The New Republic reports:
When lieutenant governor Kerry Healey, a fellow Republican, called for suspending the state’s 23.5 cent gas tax during a price spike in May 2006, Romney rejected the idea, saying it would only further drive up gasoline consumption. “I don’t think that now is the time, and I’m not sure there will be the right time, for us to encourage the use of more gasoline,” Romney said, according to the Quincy Patriot Ledger’s report at the time. “I’m very much in favor of people recognizing that these high gasoline prices are probably here to stay.”
On the trail in recent days, Romney has been attacking the Obama administration for the high gas prices, urging for the firing of the “gas-hike trio,” — EPA administrator Lisa Jackson, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu, and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. He’s also noted that even if the employment numbers are getting better, the pain at the pump is hurting families’ pocketbooks.
UPDATE: “President Obama and his allies will do anything they can to rewrite history on and distract from Obama’s failed energy record,” e-mails Romney spokesperson Andrea Saul. “But no amount of excuses and election-year promises can change the fact that this President is to blame for stifling oil production and driving up prices at the pump. Gov. Romney believes the best way to help lower gas prices is for long-term structural reform, which is why he supports aggressive action to expand domestic production and guarantee the American people a reliable, affordable supply of energy for the future.”