Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt is a successful pool construction entrepreneur
turned politician.
One of four elected officials governing an area of California with a population of 2.4 million
and the most powerful public official in America
affiliated with the Libertarian Party.
I always think about is it hurting somebody,
is there something I can do to lessen the imposition of the government
and have it instead defend our rights like it's supposed to.
At a recent meeting of the board of supervisors
when a bill to regulate the sales of home baked goods came up for discussion
Hewitt dissented.
I remember back in the 50s and early 60s
my mother would make apple pies for Law's Coffee Shop
up in Oak Glen.
So back then it wasn't a problem
I think most people around Oak Glen made them for the restaurants
and I don't think anybody ever died from that.
My background comes from starting my own business when I was 19.
Just digging swimming pools.
Eventually I got to building pools, but the things I learned about that
were to get through the tough times, bring in my budget
and in those really great times, you know, still put some stuff away
so I could survive to see the next day.
Before he was elected to his county seat in November 2018
Hewitt was Mayor of the town of Calimesa
where he cut ties with the state fire agency because it was charging too much.
It's common knowledge around electeds,
nobody goes against fire because that's political suicide.
So I basically was able to convince my colleagues over there
that don't worry about getting reelected, let's do the right thing.
In 2018 Hewitt, whose largest donor was libertarian tomato magnate Chris Rufer
spent less than half the money campaigning
than did his union backed establishment republican opponent
and won anyway.
He says that the Riverside County Libertarian Party has seen a 42% spike in registration
since his victory.
The nice thing about being a libertarian is we could reach out
to the democrats on a lot of things
especially social issues that we agree on
and we can also reach out to the republicans ona lot of the fiscal and regulatory issues.
So it put us in a really good place
and this is what I think a lot of libertarians don't understand
we are the great consensus builders and peace makers
and we need to go ahead and market that.
Hewitt's district is historically republican but has skewed democrat in recent years
something he says he was able to capitalize on to best his opponent.
One of the biggest mistakes that libertarians make
is to think that democrats are harder to persuade than the republicans are.
Now on social issues, criminal justice reform, we're right there with them
we've already made a connection there.
A little bit tougher is to say look you want to go ahead and make people's lives better
economically
let me show you how free market systems have worked for me.
Don't even need to use the word Capitalism
but that sell is a little bit easier believe it or not than people think.
On our board we have two democrats and two republicans.
I'm a libertarian allows me to not only build a consensus
but when there's very contentious issues, I can be that swing vote too.
So being a libertarian is the most important thing to me and it's who I am.
And to aspiring Libertarian Party politicians Hewitt's advice is to pick winnable races
and focus more attention on the basics.
Like public speaking and social skills.
Take toastmasters and get to know how to speak in public and also make friends.
Like me, get appointed to a planning commission, you make friends there,
relationships, you start building trust int he community
and now people don't care if you're libertarian or whatever you are.
You're going to be someone that they're gonna have an easier time voting for.
But despite h is electoral success,
Hewitt still faces considerable opposition from his fellow board members on several core issues.
He dissented from an agreement the board reached with the Service Employees Union
that he believed would ultimately bankrupt the county.
Others on the board, including conservative republicans voted for the agreement.
I sincerely respect the issues being raised by my colleague supervisor Hewitt.
He's right on the money , we have to start somewhere
and I just don't think that it starts with going after our employees
I think it starts up here at that dais, going after the bigger picture issues that we face today.
But Hewitt believes that if he sticks with his principles,
he'll inspire other libertarians to join him in the fight.
Pick a race that you can win.
A lot of these local races, they're actually still very powerful
but they don't cost a lot of money.
From two to four years, maybe ten years,
all of a sudden you're in a very impactful position,
you can really make a lot of big changes
then it won't be so lonely for me.