Christy Mihos
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| Massachusetts Turnpike Commission Member: | July 1, 1999 - July 1, 2004 |
| Successor: | Daniel A. Grabauskas |
| Profession: | Convenience Store Franchise Owner/Politician |
| Wife: | Andrea Mihos |
| Residence: | Yarmouth, Massachusetts |
| Religion: | Greek Orthodox |
| Political Party: | Independent |
Christy P. Mihos (born 1950 in Brockton, Massachusetts) is an American politician and businessman from the U.S. state of Massachusetts. He served as a member of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority from 1999 to 2004. He was an Independent candidate for Governor of Massachusetts in 2006, losing to Deval Patrick on November 7th, 2006.
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[edit] Background
Mihos owns the Christy's Markets convenience store chain on Cape Cod that his grandfather, Greek immigrant Christy Mihos, started in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1934. Peter Mihos, Christy's father, and James Mihos, an uncle, ran the store along with the rest of their families until 1984. The chain once included 144 stores found throughout Eastern Massachusetts, but, in May 1998, he and his brother sold 132 of them to 7-Eleven. However, Mihos retained 12 Christy's on Cape Cod along with some real estate holdings.
Mihos graduated from Brockton High School, and did his undergraduate studies at Stonehill College in Easton, Massachusetts. In 1990, he ran for the Massachusetts Senate as a Republican. By only three votes Mihos lost the primary election to Robert Hedlund, who later won the general election. [1]
[edit] Tenure in the Turnpike Authority
In 1999, he was appointed to the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority by Acting Governor Paul Cellucci. During his tenure on the Authority, Mihos frequently clashed with Chairman Matt Amorello over a number of issues, in the name of "fiscal responsibility". In 2001, after voting to postpone a toll hike supported by Amorello, he was fired by Governor Jane Swift, along with Vice Chairman Jordan Levy. However, Mihos sued in the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts, claiming that the Governor did not have the authority to fire him, and won. He was reinstated to the Commission, along with Vice Chairman Levy. He later sued Governor Swift for violating his First Amendment right to free speech, and settled that case in U.S. District Court for $197,000.
In 2004, when Mihos' five-year term on the Authority expired, Governor Mitt Romney replaced him with Daniel A. Grabauskas, the 2002 Republican nominee for State Treasurer, a close Romney ally. During his term on the Authority, Mihos also served as a trustee of the University of Massachusetts.
[edit] Campaign for Governor
In late 2005, Mihos announced that he was thinking of running for Governor in 2006, under the condition that Governor Romney would not run. After Romney announced that he would not seek re-election, Christy decided to pursue his candidacy further. Lieutenant Governor Kerry Healey had won the support of Romney and the majority of the state Republican leadership for the nomination, so Mihos decided on the Independent route. Healey, fearing that Mihos' candidacy as an Independent would siphon off votes in the general election, offered to guarantee him the 15% of the delegates necessary at the state convention to get on the primary ballot, if he were to run as a Republican. Massachusetts Republican Chairman, Darrell W. Crate, is CFO and VP of Affiliated Managers Group where Sean Healey, husband of Kerry Murphy Healey is president and CEO presenting a party confict of interest. [2] Mihos chose not to accept the offer and said in a televised interview on March 2, 2006 that he would be an Independent candidate for Governor. [3] The next day, he held a rally at the Massachusetts State House to officially announce his candidacy.
A centerpiece for Mihos's platform in his run for Governor was what he called "Proposition 1," a plan to dedicate 40% of the state's budget to aid for the cities, end annual re-assessment of property taxes (similar to California Proposition 13), and eliminate fees for public education. This is not affiliated with the Proposition 1 on the ballot during the election, which, if it had passed, would have allowed convenience and grocery stores to obtain licenses to sell alcohol. He has stated that he is a supporter of the right to choose, same-sex marriage (although he supports sending the issue to the voters for a final decision on the matter), and adoption by same-sex couples. In addition, he had pledged to enact campaign finance reform laws.
On June 8, 2006, he announced that he had selected John J. Sullivan, a Winchester, Massachusetts town moderator and lifelong Democrat, to be his running mate.
Mihos generated controversy in September of 2006 by airing an animated political commercial showing a Big Dig engineer and politicians with, literally, their heads up their behinds (see link below for multimedia).
Mihos did not win the Governor's election, garnering approximately 7% of the popular vote, statewide.
