Evan Falchuk & Rob Rizzuto

Evan Falchuk, independent candidate for governor of Massachusetts, left, awaits an interview by Robert Rizzuto, politics reporter for the Republican/MassLive.com, inside the studios of CBS-3 Springfield at Monarch Place last summer.

(Michael S. Gordon / The Repubican file)

SPRINGFIELD — Evan Falchuk, an independent gubernatorial candidate from Newton says that if he makes it to the corner office on Beacon Hill, state campaign finance regulations benefiting candidates from the commonwealth's two official political parties are among his top priorities for reform.

Falchuk, who along with promoting his candidacy is pushing for the establishment of a third political party in Massachusetts, says that he's learned first-hand that the state's campaign finance contribution limits benefit Democratic and Republican candidates over anyone trying to represent the people as an independent.

According to state law, people looking to put their cash behind any one of the candidates in the race are allowed to contribute a maximum of $500 to the candidate, regardless of their political affiliation. But those looking to boost the campaign of registered Democrats or Republicans in the race can toss up to $5,000 toward the respective political party's state account and an additional $10,000 to its federal account, all of which can be spent on the candidate's behalf.

Falchuk, on the other hand, can accept $500 from individuals and the same people can also contribute an additional $500 to his United Independent Party's political action committee - one-fifteenth of the limit to which Democrats and Republicans are held.

Falchuk, a lawyer and former head of a Boston-based health care company, said that he has raised approximately $100,000 and also recently gave himself around $300,000 via his campaign account to make up for the disparity in legal fund-raising guidelines. And he is hopeful that his platform of "socially progressive and fiscally pragmatic" positions will help him win the race so he can change the system.

"As a candidate, there is nothing that is going to change during this race to make it more fair. I'll still raise $1,000 and they'll still raise $15,000," Falchuk said. "But when I'm governor, there is one heck of an argument for questioning just how much money you need to run and win an election if I do it by raising significantly less than my opponents."

Furthermore, so-called People's Pledge agreements, typically modeled after the super PAC-curbing agreement signed in the 2012 U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, don't cover spending from an official political party, another point with which Falchuk takes issue.

"There is this idea that we need to keep unregulated, undisclosed money out of politics but what about all that unregulated money that comes from the party organizations," Falchuk said. "It flows too and although you know who donated the money to the party, you don't know who at the party is making the decision and what the strings are that are attached to the millions of dollars. You need things like the People's Pledge but the problem with them is that they often don't go far enough. "

Falchuk said that popular talking points like saying you are for Congress acting to overturn the Supreme Court's Citizen's United decision, which severely limited campaign finance regulations, are typically just that - talk. He said that only an independent candidate and elected official would have the reason to change the system.



"This always comes back to us as voters to say that we don't like this and we have to do something about it. The trouble is right now that as we have just Republicans and Democrats who are benefiting from the system, they have no incentive to change it. They have had plenty of opportunities to do something and they have not."

Falchuk isn't the only independent candidate in the race although his campaign coffers are presently the most well-equipped among the trio of diverse candidates. The Dec. 16 reports filed with the state Office of Campaign & Political Finance indicate that Falchuk has about $23,000 remaining in his account.

Jeffrey McCormick, a founder of the Boston venture capital firm Saturn Partners, has also entered the race as an independent. His account only shows a positive balance of approximately $6,500.

Anti-gay minister Scott Lively, who is the race's evangelical conservative independent candidate, had just around $2,300 in his account.

Democratic candidates running include Don Berwick, a former Medicare administrator, state Attorney General Martha Coakley, state Treasurer Steven Grossman, former homeland security administrator Juliette Kayyem and Joe Avellone III, a surgeon and former Wellesley selectman.

Charlie Baker, who unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2010, is facing a challenge for the Republican Party's nomination from Tea Party member Mark Fisher of Shrewsbury. Baker also is running as a team with lieutenant governor candidate Karyn Polito, a former state representative who ran unsuccessfully for state treasurer in 2010.

The primary election in the gubernatorial race will take place on Sept. 16, 2014 with the general election slated for Nov. 4.