Business thrives if voters do

Every four years, Republican and Democratic candidates for governor vie over who'd be the best friend to the business community, especially to Massachusetts' tens of thousands of small businesses.

But as an independent and a small-business owner himself, candidate Christy Mihos has a very different view of what the next governor can best do to help such companies as his 10-store Christy's Markets chain on Cape Cod.

``Don't worry about me," Mihos said in an appearance on ``This Week in Business" to be shown on New England Cable News today. ``The only thing a governor can do is take away the stress and burden that fall on my customers each and every day. Take away their fees, their fines, their taxes [and] just make it so that people that are coming in to see me are happy and can afford to live here."

Evoking the spirit of former president Ronald Reagan, Mihos said the best thing government can do is get out of the way: ``Don't worry about small business. Take away some of the red tape and all, but you've got to make the state more affordable so that people have disposable income and they can buy things. If they don't have any money to buy, we're all out of business."

Mihos, 57, is the grandson of a Greek immigrant whose family built a Brockton supermarket into what became the second-largest chain of convenience stores in New England. The Yarmouth resident's 10 stores are a remnant of the 142-store operation he and his brother James sold to the parent company of 7-Eleven in 1998.

Mihos broke from the Republican Party in March to launch a maverick campaign. He had served on the board of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority from 1999 to 2004, blasting cost overruns on the $14 billion Central Artery project and successfully battling through the state's highest court a 2001 attempt by then-acting governor Jane M. Swift to fire him for delaying a toll hike -- a battle that alienated him from the GOP and set up this year's campaign.

Mihos is the second of the four candidates to appear on the NECN show, which is shown at 12:30 p.m. today. Lieutenant Governor Kerry M. Healey , the Republican nominee, was on last Sunday. Democrat Deval L. Patrick is scheduled to appear next week, and Green-Rainbow Party candidate Grace Ross on Oct. 29.

In his campaign platform, Mihos is pledging huge state tax and fee cuts, sharp increases in state aid to cities and towns, and increased spending on popular local projects. Besides favoring reducing the state income tax rate to 5 percent, which would cut state revenues by $700 million, Mihos favors indexing all state tax deductions to inflation, which would cost the state hundreds of millions over time; increasing local aid $1.7 billion; opposing any hike in MBTA fares; cancel ing Mass. Pike tolls west of Weston; and spending at least $700 million to extend commuter rail to New Bedford and Fall River and $300 million to extend the T Blue Line to Lynn, plus $300 million for a biotechnology development bond for Springfield.

Pressed on how he could possibly fund all of those proposals, Mihos said, ``You just prioritize. It's not going to happen overnight."

Of all the items in his plan, the local aid increase would come first. ``First and foremost, I've got to get as much local aid back to these cities and towns as possible. Their budgets have been starved over the last three years."

Mihos said he would impose a 12 percent across-the-board cut in other state spending and use competitive bidding to save as much as $200 million in running the state's Medicaid program. To increase revenues, Mihos said, he backs allowing slot machines at the state's four race tracks to bring in $350 million to $500 million annually. By banning them now , Mihos said, ``We're giving foreign aid to Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Maine" by encouraging Bay State residents to gamble there .

To control soaring health care costs, Mihos said, he wants to take steps such as revamping and lowering malpractice insurance and getting more bulk-purchase discounts on pharmaceuticals for participants in government-run health plans.

But he said that if steps like those fail, ``we're going to have to regulate this industry, because when it was regulated, we didn't get these wild increases in costs."

Most recent polls show Mihos drawing usually 7 to 9 percent of voters, most of whom analysts think would otherwise back Healey. And in most debates Mihos has fiercely attacked Healey while often praising Patrick.

But asked whether he'd accept a position in a Patrick administration if the Democrat is elected, Mihos said: ``No. I'm going back to be Christy from Christy's. Really."

Peter J. Howe can be reached at howe@globe.com.