Re-elect Jeff Hewitt to Rivco BOS

Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt faces three challengers in his bid for re-election to the Board of Supervisors. As supervisor, Hewitt has been a needed fiscal hawk on a spendthrift board and a champion of limited government. While he is certainly not perfect, his challengers offer little reason to oust him. Accordingly, we endorse his re-election.

Four years ago, this editorial board endorsed Hewitt, arguing that one of his key strengths was the fact that he was “untied to the political establishment, Hewitt is the rare sort of politician who can get straight to the point about the problems of county government and speak honestly about what needs to be done.”

In the years since, Hewitt has consistently used his position as county supervisor to ring the alarm about the county’s bloated pension obligations, which now stand at over $2 billion even after the remarkable stock market rally of 2020-2021.

Hewitt hasn’t feared taking difficult stands, either, including voting against costly contracts for the Riverside Sheriff’s Association. In 2019, he cast the lone vote against a contract providing up to a 20%, arguing such increases were unsustainable given the trajectory of the county’s finances.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hewitt has also been a vocal critic of the heavyhanded and arbitrary approach of Gov. Gavin Newsom. He pressed the county to hold substantive discussions over how to ease conditions for businesses and worked to figure out how to safely allow for nursing home visitations in order to combat the plague of loneliness among isolated seniors.

“I am calling upon everyone to continue to socially distance, wear their face masks and wash their hands,” he argued in a May 2020 op-ed in these pages. “The main difference between my recommendation and current policy is that I think this should be done voluntarily. Snitch lines and other punitive measures only serve to divide us, and fail to serve as a true means of security.”

Of course, Hewitt is not perfect. He has faced allegations of harassment, which he disputes. We believe in due process and will refrain from judgment until the facts of a pending lawsuit against him are resolved. In March, county spokesperson Brooke Federico indicated the county itself had denied the claim “after careful consideration...based on the facts.”

Meanwhile, Hewitt’s challengers offer less-than-compelling cases for ousting him.

We interviewed Beaumont Mayor Lloyd White and attorney Deniantionette Mazingo, both of whom repeatedly responded in generally vague terms to questions about county government.

Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez, who failed to respond to six attempts to arrange an interview, did fill out a survey sent to our editorial board. His strongest critique of Hewitt was over COVID, with Gutierrez arguing, “I believe that wearing masks and getting vaccinated saves lives.”

Of course, this neglects to mention that Hewitt himself took a vaccine and argued back in May 2020 that people should wear masks and socially distance.

Ultimately, we believe there is value in what Jeff Hewitt does on the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. We endorse his re-election.