Looking a few years ahead

Dave Brooks

Nearly one third of the candidates running for a seat on the

Huntington Beach City Council this year are members of the

Libertarian Party, and besides their ire for government, all five

candidates have one thing in common -- none of them plan to win.

Until now.

Enter Bob Kliewer (pronounced Cleaver), a Santa Fe Springs blade

manufacturer and new face in the Surf City political scene, wants to

win: in 2006.

“This is my exploratory campaign,” he said. “I plan to use this

experience to really find out what it takes to win for next time.”

Local Libertarian leader and council candidate Norm “Firecracker”

Westwell said he was impressed by Kliewer’s resolve.

“He’s really getting into it,” Westwell said. “He’s talking about

putting out signs, going door-to-door. I think he’s learning a lot

about the campaign.”

Kliewer said he is more of a “constitutionalist” than a

Libertarian, although there is no doubting his contempt for

government in general. Cut back the state as much as possible, he

said, greatly reduce government regulation and let the invisible hand

of the market basically dictate everything. Most importantly, reduce

taxes for local residents and change the city’s current attitude

about spending.

“It seems like the whole goal of the city is to search for more

revenues so that it can buy more toys,” he said.

From a small table near his crystal blue swimming pool, Kliewer is

game on comparing the city’s redevelopment woes to pages of the

Federalist Papers, often invoking his life hero Thomas Jefferson in

his unabashed contempt for what he calls over-legislation. His

intellectual ferocity fits well with his Teddy Roosevelt demeanor.

“If you have too many laws, then you will have corruption,” said

Kliewer, who argues that the recent condo conversion controversy

shouldn’t have been illegal in the first place. He also doesn’t

believe in restricting personal freedoms.