State critics say Gov. Romney left Mass. party in ‘shambles’

State and national Republicans say they are disappointed and dismayed by the shape in which former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney left the state GOP when he left office early this year.

Romney’s critics point to lost Republican seats in the state legislature, a lieutenant governor who suffered a landslide defeat, a significant amount of debt and overall devastation to morale.

{mosads}Allies of Romney say he raised more money for the state party than any of his predecessors, and that a tough political environment is to be blamed, not the White House hopeful.

Critics insist electoral failures could have been avoided or mitigated if the governor had been dedicated to building the state party instead of traveling to build what became his presidential campaign.

“The last two years of his term, he was really running for president,” GOP State Treasurer Brent Andersen said. “His first two years he did give it a go, and then he gave up on us.”

Andersen, who is supporting Romney rival Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), said the party was left with its registration down by “tens of thousands” and more than $100,000 in debt.

“So he left us really in just dire straits as far as I’m concerned,” Andersen said. “As the time was winding down, I was sitting here shaking my head.”

During Romney’s tenure, Republican enrollment fell an estimated five percent. New Gov. Deval Patrick is the first Democrat
to hold the office in 17 years, and he handily defeated Romney’s lieutenant governor, Kerry Healy, by 20 percentage points.

Andersen said that as Romney began touring the country, his positions on certain issues began to change and many in Massachusetts began to feel as though he was using their state as “the butt of many jokes” to curry favor with national
Republicans.

In 2004, one statehouse official said, Romney came to a crossroads where he could either dedicate himself to rebuilding the party as nervous Democrats awaited a backlash for legalizing gay marriage or focus on his own aspirations. Romney recruited 164 legislative candidates. Not one of them won.

Instead of focusing on seats the GOP could win, Romney “opted for quantity where it made him look good on the national level,” the official said.

Ron Vining, co-founder of MassRepublicansForTruth.com, which has issued reports highly critical of the former governor, said Romney disappeared from the state campaign trail.

“It’s a shame,” Vining said. “He was the white knight when he came in in 2002. He saved the party almost to destroy it himself.”

Vining managed two statehouse races in 2006, and he said requests to Romney’s office for either him or Healy to participate in fundraisers were never granted.

“I mean, he didn’t even campaign for Kerry Healy. He was MIA,” Vining said. “He was doing everything except trying to rebuild the party.”

Vining added that what he sees as the damage Romney inflicted on the state party will last for years. Vining said he is unaffiliated with any of the other candidates right now, but fears Romney as nominee would have an equally devastating effect on the national party.

“We have ultra-liberal Deval Patrick as our governor right now, and the only person you can blame for that is Mitt Romney,” Vining said. “Do you want a repeat of Massachusetts for the national GOP?”

National Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway echoed those sentiments.

Conway, who isn’t affiliated with any candidate, said that as she looks at the field, a number of questions arise when she considers Romney — particularly those dealing with the current shape of the state party.

“How in the world did you leave your own political family in shambles as you walked out the door?” Conway said.
She added that Romney’s travels as a potential candidate or chairman of the Republican Governors Association (RGA)
seemed to be more of a priority to Romney than strengthening the commonwealth’s GOP.

“How can you build up the state party if you’re never in the state?” she said.

Despite the onslaught of criticism from officials both in and out of the state, others said Romney did all he could in challenging election years in a challenging state environment.

Ron Kaufman, a Romney supporter, Republican National Committeeman and political director in the President George H.W. Bush’s White House, said Romney’s efforts were tireless.

Kaufman said he is good friends with former Massachusetts Republican Govs. William Weld and Paul Cellucci, but said neither of them worked as hard to rebuild the state party as Romney did.

Kaufman said the potential advantages of 2004 were wiped out by Sen. John Kerry’s (D-Mass.) nomination for the presidency.

“If it had been Howard  Dean on the ticket, I believe 2004 would’ve been a great year,” Kaufman said. “No one can fault [Romney] for lack of effort.”

Kaufman said knocks about Romney’s travels fail to take into account that the governor raised more money for the state party than any Massachusetts governor in history, and he did so through contacts he made as RGA chairman.

“Sure, he traveled some, as all these governors and congressmen do,” Kaufman said. “The bottom line is that traveling didn’t impinge on his ability to build the state party.”

One source said Romney created some enemies within his own party before and shortly after he was elected.

Those who were allied with his opponent, accustomed to “the old way of doing things” or who didn’t get patronage jobs hold grudges against the ex-governor, the source said.