Interviews - Christy Mihos - 2006 Massachusetts Gubernatorial Candidate - August 2, 2006

     Christy Mihos 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. In the 2006 Massachusetts Gubernatorial election, Mihos ran as an Independent.

     He owns the Christy's Markets convenience store chain on Cape Cod that his grandfather, Greek immigrant Christy Mihos, started in Brockton, Massachusetts in 1934. 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. 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. The next day, he held a rally at the Massachusetts State House to officially announce his candidacy.