Romney says media distort his views

Governor Mitt Romney said yesterday that reports he has shifted to the political right to attract Republican primary voters are Boston media distortions, and emphasized that his positions are considered moderate on the national scene.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Globe a week after announcing he will not seek reelection, Romney insisted he has remained consistent throughout his tenure in the corner office, adhering to positions he staked out in his 2002 gubernatorial campaign.

The governor also pledged that any presidential ambitions he harbors will not dictate his agenda on Beacon Hill.

''The Boston media will be intent on trying to show that I have changed positions and moved right," the governor said. ''It does that distorting effort on a regular basis. It will also ignore those positions that are inconsistent with that view."

Romney created a stir in July when he said that his views on abortion had ''evolved and deepened" since becoming governor and described himself for the first time publicly as ''prolife." He also said that the nation's laws should be changed to reflect that abortion is wrong. In the interview yesterday, he said he has always maintained that he would not change the abortion laws in Massachusetts and has kept that promise.

He also said that in 2002 he made clear he opposed the legalization of same-sex marriages and civil unions, positions he has touted in speeches to GOP groups around the country.

''The truth is that those are the positions I espoused during my campaign, and I have worked entirely consistent with those positions," he said.

''In Washington, my positions are considered moderate views, but in Massachusetts, it is not," Romney said.

Sitting in his State House office, which had earlier filled with smoke because of an ill-laid fire in the fireplace, Romney said he has no fears that he will lose clout on Beacon Hill because of his lame-duck status. He said his clout will be enhanced because he can now make decisions without worrying about whether they will affect his chances of getting reelected. It is an argument that one of his predecessors, Michael S. Dukakis, used when he declared he would not seek reelection nearly two years before his term expired.

''As I bring forward issues, it is clear that this is not something I am using for my reelection campaign," Romney said. ''The Legislature can look at them with a nonpolitical light."

Romney contended that political considerations are not the major factor behind his positions. For example, he said yesterday, he opposes the teaching of intelligent design in science classes in public schools, a stance at odds with some conservative voters. He said he arrived at that position without consulting his national political adviser, Michael Murphy.

The governor also said he planned next month in his State of the State address to outline an aggressive final-year agenda, that among other things will include an education bill to add 1,000 teachers, provide laptops to students, and speed the turnaround time for failing schools to improve.

Romney vowed to work more closely with teachers unions, often the most potent opposition to his education plans, during the next year.

''I'm going to work more directly with them than I have in the past, and I would like to sit down and talk with them," Romney said.

Romney has at times been criticized for a lack of engagement with rank-and-file legislators and others involved in the political process, including the business and environmental community. But yesterday he batted away any suggestion that he has not connected well with various constituencies. He cited his good working relationship with the Democratic legislative leadership, while acknowledging that he is an outsider to the political establishment.

''As Popeye said, 'I am what I am,' " Romney said. ''I am certainly not one of the old political players on Beacon Hill. I came from the private sector. There is an advantage to that and, I am sure, disadvantages. But I think it is helpful for people to come from outside the building and make a contribution."

As he considers the 2008 presidential landscape, Romney appears sensitive to the pitfalls that doomed the presidential candidacy of his father, former Michigan governor George W. Romney, in 1968. He laid the blame on an aggressive ''gotcha" journalism that he sees as just as active in today's public life.

The elder Romney's campaign unraveled when he said that, after a trip to Vietnam, he had been ''brainwashed" by American officials defending the war effort. His son said he was overseas on Mormon missionary work at the time of his father's campaign, but that the reasons for its collapse are deeply etched in his memory.

''I am probably more sensitive than most over the ability of something that can be taken out of context or turned into a 'gotcha,' " Romney said. ''That is part of public life today. There is a constant effort on part of those writing stories to get you in a 'gotcha.' "

He said he became most aware of the media's questioning tactics when he took over the management of the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, where he said reporters tried to trap him into admitting there were some circumstances under which he would cancel the games.

''I have become more sensitive that there are questions if you answer them the way they are intended to be answered will lead to a result you have not intended," Romney said.

The governor also displayed some political bravado, saying he is confident he could easily have won reelection, if he had chosen to run again.

''I was confident I would have no difficulties beating Tom Reilly," said Romney, referring to the attorney general who is running for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination.

''When I go out on the street, I get nothing but appreciation and thanks for the service," he said, citing his appearance Tuesday night on WRKO's radio talk show hosted by Howie Carr, where the host and every caller, he said, praised his tenure as governor and urged him to stay on.