Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson stopped by the Concord Rotary Club meeting on Aug. 24, to talk about his presidential campaign to about 70 people in attendance at the Bektash Temple on Pembroke Road.

Johnson called it like a job interview, saying he would talk about what he had done in the past and what he would like to do if elected. Since he was 17, he has been an entrepreneur, starting out working in construction and later, while in college, starting a handyman business in Albuquerque in 1974. Twenty years later, he had a thousand employees, and was the largest construction employer in the state.

"American dream come true," he said. Johnson sold the business in 1999, during his second term in office, because he wasn't giving it the full attention it deserved. Not a single person was laid-off, he said, adding that the company is doing better now than when he ran it, despite the economic rollercoaster ride construction and development have been on.

Johnson is also an athlete and he thought the president should have the discipline and goals that come with competing athletically. "I can't tell you how many marathons I have competed in," he said, adding that he ran ultra-marathons, biked them, and climbed Mount Everest. "People say, 'Wow, you conquered Mount Everest,' and I say, 'No, she lifted her skirt and she gave me a peak and it was really cool, I gotta tell you,'" to laughs in the audience.

Having never run for public office, Johnson ran for governor in 1994. Even though registration in the state was two-to-one Democrats, he beat a Democratic incumbent by 10 percentage points and easily won re-election four years later. He said he believed he was elected because he campaigned on a commonsense business approach to state government.

"I said, I believe the best government is the least government," he said, "and I believe that when it comes to government, the best thing that government can do for you and I is to empower you and I to be the individuals that we choose to be and allow us to make decisions that only you and I should make."

While governor, Johnson said he vetoed 750 bills, which was probably more than the other 49 governors in the United States combined. So many of the vetoes had to do with spending and all but two remained vetoed. Johnson said it made a difference, saving taxpayers billions of dollars. One example of a bill he vetoed was a bill sponsored by a Republican that would have required pet stores to walk all dogs and cats two times a day, three days a week. He called it a good thing for the pet stores to do. But if he approved the bill, the next thing he would have to do is fund an enforcement mechanism, "the dog and cat exercise police," he said.