Long-shot Republican gubernatorial candidate, Christy Mihos, made his pitch to an audience at Suffolk Law School last Wednesday, in the third installment of the Rappaport Center’s Gubernatorial Speaker Series.

Mihos, whose campaign has been struggling, is unsure if the state GOP will even put his name on the ballot, meaning Republican frontrunner, Charlie Baker, would have no opposition Republcan primary. He said that since Republicans are only 11 percent of the Massachusetts population, there needs to be a primary or they won’t win.

During the discussion Mihos talked a little bit about his stance on the issues, mainly taxes and healthcare. Mihos is the only candidate in favor of rolling the state sales tax down to three percent, and believes that doing this will allow residents near the New Hampshire border to compete with stores in New Hampshire. “I was in the gas business and people would drive the extra miles just to save a few pennies on gas. You think they’re not going to drive the extra miles in order to buy things where there’s no sales tax?”

Mihos also believes that lowering the sales tax could bring more out-of-state money in from places like Rhode Island. Mihos speculates that lowering the sales tax could possibly create about 39,000 private sector jobs. It also means about an extra $668 in the average taxpayer’s pocket.

Mihos is also against excessive government spending. He stated during the discussion that if elected he and all of his employees will be required to sign a contract that forbids them from taking a pension. He also proposed moving the RMV departments to the local city halls in order to save people the trouble of driving long distances and to hopefully increase business traffic on Main Street. “If Main Street is wrong, everything is wrong.” Mihos said during the discussion. He also intends to let the RMV keep the revenue it makes.

Mihos addressed building casinos, a big issue in the state. Although he’s personally against casinos, he is in favor of legalizing sports betting and having the state lottery run it. He also hopes to pay off the Western Turnpike bonds and end the tolls on those roads. It’s a four billion dollar industry that is going on despite being illegal and it would be best for the state to legalize it and have the state lottery run it, he said.

On the issue of healthcare Mihos has stated that “the middle class is being eviscerated by healthcare.” He says that there have been double digit increases in healthcare costs and that it’s becoming far too expensive. To solve this problem Mihos proposes introducing tort reform as well as capping malpractice awards to help lower the cost of healthcare.

Mihos was also asked why he thinks the Republicans should support him for this election. He reminded them that he’s always given more money to republican campaigns. He was also compared to other governors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Palin, both of which Mihos seemed to admire. “Sarah Palin is a great woman and it’s a shame how the media has degraded her.”

Mihos was adamant in advertising himself as a man of the people against big business, big labor, and big media. “If you like the status quo, or you’re okay with the status quo, vote for someone else.”