TORRINGTON – With Wyoming Election Primaries now just mere weeks away, incumbent District 05 representative Scott Smith of Lingle is ready with an almost quiet excitement and confidence to continue campaigning to keep his House seat.

When it comes to reaching out and relating to his district constituents, Smith has made it crystal clear traditional conservative values of both Goshen County and Wyoming will continue to be a non-negotiable top priority if re-elected. 

As Smith recently spoke with the Telegram on concerns and issues in Cheyenne such as increasing property taxes, infrastructure, and abortion, the District Representative was both promising and assertive the work is far from complete.

As Smith eloquently put it, the tasks are only getting started when representing the stances, freedoms, and future of the Goshen County people.

“My favorite part always is just getting out there and meeting all the residents of Goshen County,” Smith began. “I’m amazed being in this position for two years now and having campaigned before how many people I still don’t know, and how many more have moved into the community. It is probably the one thing I enjoy most is getting to hear from the people, letting them know who I am and what their biggest concerns are.”

Despite being born with unique physical limitations requiring the representative to walk using crutches, Smith is no stranger to traveling great distances. Or afraid for that matter. Meeting people of all walks of life and getting a first-hand view of areas in need of help and enhancement is something Smith is all to familiar with over the course of his life.

In this regard, Smith believes this has created a sincere and strong connection with the traditional Christian values of his district, and has made it abundantly clear these exact conservative morals can and will be strongly protected.

As Smith expounded with sincere and no-nonsense truth, poor leadership representation can lead to detrimental long-term consequences for everyday hardworking people; something he has no intention of letting happen to the people of District 05.

“All across the state I think we are having an influx of people seeking freedom from tyranny-type states,” Smith continued. “There’s a lot more conservative individuals moving to Wyoming, and I think it’s very important for us to preserve and protect the culture of Wyoming. I think Wyoming is America’s last hope, and it’s just crazy how other states have just ruined their systems. I grew up in Detroit, so I know what bad government does. And then living in Honduras, I know corruption is out in the open. We don’t have the same issues here as in Detroit or Honduras, especially with poverty. Wyoming is a rich state, not only in resources but rich in spirit. More specifically it’s our people with pioneer liberty spirit.”

Additionally, when it came to talk of doing the people’s business in Cheyenne, Smith advocated with transparent reasoning it is going to take an unbending approach to make sure Goshen’s residents are represented and more specifically heard.

As Smith advocated in ensuring the health, prosperity, and well-being of his constituents; compromise can in and of itself be an immoral thing when it comes to the principal values and morals of Goshen County.

Something Smith noted certain colleagues within the state legislature have made very difficult.

“I don’t see standing up for truth, righteousness, and letting people be informed of what is going on around the state and informing our constituents as lack of civility,” Smith explained. “The other thing I see is compromise. You need to have your foundational truth and those principles, values, and morals. To me, those are and should be uncompromising. They allow boys to play in women’s sports, and they couldn’t even define what a woman is. They wouldn’t protect your individual rights to medical freedom. Some even want to protect Big Pharma and federal dollars between you being able to choose between a vaccine and a mask. Those should be our core values and principles of preserving freedom.”

“We have to get the state budget under control because we are so wealthy and rich as a state the current makeup of the house likes to spend, spend, spend,” Smith said. “I think there is a lot of fat in the budget, and it would be best utilizing property tax owners. They have already paid taxes, so why not give it back and give some reprieve on rising costs with people moving in and hyperinflating our real estate market? That’s what our tax system is based on, and it brings up the value of all our homes and taxes go up astronomically.”

“I would really like to consider question-based pricing, where you pay for the house what you believe it is worth, the taxes be assessed at that value and then wouldn’t go up more than two to three percent a year. With this, so many more can plan ahead and definitely can plan for retirement. It wouldn’t hurt the local government because they would know how much to expect and would budget accordingly. If someone comes in and pays more money than you, your taxes won’t go up as well. I am always going to be for lower property taxes, funding irrigation canals, and not voting for bigger government. It may even be time to look at our statutes and see where we can do some deregulation to help sprawl the economy.”

Furthermore and very notably, Smith touched base on one particular subject which doesn’t come up too much when it comes to district politics.

According to the District 05 Representative, certain criminal instances within the county over the last few years conspicuously left victims with damaging life-altering harm without significant compensation. This while perpetrators seemingly got off with light jail sentences.

As Smith hinted, these occurrences set a dangerous precedent for future criminal behaviors to continue while innocent people do not get the appropriate help and support; something Smith strongly advocated he would continue to fight if re-elected.

“We have lost bills I presented before the House on local issues which have been brought to me by other influences. For instance, one bill I sponsored was by Chief Johnson of Torrington, because one of the statutes doesn’t allow him to go after and prosecute people who hit, run, and leave individuals on the side of the road. We have had two cases recently where there were hit and run victims. Unfortunately, the leadership we had didn’t want the bill to go anywhere so it never saw the light of day. It wasn’t anything on my agenda, but to have people spend maybe just a few days in jail and not have any justice for the victims is very disheartening. I truly try to always look at the needs of the county and what’s going on.”

Shortly before Smith made his way to his car to spend some much-needed and deserved quality time with his family for the Fourth of July, the Representative had some final words of assurance and promise to all residents in his district.

This and particularly any reservations on Smith’s open criticism of current Wyoming Governor Mark Gordon. 

“One thing I keep seeing with candidates across the state is the whole idea of decorum, and we need to be more civil,” Smith said. “I would say I’m not being uncivil; I am just standing up for truth and information for the general public of things that are happening. People may perceive me talking about the governor vetoing things as speaking badly of the governor. It’s talking poorly about his decisions which greatly affect the people of this state. One of his vetoes was not giving 25% discounts on property taxes for two years until we could come up with a solution. Another veto was a pro-life bill that would have saved lives in the state.”

“The guide to my foundation is number one the Bible, number two the Constitution, and three the Republican party platform,” Smith concluded. “And those are things I am not willing to compromise on. The most irritating comment I’ve heard from legislatures in the House is everything is under the Constitution until the courts deem otherwise. My thought is why in the world would you swear an oath to uphold the Constitution if you determine constantly what is Constitutional or not? Why do we even take an oath? We have had the mindset for a long time if you leave me alone, I leave you alone. I am trying to infiltrate what’s going on in Wyoming, so I encourage everyone to stand up for courage and stand up for righteousness. It may just encourage someone else to do the same. The only thing I would request to all constituents is I would appreciate their prayers. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without their prayers, and without the grace of God.”