What’s Christy worth?
A lot, apparently. Mihos has promised on more than one occasion that he “won’t be outspent” in his run for governor. Since Republican front-runner Kerry Healey’s husband Sean Healey, the CEO of Affiliated Managers Group, recently sold $13 million in AMG stock, this may be Mihos’s way of saying he can spend at least that much.
But can he? In 1998, Mihos and his brother James sold their 142 Christy’s convenience stores to 7-Eleven’s parent company. Christy’s started as a single grocery store; when Christy and James took over in the late ’70s, there were about40 stores.This is the source of Mihos’s cash. (Mihos later bought back 10 stores on Cape Cod.) But because it was a private transaction, the terms of the sale remain a mystery.
He’s got more money than most of us, obviously — witness his $6.5 million home and the $5.5 million investment property located next door. Still, there’s reason to think Mihos may have allowed an exaggerated notion of his wealth to develop. Exhibit A: a $4.5 million mortgage from Citizens Bank that Mihos and his wife, Andrea, took out on their home in 2004.
Asked about this mortgage, Mihos says it’s actually a line of credit, and that he won’t need it to fund his campaign. He also backs off his vow not to be outspent. “I’m going to spend enough to be elected, okay?” Mihos says. “I won’t have to use that line of credit or sell houses or anything like that. It will certainly not be a hamster-driven campaign . . . . I’m going to spend enough to win.”
— A.R.