Simou stood in his store again yesterday and wondered something else: Why would Gov. Mitt Romney deny funding to a project that could steer the water away from his store?

"If the governor wants to see the pictures, I could send them," Simou said, pointing to photographs of his store under 4 feet of water during last April's flood. "Let's go all together down to Boston."

City officials weren't quite ready to call for a march on the Statehouse yesterday, but they came close after Romney on Friday vetoed $5.7 million in state funding for flood mitigation efforts — money that would probably have been matched four times over by the federal government.

And officials were even more angry at Romney's claim yesterday that he rejected the spending because city leaders had not given him enough information on why it was needed.

"Gov. Romney is not a rubber stamp," the governor's spokeswoman, Shawn Feddeman, said yesterday. "If there's no information to support a particular project or program, our inclination would be to err on the side of caution and wait until a rationale is articulated. In this case we tried to reach out to Peabody city hall to get more information, and we were unsuccessful in our efforts."

City officials, however, said they'd made repeated efforts to discuss the issue with Romney's office. At a City Hall press conference on Sunday, elected officials distributed a timeline describing their efforts to reach Romney, including several unreturned telephone calls in the weeks after the Legislature approved the state funding. According to the timeline, Romney's office did not return calls until last Thursday, the day before Romney's veto.

When they finally did reach state officials, however, city officials believed they were making progress. State Sen. Frederick Berry described a Thursday telephone conversation with Romney's secretary for administration and finance, Eric Kriss, in which Berry described the flooding problem and asked for the governor's support.

"His line to me was, 'You're beginning to make a much more substantial case,'" Berry said, "so I was really shocked when I heard about the veto Friday afternoon, because I thought we'd finally got their attention."

Asked about Berry's conversation with Kriss, Feddeman said only, "We tried to reach out to Peabody city officials and were unsuccessful."

"Apparently," Berry said, "they don't consider a state senator a Peabody official."

Feddeman said Romney's office called Peabody City Hall twice last week, but said she did not know if they left a message. City Hall was closed for part of last week due to the death of former Mayor Peter Torigian, but Mayor Mike Bonfanti said he had informed Romney's office of the closing. He also said he had checked his messages throughout the week.

"If the governor called, you can believe I'd call back," Bonfanti said.

And Berry — who led the legislative effort on behalf of state Reps. Joyce Spiliotis and Theodore Speliotis — said the state appropriation had been recommended by the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency, which is controlled by Romney and which would have overseen the spending. The state agency believed that it would have a better chance getting federal support if the state showed its commitment to the problem through its own appropriation.

"We had done exactly what they asked us to do: work with the administration, go get the seed money," Berry said.

Bonfanti, Berry, and both state representatives sent a letter to Romney yesterday expressing "great disappointment" with his decision, and asking why Romney vetoed the money when he had declared Peabody a disaster area in April and lobbied President Bush for federal assistance.

"We do not understand why something that was a good idea in April is now a bad idea in September," they wrote. "Your letter to President Bush requesting federal aid showed a clear understanding of the problem facing Peabody homeowners and businesses.

"Your administration recommended that state funds be used to leverage greater federal funding. Governor, what has changed since that time?"

Simou, the dry cleaner, said he would do whatever Bonfanti wanted to help convince the governor to change his mind.

"I am with the mayor if he needs any help," Simou said. "But we have to go all together. If we go only one, they will not listen to us."

THE NEXT STEPS

Peabody officials haven't given up on getting state funding for their flood mitigation efforts, but their options are limited.

The Legislature cannot override the governor's veto because it is not in formal session. And legislators cannot propose their own spending bills again until January, when the next session begins.

The governor, however, can recommend spending before then, and Peabody legislators said they hope to convince Romney to change his mind about the flood money and re-introduce the proposal.

"He could file that bill and he could tell his Republican colleagues that he wanted this," state Sen. Frederick Berry said.

Failing that, Berry said he would propose the spending in January. And state Rep. Joyce Spiliotis said she would do all she could to convince Romney to support the legislation if it crosses his desk again.

"If there was some sort of a misunderstanding, I think all of us are willing to work with the administration," she said.

But Berry said time is not on the city's side.

"Federal money is so competitive, the more you wait ... the tighter that money gets," Berry said.