Mihos embraces a political legacy

WATERTOWN -- Under a massive tent outside the Taxiarchae Archangels Church, dozens of people looked up from their moussaka and loukoumathes to find a certain candidate for governor gazing down on them.

``Are you Greek?" he inquired with a knowing smile.

The rest of the conversation was easy for Christy Mihos, grandson of Greek immigrants, lifelong member of the Greek Orthodox Church, and former member of the band the Bouzouki Fantasy. He had something in common with everyone at a recent Greek festival in Watertown.

There was Andy Chiklakis, former member of the 1960s band Glentzethes , which Mihos declared ``the greatest Greek band ever." There was Litsa Primes, who was from the same Greek town where Mihos's wife's mother's cousin was once mayor. And there was George Papadopoulos, who was waiting in the gyros line.

``I know a thousand George Papadopouloses," Mihos cried, pumping Papadopoulos's hand. ``Now I know one more!"

He may be better known as a convenience store magnate and nemesis of the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority. But as the campaign season heats up, Mihos also hopes to become known as the state's next Greek-American political star.

Members of a settled and successful immigrant community with traditional love of politics, Greek-Americans have risen to the highest echelons of power in the state; in the 1970s and '80s, they helped elect Nicholas Mavroules to Congress, Paul E. Tsongas to the US Senate, and Michael S. Dukakis to the governor's office.

Now, Mihos hopes to harness some of that ethnic pride to power his campaign for governor. Several of his top aides are Greek-American, including Nicole Nionakis , his new press secretary; Evan Kostorizos , his director of community outreach; and Frances Levas , his chief fund-raiser, who has also been a longtime fund-raiser. Many of his contributors have Greek-American surnames. This summer, Mihos plans to visit every Greek festival he can squeeze into his schedule.

A self-styled maverick who bolted from the Republican Party in March, Mihos said his politics naturally resonate with Greek-Americans.

``The Greeks were first and foremost in developing democracy, and they're very, very passionate about politics," he said. ``They want to see government do the right thing at all levels. They get very, very upset when government strays."

Indeed, Alexandra Lappas, 60, an accountant from Waltham, who met Mihos through a mutual friend who is also Greek-American, said she gave $400 to Mihos because she was impressed by his battles with the Turnpike Authority. ``He stood his ground," she said.

The political success of Greek-Americans in Massachusetts seems to belie their number. In the 2000 US Census, fewer than 80,000 Massachusetts residents listed their primary ancestry as Greek -- less than 2 percent of the state's population.

Greeks first arrived in Massachusetts around the turn of the last century, said Nicholas Karas, an amateur historian from Lowell who has written three books about Greek immigrants in his city. Most were poor with no schooling or work skills, he said, so they gravitated to towns like Lowell, Peabody, and Lynn, where they could quickly get a mill or factory job. Others became entrepreneurs -- like Mihos's grandfather, who started a small market in Brockton.

A second wave arrived after World War II, when the United States relaxed its immigration rules and thousands of young Greeks left their war-torn country, Karas said; still others came later for college and graduate school. A strong cultural emphasis on education and cultural assimilation helped the community vault into the professional class, he said; today, many of Boston's professors, doctors, lawyers, and businessmen are Greek.

Recalling the lively debates around his own family's dinner table, Dukakis said Greek immigrants passed on their love of politics to their children.

``Every Greek is his own prime minister," Dukakis said. ``In Greece, you see the women working in the fields and the men sitting around drinking coffee and talking about politics."

Intensely proud of Dukakis, the community threw huge financial and electoral support to his campaigns for governor and president. In his 1988 presidential campaign, Dukakis recalled that he finally agreed to accept Secret Service protection after a rally in Queens, N.Y., when he ``almost got trampled to death by 50,000 absolutely wild Greeks," he said with a laugh.

But whether Mihos can harness the same energy remains in question.

Karas said he recalls the ``tremendous outpouring of support" for Dukakis in the 1970s and 1980s -- and sees nothing like it this year.

George Kariotis, a Republican from Wayland who unsuccessfully challenged Dukakis for governor in 1986, is exactly the kind of voter Mihos is targeting. Kariotis said he is disenchanted with both the Romney-Healey administration and the Democratic candidates for governor. Still, he said he has not thrown his support to Mihos because he thinks Mihos has little chance of winning.

``Christy does not have the Democrats or the Republicans with him, so I'm afraid he's fighting a very long struggle there," he said.

At the Watertown festival, sentiment about Mihos's candidacy seemed to be mixed.

Liberty Polamos , a 70-year-old Republican from Belmont, said she had read about Mihos and knew his convenience stores.

``He's very good," she said. ``Why not? If he's Greek, I'll give him a vote."

Papadopoulos, 40, an undeclared voter who runs a deli, said he had not paid much attention to the governor's race yet. But he said ethnicity would not sway him.

``I'm proud he's Greek and he's running, but he has to be the right man for the job," he said.