenure as governor of Massachusetts, a state legislator named Jay Kaufman developed a nagging suspicion: the governor had no idea who he was.
A committee chairman and a veteran Democrat in the State House of Representatives, Mr. Kaufman routinely waved to Mr. Romney from his Statehouse office, right above the governor’s parking spot. But when he crossed Mr. Romney’s path in the Capitol’s marble corridors one day, his fears were confirmed.
“Hello, Senator,” Mr. Romney shouted to Mr. Kaufman.
Sitting in his office five years later, Mr. Kaufman still seemed wounded by the slight. “No name, wrong title,” he said.“Give me a break.”
Accidental promotions and demotions like that became common during Mr. Romney’s four years in office. Despite prodding from his aides, a governor renowned for his mastery of facts and figures had never memorized the names and faces of Statehouse politicians.
“It was very irritating to lawmakers,” acknowledged John O’Keefe, Mr. Romney’s former director of legislative affairs. “It was hard to explain.”
Mr. Romney’s struggle to tamp down resurgent opponents and secure the Republican presidential nomination, highlighted by his uneven performance on Super Tuesday, is bringing renewed focus to his sometimes awkward style and aloof manner, which have hampered his ability to connect with some voters. A review of his time as governor shows that those traits affected his relationship with another crucial constituency: the Massachusetts lawmakers he needed to pass legislation.
...“He campaigned as an outsider, governed as an outsider and left as an outsider,” said Peter Flaherty, a top aide in the governor’s office who now works on Mr. Romney’s presidential campaign.
...But lawmakers felt that Mr. Romney, reserved by nature, seemed to avoid casual conversations with them. In a move that provoked widespread grumbling, his staff cordoned off a Statehouse elevator for his exclusive use, precluding lawmakers from riding with him.
“It did not convey much of an interest in people,” said Representative Kay Khan, a House member since 1995.
Eric Fehrnstrom, Mr. Romney’s spokesman as governor and now a campaign adviser, said it was a security measure adopted after the Sept. 11 attacks. As for socializing with lawmakers, Mr. Fehrnstrom said, “His spare time, when he had any, was spent with his wife and family.”
Two former Romney aides said they pushed their boss to extend himself more to lawmakers, sensing that his style was counterproductive.
“We tried to get him to,” said Mr. O’Keefe, the former legislative affairs director. “He was used to a different world, where he was the C.E.O. of a corporation, and he made decisions, and that is what happened.”
...These days, Mr. Romney has little involvement with the Massachusetts political world. But inside the Statehouse, tales of his unorthodox approach to the legislature have become embedded in local political lore.
Brian A. Joyce, a Democratic senator and a committee chairman, likes to tell the story of the time that he and a group of colleagues walked into the governor’s office in 2005. Mr. Romney turned to Mr. Joyce and made an inside joke that the senator found bewildering.
“It became apparent,” Mr. Joyce said, “that he thought I was a freshman senator from his own party — somebody else entirely.”
Though his ego was slightly bruised, Mr. Joyce and his colleagues found humor in the episode afterward.
“We all just laughed uproariously,” he said.
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