FALCHUK HOPES 2014 BRINGS OPENING FOR INDEPENDENT GUV CANDIDATE By Andy Metzger STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE BOSTON, JUNE 5, 2013…..After more than a decade working with a diagnostic health company, Evan Falchuk has taken the temperature of Massachusetts voters and believes he could do some good in the state’s chief executive position. “The most important thing you can do in medicine is make sure you know what’s wrong before you start to do anything,” Falchuk, a 43-year-old lawyer who went to work for Best Doctors in 1999, said during an interview at his campaign headquarters on Tremont Street. “That is very much what this campaign is about, which is really a movement.” In one regard, Falchuk is not making it easy for himself in his campaign for governor since he won’t be aligned with the Republican and Democrats and their fundraising machines. A one-time Republican, the Newton father of three has established his own party, called the United Independent Party, which he said would limit his ability to fundraise, as donors can only give to him and his political action committee. “Look, I want to get elected, but this is about a much larger cause, which is that I live here, and I see what goes on, and I see a political process that isn’t working the way that it’s supposed to,” Falchuk told the News Service. “Sure if all I was interested was trying to get elected to something, that would be the easy way to go through a party; this is obviously not the easiest way to do this.” The 2014 field for governor could be crowded with people with an expertise in health care, as former Medicare and Medicaid chief Don Berwick weighs a run on the Democratic side, while health executive Joe Avellone mounts a campaign, and the path is open on the Republican side for Charlie Baker, former CEO of Harvard Pilgrim who ran in 2010 and now works for a venture capital company. State Treasurer Steven Grossman, a Democrat, is also considering a run for governor. Falchuk commissioned a poll in January by respected pollster David Paleologos to gauge the electorate’s take on various issues, such as their willingness to pay more for better schools – which had the support of 73 percent of Democrats, 46 percent of Republicans and 52 independents. “Would you support a candidate for statewide office who had no formal political experience, but who brought to the table a successful business track record in Massachusetts, and a centrist (moderate, middle-of-the-road) part platform focused on fiscally sane solutions and social freedoms – yes or no?” read one of the questions, which won the support of 58 percent of Democrats, 83 percent of Republicans and 81 percent of independents. The poll of 600 registered voters with a 4 percent margin of error found 61 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of independents list “a stronger state economy” as their most important issue, while 12 percent of Democrats have the same priority. Twenty-four percent of Democrats listed better education as their most important issue. Noting the former independent governorship of Angus King, now an independent senator who caucuses with the Democrats, Falchuk said “you can never let up on making sure that you protect people’s civil rights,” and said he would stand up for “marriage equality” and “reproductive freedom.” Falchuck said the state should spend more on successful non-profits, such as the small businessperson training program Interise, which he said received $45,000 from the state. He said state government should spend less on bottled water and office furnishings, which he said had cost $15 million over the last two years. “It’s about the priorities,” said Falchuk, who plans to address the Chinatown Resident Association Wednesday night. Noting a new rule requiring homeless who stay in a state-funded shelter to prove they slept in a place “not meant for human habitation,” Falchuk said, “If it can’t do something as simple as make sure that no child should sleep someplace not meant for human habitation, then what exactly is it for?” A Newton resident who grew up in that city, Falchuk is only one generation removed from unimaginable hardship. At the age of 13, his grandfather fled Russia after his family was killed by a militia because they were Jewish. Seeking America, the boy made it to the shores of Cuba where he lived on the beach and got a job working in sugar cane fields before moving to Venezuela, and making a decent enough living to send his children to the United States for schooling. “I look at that and I say, ‘There is no challenge that I have to deal with in life, in anything that I’ve done, that is going to be as challenging, hopefully, as anything my grandfather had to deal with,” said Falchuk. He said, “It’s certainly been something that has always kept the fire burning for me.” A fluent Spanish speaker, Falchuk said his company Best Doctors helped correct a misdiagnosis for a member of his family. A critic of the fee-for-service system of health care, Falchuk worked on last year’s health care cost reform, helping create a task force to look into the accuracy of medical diagnoses. Falchuk said there is a need for more spending on transportation, but he declined to take a position on the varying proposals currently pending on Beacon Hill to either redirect state spending, raise $500 million in new taxes, or raise $1.9 billion in new taxes. Early on, Falchuk gave his campaign $150,000 and he has raised about $15,000 between then and the end of May. He said he has not started serious fundraising yet. The candidate recently moved into an office overlooking Boston Common, and is bringing on staff. Campaign manager Jennifer Beltz said she has previously worked for Democratic congressmen. END 06/04/2013
Posted on: Fri, 07 Jun 2013 06:51:17 +0000