Ambitions grow and stances shift

Romney's reason for rejecting the initiative — that he wanted to protect jobs — was consistent with a major promise of his 2002 campaign, during which he declared: "My program for creating jobs is second to none in the entire history of this state." Romney inherited a sluggish economy. Hammered by a collapse in some technology sectors, Massachusetts lost 205,100 jobs, or about 6 percent of its workforce between February 2001 and December 2003, the end of his first year in office.

The climate improved, but by the end of Romney's term, the state had generated only 24,400 net new jobs, a 0.8 percent increase and the fourth-weakest rate of job growth among all states over that time, according to an analysis by Moody's Economy.com, an independent research group.

Nonetheless, Romney's policies are credited with improving the state's competitiveness. His administration promoted high-density development to increase housing production, got a fast-track permitting law enacted by the Legislature to help businesses expand and revived an agency to help firms move to the state.

Under Ranch C. Kimball, who became Romney's secretary of economic development in 2004, the number of companies in the Massachusetts development pipeline jumped from 13 to 288 in three years.

Last year, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. chose an 89-acre site at the former Fort Devens over one in North Carolina for a $660 million complex that will create 550 jobs. The deal required a customized tax credit, a $34 million infrastructure bond, and an unusual show of teamwork by Romney and the Legislature.

Christopher Anderson, president of the Massachusetts High Technology Council, said Romney, again working closely with Kennedy, was impressive in the campaign to spare Hanscom Air Force Base and other facilities in the state from a 2005 round of base closings that threatened 33,000 jobs.

A spokesman said Romney each year met an average of about 50 chief executives who were considering expanding or locating in the state. A persistent complaint in the business sector, however, is that Romney never fulfilled his promise to be a Massachusetts cheerleader around the country and that he spent too much time lampooning the Bay State's liberal political culture while selling himself to national Republican activists.

"Instead of serving as the Commonwealth's number one salesperson to encourage firms to locate in the state, he tended to poke fun at the state," said Brian R. Gilmore, executive vice president of Associated Industries of Massachusetts, which represents 7,600 businesses.

"Significant successes," such as health-care reform "showed what Romney might have accomplished as governor had he focused his efforts more steadily on state policy leadership," Gilmore said.

Rejects criticism