Photos by Laura Fong

A crowd of approximately 3,500 people showed up to Mapleside Farms in Brunswick for a Father’s Day pancake breakfast to kick off Mitt Romney’s 2012 bus tour, event staff said.

Romney took the stage with his family following opening remarks from a number of local politicians, including Brunswick mayor Gary Werner, Speaker of the Ohio House William Batchelder and Sen. Rob Portman. Romney delivered his platform to an energetic and enthusiastic crowd whose spirits hadn’t dampened from the wind and rain.

Romney told those in attendance he intends to make energy independence a priority by taking advantage of America’s coal and natural gas deposits as well as what oil the country has rather than what it can import.

He also said the major issues facing the nation were unemployment and the economy, and he made an appeal to Ohio voters by citing himself as the most qualified to put America back on the right track.

“Here are the things we have to do,” Romney said. “We finally have to get a balanced budget in this country, and I’ve got us on the road to do that. We’ve got to get rid of that one piece of legislation, which is like a great cloud that’s been raining over small business, made it harder for them to start new enterprises and to create new jobs. We’ve got to get rid of Obamacare, and I will.”

Cleveland resident Dan Gonsor said he agreed with Romney that President Barack Obama’s health care law, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, was restricting job growth and making times tougher for small businesses.

“With Obamacare and all this stuff, who would want to expand?” Gonsor said. “If you’re over 50 employees, you’ve got to pay extra money for Obamacare. Who in their right mind hires the fiftieth employee?”

Gonsor attended the Father’s Day breakfast with his dad, Gerald Gonsor. Gerald, a registered independent and captain for the Cleveland Fire Department, said he stands with Romney because he believes Romney’s plan to get the economy back on track nationally will set things straight locally.

“Once (Romney) gets this economy moving, cities like Cleveland are in such fiscal, dire straits that our fire department and police department have been depleted,” Gerald said. “They’re not hiring, they’re not replacing us firemen, they’re shutting companies down because they don’t have the money in the city. Romney gets us back on track, and more money’s being funneled back into the cities. Things are going to be much better for safety services, no question about it.”

Gerald also said the idea that Romney is against unions was wrong.

“A lot of people think that Mitt Romney’s against us firefighters and police officers because of collective bargaining, and he really isn’t,” Gerald said. “He just wants to keep things under control. He doesn’t want any kind of national legislation on it.”

Romney’s bus tour continued through Ohio, making stops in Newark and Troy. The presidential hopeful’s campaign is posting updates about the tour on Twitter from @RomneyBus.

Contact Justin Lagore at [email protected].