Rafael Perez: Steve Hilton is more sensible than his campaign persona suggests

Earlier this week, I met with Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton over Zoom. I watched his performance at the gubernatorial debate this month where he engaged in Trump-like attacks, directing catchy insults like “BLM-Bianco” and “shifty sheriff” at his fellow Republican candidate Chad Bianco. 

His campaign website has its share of Trump-like exaggerations and falsehoods such as the claim that California has “the most fertile farmland on the planet” and that Democrats are “deliberately crushing” the agricultural sector and that Democrats wanted to make theft under $950 legal. These false or misleading statements are characteristic of politicians with questionable integrity who are willing to say anything for political gain. 

My interview with him left me wondering why he must rely on such hacky and unbecoming tactics. He did not present as the person who employed low-grade rhetoric when he stated during the gubernatorial debate that Chad Bianco had “more baggage than LAX.” That’s an objectively bad zinger. Hilton should have invoked his British heritage and taken a lesson from Winston Churchill when he said of an opponent, “He occasionally stumbled over the truth, but hastily picked himself up and hurried on as if nothing had happened.”

Instead, while I personally disagreed with much of what he had to say, my impression was that he was at least attempting to be reasonable, in that, it seemed like he wanted facts and research to back his policy positions. It may sound like a ridiculous thing to compliment but that can’t necessarily be said of most politicians. 

When I asked him about his plan to eliminate income taxes for individuals earning under $100,000, and capping the rate at 7.5% for those earning more, he explained, “I actually worked with my former colleagues at the Hoover Institution to do a proper costing because I never want to say things I can’t deliver. It’s not a dynamic plan, it doesn’t assume higher growth that brings in more revenue. […] That tax plan reduced state revenue by 18.5% which is a big reduction but if you look at the fact that they’ve nearly doubled the budget in the last five years.”

While it is far from certain that he will be able to cut spending enough to accommodate that reduction in state revenue, his attempt to work out a plan is a bit more than what we normally get, which is usually a politician throwing out impressive sounding numbers with no concrete path forward. 

On education he explained that while he is in favor of school choice, in the short term we can focus on what has been found to work in other places, such as: “Raising standards, […] and so one of the simple practical things, like if you don’t read by third grade, you don’t move up to fourth grade, and you’ve got summer tutorial programs and so on. So those are the kinds of things I think we can do now for real in California schools.”

On the outsized political influence of public sector unions in California, Hilton recognized that such influence leads to politicians legislating according to the interests of unions, even at the expense of the public’s interest. “I share that belief that there should not be collective bargaining in the public sector. It’s just corrupt and wrong for people to be, as it were, on both sides of the negotiating table.”

On the other hand, there were times when Hilton did not appear to have properly taken into account the implications of his policy positions or perhaps didn’t care. On cooperating with ICE to deport non-criminal illegal immigrants, he stated, “I do think that we’ve got to be clear that if you’re here illegally, that illegal means illegal. And again, going back to the democracy point, this is what America voted for in 2024. The president couldn’t have been clearer.”

The reason I ask this question of those who have expressed that they will cooperate with ICE in helping them locate and deport non-criminal illegals is not because I’m looking for them to say that they do not want non-criminal illegals deported. It’s about whether they are able to properly weigh whatever benefit they think we get from the current deportation program against the cost of how it is being conducted. 

Even if you believe that non-criminal illegals should be deported, ICE’s constant violations of basic human decency and the Constitution should compel any state leader to resist collaborating with their reign of terror and violence. Cooperating with ICE under its current operational doctrine is cooperating with a lawless and unaccountable force and endorsing the inhumane treatment of both legal and illegal residents. Deporting non-criminal illegal immigrants seems like a worthless consolation prize when that’s accomplished by allowing the government to ignore their duty to respect our rights. 

So yes, illegal means illegal, but how much are we willing to sacrifice to enforce immigration law against even peaceful and hardworking people?

The largest obstacle to Hilton’s agenda is the supermajority in both houses of the State Legislature. I asked him how he plans to pass his budget and tax cuts and how he will reign in the influence of public employee unions given that reality. 

“Look, when I’m elected and take office next January, that’ll be a political revolution in California. I understand that nobody expects it right now, that people see it as far-fetched.” He continued, “I want to see Republicans elected up and down the ballot and across the state so that we make progress towards ending the supermajority in the legislature and eventually a Republican majority in the legislature.”

Policies and plans serve no purpose if you have no prospect of implementing them. Hilton may be hoping for a revolution, but there is simply no reason to expect one and therefore no reason to expect that he will have the ability to implement his agenda. 64% of voters in the state just passed Proposition 50 to allow legislators to gerrymander congressional maps in favor of the Democrats, undermining their own voting rights just to oppose President Trump.

Trump’s unpopularity is likely contributing to Democratic wins across the nation.

So what are we to make of Steve Hilton? He has thoughtful positions on some issues but his support for a lawless and inhumane federal government calls his ability to weigh moral considerations into question.

Either way, given the current political math in Sacramento, it seems unlikely he could fulfill his promises even if he manages to pull off his “revolution” at the ballot box.

Rafael Perez is a columnist for the Southern California News Group. He is a doctoral candidate in philosophy at the University of Rochester. You can reach him at rafaelperezocregister@gmail.com.