North Iredell News

The Convention of States (COS) North Carolina is hosting a Town Hall event in Statesville from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight.

COS is an organization working to initiate an amending convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution. Jeff Groh, Regional Captain of Convention of States North Carolina, told North Iredell News that the Old North State is on the cusp of getting the resolution passed to join the states calling for a convention. 

“The purpose of this particular Town Hall is that it is located in Statesville, which is in the Senate District 34, which is the district for Senator Vickie Sawyer,” Groh said. “She, at this point, as far as we are concerned, is a no-vote on that resolution, so the idea is to encourage her to support that resolution by getting her constituents to come out to this Town Hall.”

If passed in the Senate, the COS resolution, HJR233, would mark North Carolina as the 16th state to join the effort. It passed the North Carolina House on May 5 of this year. 

The resolution needs 26 votes out of 50 in the Senate to pass. The COS is a nationwide effort to “put the three branches of government back in their constitutional box,” Groh explained. 

“[The branches] are way outside of what they are supposed to be doing,” he said, citing Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution, which outlines the enumerated powers of the federal government. “[Those powers] are what Congress should be doing, but they’re way outside of that.

“The fact that we’re more than $28 trillion in debt, the debt-to-GDP ratio is greater than 100% for the first time since World War II; basically, we are spending our kids’ future into oblivion. So this is really about putting those three branches of government back in their box and saving this country.”

COS works for an amending convention, not a constitutional convention. This is a significant difference because a constitutional convention seeks to completely rewrite the framework of government and deliver a new constitution, whereas an amending convention only offers particular amendments to the existing constitution. These amendments must then be ratified by 38 States before becoming officially part of the Constitution.

Rita Dunaway, senior vice president of legislative affairs for the national COS team, told the Hawkeye Reporter in that “Our Convention of States resolution proposes amendment on the three subject matters, which include imposing fiscal restraints on Washington, limiting federal power and jurisdiction and setting term limits for federal officials."

The Statesville Town Hall will also feature Mark Meckler, president and co-founder of COS. Groh said that one of the main directives of the event is education. 

“For those who might be attending, who are being dragged along by their family members, this is to educate them on the basics of what this is all about, and then to encourage them to contact Vickie Sawyer," Groh said. "Encourage her to support this, to get on the right side of history.”

The organization’s work in North Carolina also includes what Groh described as “tele-patriots,” where COS supporters call into their local senator’s office in support of the COS resolution and ask their fellow constituents to do the same. 

Groh estimates that, since May, over 13,000 phone calls have been made. In his four years with the COS, he said the organization’s supporters in North Carolina have grown from 20,000 to 85,000. 

On Wednesday, Aug. 11, Meckler will visit Raleigh to speak with senators directly. 

“This is the third attempt that we’ve made here in North Carolina to get this through the legislature,” Groh said. “We’re not going away. The important message to the legislature is that, regardless of whether we get this through the Senate this time, we are not going away. This is bigger than any of us individually, it’s much bigger than any individual senator.”

Groh encourages people to get involved by coming to the Town Hall, being educated, signing the petition and volunteering. 

“Folks are desperate for a peaceful solution to our problems in this country, and that’s what we represent,” he said.