JOHN DAY — Constitution Party gubernatorial candidate Donice Smith would like to remind you all that there are more than three women vying for the office of Oregon governor in the Nov. 8 election.

Smith stopped by John Day on Thursday, Oct. 26, to discuss her platform and views with Grant County residents.

The Constitution Party stands for “life, liberty and limited government,” according to Smith. “We believe in God, family and country. I think it is important for people to know that the platform of the Constitution Party is very similar, if not almost identical, to the Republican Party,” she said in an interview.

Smith said the first thing she would do if elected Oregon’s next governor is to review all of the mandates and executive orders issued by Kate Brown’s administration. “Many of them were unconstitutional under Oregon’s Constitution and also under the U.S. Constitution, and I want us to review those with a group of experts and find out which of those executive orders we need to toss out the window,” Smith said.

The second thing she said she would do is gather all the sheriffs from across the state and make sure that they have an oath of office filed. “Every sheriff and every judge has to do an oath of office within the first 30 days of taking their office or position,” Smith added.

Smith said she wants Oregon sheriffs to understand that, as far as she’s concerned, they are basically the law of their county. “They’re even higher in many ways than your judges are. Many sheriffs don’t understand that, they don’t realize that or they don’t want to accept it,” Smith said.

One of the causes Smith is most passionate about is making sure that residents of rural Oregon have a voice as to the direction of their state. “We want to get back to where Oregonians have a say in their own life and they get to sit at the table, not just the people who are in Portland, Salem, Eugene and Medford,” she said.

Smith wants to relay to Oregon voters that she won’t take a paycheck if elected to the office of governor. “It has been put in writing,” she said. “When I get home I’ll put it in writing again and have it notarized and publicized.”

Smith said the funds that would make up her pay as governor will be donated to various nonprofits across Oregon. “(That money) needs to go back to Oregonians,” Smith said.

The challenges in running a third party campaign are numerous, according to Smith. “It has been very, very difficult. This party was started over 22 years ago and people came forward by the thousands and registered to vote Constitution Party,” Smith said.

Smith said that over the course of time, those people failed to build the base of the Constitution Party within their own counties. “In order try to grow the Constitution Party, people need to know we’re out there,” she said.

Another difficulty, according to Smith, is the reluctance of the leading candidates and the news media to acknowledge that she is also running for governor of Oregon. “We hear Fox News and New York City saying Oregon is on the map for a historic race between three women running for governor. No folks, there are four women. I’m the fourth woman,” Smith added.

“What is happening is that Tina Kotek, Betsy Johnson and Christine Drazan do not want me to be out there. … There is an association of all the newspapers in Oregon. They’ve all banded together and said, ‘Mrs. Smith isn’t bringing in the millions of dollars from Pfizer, Moderna or Phil Knight, so therefore, because she doesn’t have a million dollars or more in her PAC, we aren’t going to give her a voice,” Smith said.