Gary Johnson Touts His Entrepreneurial Experience, Criticizes Obama and Romney in Ohio
BOWLING GREEN—On the second stop of his statewide tour of Ohio, Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson relayed tales of his time in the private sector while offering the 150 people packed into the Cla-Zel Theatre some career advice.
"I have been an entrepenruer my entire life. Since I was 17 years old I have paid for everything I have in my life. When I was a junior in college I started a one man handyman business in Albuquerque and grew that business to employ over a thousand people," he said, referring to the company Big J Enterprises.
Johnson later sold Big J in 1999 while he was governor for approximately $10 million.
"I am gonna offer you all some advice, it's worth exactly what you're paying for it. Whatever it is that you're good at, apply in entrepreneurially. Go into business for yourself, do what you want to do for yourself and you'll find the rewards to be a hundred-fold. You'll never regret making that decision," said Johnson to a crowd comprised of mostly Bowling Green college students and local residents.
"One of the takeaways that I have from being in business is, hiring and firing people. It's really easy to hire people and it's really hard to fire people. If you can't fire people that don't work out things don't work out," said Johnson.
It was then that he launched into an attack on Mitt Romney and President Barack Obama when it comes to handling human resources. The attacks on Romney, in particular, referenced a gaffe from an earlier time in the campaign that now seems like an eternity ago.
"Mitt Romney said he loves firing people, Mitt Romney and I have a difference when it comes to that. Nothing is harder than firing people. It's the worst thing in the world but if you can't do it things don't work out. President Obama has never hired anybody and he has never fired anybody and that's one of the disconnects in the federal government right now," he said.
Johnson campaigned earlier in that day at a high school in Dayton. After he leaves here he is continuing on to Streetsboro for an event at 7:30pm at the Z-Plex.