LAKESIDE – Vivek Ramaswamy held a town hall and talked about his “pragmatic approach” to make Lake Erie into an economic resource.
Billed as a “Protecting Our Lake Town Hall,” the April 7 event was a campaign stop for the Republican candidate for governor at Lakeside Chautauqua in Ottawa County. He followed it with an evening Lincoln Day dinner speech in Erie County.
Ramaswamy and his running mate, Rob McColley, spoke for about 40 minutes. About half the time was a question-and-answer session. He spoke on topics from education to taxes, but Lake Erie was the major focus.
“I’m a pragmatist. I’m a business-oriented leader. I believe in economic growth, but I believe in long-run economic growth, which means we have to ultimately protect the treasures we’ve been given.” Ramaswamy said.
His background as a businessman was always in the forefront. Ramaswamy has not held public office, but is estimated to be a billionaire, mostly from his business ventures, including Roivant Sciences, a biotechnological pharmaceutical company he founded in 2014.
“Part of my approach to leading, both as an entrepreneur and in leading the state, is to reject the idea that it’s all zero-sum, or that it has to be; that it’s one group wins, therefore one group loses,” Ramaswamy said. “Agriculture versus water quality. It’s not one versus the other. H2Ohio is the best embodiment of that. The farmers of our state care about water quality, but want it as part of a voluntary incentive-based program, to take the steps and have the resources to take the steps to also prevent the phosphorus runoff that eventually contributes to algal blooms.”
He said the successes that Toledo has had in addressing and removing the algal bloom toxins should be recognized, while admitting that there is more work to be done.
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