Mihos accuses GOP of discouraging potential rivals to Tisei

“The party really doesn’t want anybody else coming forward,’’ Mihos said. “I just think that’s too bad, because I think that it would behoove us to have another conservative coming forward.’’

Mihos, who insists he has no plans to name a running mate, said that perhaps he “misspoke’’ last month when he told reporters a running mate choice would be forthcoming. He said two prospective “conservative’’ candidates for the state’s second-highest office had been dissuaded by the Republican Party. He declined to identify either candidate.

“One has definitely stood down, at this point,’’ he said. “The other individual hasn’t made up a final decision yet.’’

Republican Party chairwoman Jennifer Nassour, in a statement to the State House News Service, disputed Mihos’s assertions.

’’The party enthusiastically encourages all dedicated and willing Republican candidates to run in 2010 and restore balance on Beacon Hill,’’ she said.

Mihos described Richard R. Tisei, the Senate minority leader and the only announced candidate for lieutenant governor, who is running with GOP frontrunner Charles Baker, as liberal and said Republican town committees and “citizen patriot groups’’ — a euphemism for the antigovernment Tea Party groups that have surfaced around the country — are dissatisfied with their options. ’’They just don’t see what they want,’’ he said.

Tisei was not immediately available for comment. A Baker campaign spokesman said primaries for governor or lieutenant governor are “fine’’ and said that Baker and Tisei would offer the same message about changing the status quo on Beacon Hill.

’’We’re running full force on that message with Christy there or with his running mate,’’ said the spokesman, Rick Gorka, noting the reported “contradiction’’ by Mihos about whether he would choose a lieutenant governor candidate. “It’s no surprise that Christy can’t get any traction. . . . Blaming people for your own problems is ridiculous.’’

Mihos, who owns a chain of convenience stores, infuriated Republicans when he ran as an independent for governor in 2006 and trained much of his fire on GOP candidate Kerry Healey, then lieutenant governor.

In a Friday interview, Mihos floated Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson as a lieutenant governor candidate with strong conservative credentials. Hodgson supporters have touted his credentials on social media websites, noting his popularity in Democratic hot spots like Fall River and New Bedford and his telegenic personality.

Hodgson, who is running for reelection, tamped down the speculation, telling the News Service yesterday that he is looking forward to his own work over “the next six years in Bristol County.’’

Mihos has challenged news reports about campaign checks bouncing and dismissed the importance of a handful of key staff members who abandoned his campaign. He said if he were elected governor with Tisei as his lieutenant, he would work with the longtime legislator to thwart the Democratic agenda.

’’I would work with him to show me how we can stop things that are getting done that are destroying and eviscerating the middle class and small business,’’ Mihos said. “I would work with him each and every day to stop this stuff from happening.’’

On Friday, Mihos pulled back from comments that he made to reporters last month when he said he was preparing to name a running mate that’s “really going to shake up this race.’’