Old North News

The Convention of States (COS) resolution is gaining traction in North Carolina and volunteers are playing a big part of that. 

The Convention of States resolution is moving through the North Carolina legislature, and is known as House Joint Resolution 233. In May 2021, it was successfully advanced in the House of Representatives and has been pending before the Senate since.

North Carolina Convention of States Project Regional Captain Jeff Groh recently took the time for an interview with Old North News to explain what the Convention of States is and why it was important to him. 

"Our federal government is out of control, and we are in danger of losing our federal republican form of government," Groh told Old North News. "The debt is not sustainable. The SCOTUS and nine unelected judges have too much power. Career politicians and bureaucrats stay in office for decades. All of this is counter to what our founders intended, and they gave us a tool to address these issues."

Groh said in Article V of the U.S. Constitution, two-thirds of the states (34) can petition for a Convention of States.

"The petition is embodied in a resolution that has passed in 19 state legislatures. This interstate convention convenes with state delegates and can debate constitutional amendments based on the resolution. Those amendments can fall into three categories: Term limits for federal officials, fiscal restraints and reducing the power and jurisdiction of the federal government. The founders knew this day would come and they gave We the People a way to return power to the states where it belongs. I have been involved with this effort for more than five years. Why? Because I have a 30-year-old daughter and concerned with what kind of country her and her kids will be left with. I refuse to sit back and not do what I can to help," he said.

To advance the COS, Groh said that he and other COS volunteers campaigned for candidates that supported the resolution. 

"In WNC, we campaigned for Jennifer Balkcom who was running in NC House District 117 against two other Republican candidates," Groh told Old North News. "Jennifer was a supporter of COS and deemed to be the superior candidate. The other candidate was an incumbent, Rep. Mitchell Setzer, in NC House District 89. Rep. Setzer was being challenged in the primary. We campaigned for him because he has been a strong supporter of COS, including sponsoring HJR233 that passed the NC House on May 5, 2021," Groh said. "In the case of HD117 and Jennifer Balkcom, we sent emails to our supporters in her district, ran radio ads in local markets, campaigned for her at the Asheville Gun Show in early May, block walked for her with multiple teams of volunteers and campaigned for her at a high-traffic precinct on the May 17 election. In the case of HD 89 and Rep. Setzer, we sent emails to our supporters in his district and block walked for him with multiple teams of volunteers."

Through their efforts, the volunteers were able to push Balkcom over the top for her election. 

"The campaign effort for Jennifer Balkcom in HD117 was particularly gratifying as she won by only 158 votes," Groh told Old North News. "We made a difference in that race, as we did across the state in other 2022 primary elections and in the 2020 election cycle. It is important that the NC Senate, particularly Sen. Phil Berger, Sen. Bill Rabon and other senators who are blocking HJR 233, and who have the power and duty to pass HJR 233 in the short session, understand that the over 86,000 COS supporters across the state are watching. We are not going away." 

Groh said their rally on June 8 at the legislative complex with Col. Allen West, COS co-founder Mark Meckler and Rick Green of Patriot Academy along with other speakers will be "just another example of the grassroots demanding they act."

"We are gaining strength and political clout and will use that power to convince our state legislators to use the tools the founders gave them to rein in an out-of-control federal government. And if they refuse to act, there will be political consequences," he said.

The Convention of States resolution has been passed in 19 states, over half of the necessary 34 to call a convention. State Legislators in Wisconsin, Nebraska, West Virginia and South Carolina are the most recent to act, with all four state legislatures passing the resolution earlier this year.

The resolution only allows a future Convention of States to consider Constitutional Amendments that would limit the "power and jurisdiction" of and impose fiscal restraints on the federal government, or those that would create term limits for federal officials. Thirty-four states must pass the resolution before the Convention is called.

Convention of States Action (COSA) works for an amending convention, not a constitutional convention, according to COS. 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.