"The truth is, if you look at the record, it's a heck of a lot more than I expected I'd get done in four years," said Romney. "I'll put it up against any other governor's in America, not because I'm brilliant, but because the Legislature and we did pretty well together."

But even close aides acknowledge he had little interest in playing by the old rules of the State House, and not just because his was the minority party.

A quintessential solo act who governed as an outside reformer, Romney detached himself from the hothouse of Beacon Hill politics.

He met often with leadership, but many lawmakers complained that he rarely tried to negotiate and developed few relationships that went beyond pleasantries, unlike previous Republican governors.

One predecessor, William F. Weld, once traded his support for a legislative pay raise in return for leadership's promise to cut the capital gains tax.

"Weld had a genuine curiosity about the people in the building and what made them tick, and how to develop functional relationships that proved to be productive in the clinch," said Thomas M. Finneran, House speaker for the first 21 months of Romney's term. "Romney was considerably more reserved."

Romney said his approach was based on principle. "I don't think that government is about doing favors for people," he said. "I think it's doing the right thing for the folks we represent."

Romney did cultivate at least one Democrat, Representative James E. Vallee, a legislative leader who fought for high-profile bills backed by the governor.

"The first couple of years, he'd call me on my cellphone and we met maybe a dozen times," Vallee recalled. "He supported me when I was going against the grain of my own colleagues."

A few days before he left office, Romney thanked Vallee and asked whether there was anything he could do for him, Vallee recalled.

The Legislature had passed a home-rule petition for an additional liquor license in his home town of Franklin. Vallee asked Romney to sign it.

"I'll take care of it before I leave," Vallee quoted Romney as saying.

The Franklin petition was in a stack of last-minute bills left unsigned on Romney's desk.

Romney said he did not recall the conversation with Vallee.

Staging a transition

On the evening of Jan. 3, in the custom of departing governors, Romney took his final walk out of the State House. Like so many Romney events, it was a masterpiece of political stagecraft.

With cameras recording, he left his third-floor office, and, with his wife, Ann, descended the 31 steps of the State House. Along the way, he made a series of planned stops designed to highlight his record.