The Sconi

The Convention of States (COS) in Wisconsin is feeling optimistic after encouraging supporters and volunteers to be involved in the November 2020 electoral process in an effort to elect more politicians who will vote in favor of hosting a convention of states.

“In order to get the convention called and get amendments of the proper kind, we need people who understand what we're trying to accomplish and who agree with us and we need the representatives themselves to understand what amendments are going to be truly helpful to restrain the federal government,” said Joanne Laufenberg, Wisconsin state director for COS.

Laufenberg added that those candidates who supported COS were successful overall.

“Our lead assembly sponsor won a tight race," she said. "And out of the 60 'yes' votes in the assembly last year, 59 were either re-elected or chose not to run. All but one of 35 co-sponsors in both chambers won their races. Two chose not to run again. At least three assemblymen who voted on a resolution won their state Senate races. Our lead Senate sponsor won a congressional seat and most of the help for him involved personal social media but not officially through the organization.”

COS has been working nationwide toward addressing matters such as term limits for federal government officials at a national convention. But only 15 state legislatures have passed a COS resolution to host a national convention.

“Some races were quite close,” Laufenberg told Sconi Times. “It's probably safe to say that some campaigns may not have won if we hadn't helped.”

State Rep. Rob Stafsholt (R-New Richmond) defeated Democrat Patty Schachtner of Somerset while Green Bay attorney Eric Wimberger defeated Democrat Jonathon Hansen by 8,234 votes, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

“We show our appreciation with commemorative coins and pins, but it's mostly the satisfaction of knowing we're helping to save the country from a tyrannical and non-accountable federal government that incentivizes people,” Laufenberg said in an interview.

The organization employs a candidate survey to track politicians willing to voice their support officially.

“It especially helps with those who haven't had a floor or committee vote to cast yet and it's something official for us to look at,” Laufenberg said. “We can even help freshman candidates without their knowledge, but of course, who pledged to support our resolution when they answer the survey positively.”

The Convention of States says it has 1.5 million U.S. followers nationwide but 34 states are needed before action can be taken toward hosting a convention of states as outlined in Article V of the U.S. Constitution. States whose legislatures have passed the resolution include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Missouri, Texas, Utah, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Dakota, Oklahoma and Tennessee.

“We went all through the process last session and we just needed a Senate vote,” Laufenberg said. “Then in February the Wisconsin Assembly passed it but that was around the time when they didn't go back for anything else because of COVID-19 [which] got in the way. We have even more senators in place now that are favorable to what we're doing. It looks pretty good this year.”