“I think he’s a very quick study,” says Jones, “That’s when you don’t really know the issues, and you immerse yourself in something, and come to understand it in a very short time.”

Romney, by all accounts, has used his first five months as governor aggressively, recruiting a transition team and cabinet from a diverse range of backgrounds and political affiliations and proposing bold reforms.

“He encourages healthy debate and vigorous expressions of opinion,” says Healey, “But he is definitely not ruled by consensus. In the end, he draws his own conclusion.”

Radical Restructuring

Some of those conclusions have been controversial.

Romney’s plans for “radical restructuring” of state government have at times been met with upheaval.

“One person’s efficiency is another person’s cuts,” says Harvard Graduate School of Education (GSE) Professor of Education and Social Policy, Gary A. Orfield. “And we can’t cut the fat without cutting the bone.”

Orfield says that Romney’s proposed restructuring of the state university system—which would eliminate the position of University of Mass. President William T. Bulger, and allow individual campuses to “spin off” by setting their own course—would actually force the campuses to compete for fewer resources.

But Healey says that Romney’s reorganization plan would mean less in terms of overall cuts to higher education than those proposed by the House or the Senate.

“We’re hoping that what they’ll embrace is the structural reforms of government as well as the financial cuts,” she says.

Romney has restructured the governor’s office, creating “clusters” within his cabinet that are designed to find creative approaches to coordinating the way the state provides services.

“It creates an opportunity for cross fertilization and some really different ways of thinking,” says Secretary of Elder Affairs Jennifer D. Carey ’78.

Carey says she has used the resources of other secretaries in her “cluster” to design new combinations of services for aging baby boomers.

Romney’s creation of two new secretarial positions—education and commonwealth development—are expected to be rubber-stamped by both the Senate and House in their budget proposals.

But many of his biggest cuts won’t go through or will be reduced in the legislature.