County commissioners make up the general administrative body for county government. They hold authority for government taxing, budgeting, appropriating, and purchasing; and they hold title to county property. There are two seats on the three-member commission up for grabs: one that starts Jan. 2, 2025, and the other that starts Jan. 3, 2025. Leandro Llambi is running for the term that begins Jan. 3, 2025.
Candidates were given the same survey questions and word limit of no more than 250 words to respond to each question. Answers have been lightly edited for clarity and style only.
You may also want to read:
- Candidate Denise Driehaus' answers (for Jan. 3 term)
- Candidate Kyle Duper (for Jan. 2 term; did not respond)
- Candidate Adam Koehler's answers (for Jan. 3 term)
- Candidate Jonathan Pearson's answers (for Jan. 2 term)
- Candidate Alicia Reece's answers (for Jan. 2 term)
- Or, return to the election guide
Candidate name: Leandro Llambi
Party affiliation: Libertarian
Campaign website: www.hamilton.lpo.org/author/leandro_llambi/
Biography
None provided
What life or professional experiences make you the best person for this position?
I am a licensed pharmacist with experience in community pharmacy, ambulatory care pharmacy, population health, and academia. In my current position at St Elizabeth Physicians, I work in population health where I analyze population level data and help design interventions to improve the overall health outcomes of our patient population. I also conduct clinical research in my capacity at St E and adjunct faculty at UC. I think that these two positions have prepared me to look at county-wide data and make impactful decisions from that data.
I have approximately 15 years of management experience, so I am very capable of managing diverse groups of people to achieve common goals. My management experience includes budgeting, project management, innovation, and personnel management.
Most importantly, as a pharmacist, I bring years of experience listening to individual’s health concerns and customizing therapies to their needs and experiences. My experience as a pharmacist has reinforced my beliefs as a Libertarian that broad, sweeping government interventions cannot address the needs of individual citizens. Citizens are the best equipped to tackle their everyday lives when they are allowed to voluntarily interact with their neighbors, with minimal government interference and taxation. My favorite intervention to make as a pharmacist is when I identify that a medication’s risks outweigh the benefits, and I can recommend the termination of that medication. As a Libertarian county commissioner, I am prepared to de-prescribe many of the taxes and regulations that do not benefit our citizens.
What concerns or themes are you hearing in conversations with people in Hamilton County? How do you specifically plan to address those issues?
The biggest concern amongst citizens in Hamilton County right now is the cost of living. While inflation is mostly being driven by federal deficit spending, and Hamilton County runs with a balanced budget, I think the county can provide relief through tax cuts for the citizens paid for by county cuts in spending. Services like the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) need to operate at lower costs and need to assess fees based on actual usage.
Another means of decreasing the cost of living is by reducing government regulations. De-regulation of building permits will lower the cost of housing and attract more investment by job-creating businesses.
Argentina has experienced an economic turnaround since the beginning of 2024 with the election of their Libertarian president, Javier Milei, who has completely de-regulated real estate and fired over 70,000 government employees.
Hamilton County and Cincinnati are in the middle of a historic, multi-billion dollar sewer system upgrade that is often contentious. What would be your approach to keeping this project on time without overburdening ratepayers?
The sewer upgrade could be streamlined by outsourcing all contracting to private businesses, and selecting bids that are both feasible and cost-effective.
As the Bengals’ lease with Hamilton County for Paycor Stadium nears its end, how would you approach extension negotiations and what are your key priorities for that relationship/any potential new lease?
While I do not like government expenditures when they benefit specific groups of citizens or specific companies, I think that Cincinnati sports teams give the citizens of Hamilton County a sense of commonality, which helps build a sense of community and strengthens the bonds that hold Hamilton County together. Despite this value that the Cincinnati Bengals bring to our community, the county commissioner’s first responsibility is to the taxpayers, and a commissioner needs to be prepared to negotiate the best deal for Hamilton County up to and including walking away from the negotiating table.
What criteria will you use to evaluate and vote on tax levies the commission is responsible for approving for public vote?
As a student of the Austrian School of Economics, I believe taxes slow down economic growth, and cause prices to unnaturally inflate and deflate. The economy is far too complex for any one person, or even group of people to manage and control. The healthiest economies are those that are a collection of dozens to millions of individuals and families transacting with other individuals and families dozens to millions of times.
It is very important to understand that after to language, pricing is the greatest invention by humans that separates us from animals. When prices drop it signals abundance. Consumers know to buy more of the product or services, and it signals to producers that it is best to invest their resources into another line of production. When prices rise, it signals a shortage. Consumers buy less and producers are attracted to produce more in the market.
We often think about how taxes take money away from families and businesses, which decreases their spending power — true enough. What is more crucial to understand is taxes also increase prices of the good or service they subsidize. This means that producers flood the market to cash in on the extra profits, and consumers purchase other cheaper things. This leads to misallocation of resources that does not align with how families and businesses would otherwise spend their money.
My simple litmus test is if the free market can reliably supply a particular good or service, it should not be subsidized by taxes.
