By: Judi Caler

In Part 1, we saw that ever since 1907, 2/3 or more of the States have had at least one active application on record asking Congress to call a convention under Art. V. And if Congress is hoodwinked into validating all non-rescinded applications by passing H.R.8419 or its 2023 counterpart,[i] Congress will likely trigger the first constitutional convention since 1787.

So why wasn’t Congress deceived into calling a convention 50 or 100 years ago? Perhaps it’s because the PR industry hadn’t come of age yet! To justify a “call,” Congress, whose priority is getting re-elected, would require considerable constituent pressure—or the appearance of such—before casting a vote that would risk our Constitution.

Enter Mark Meckler, President of the Convention of States (COS), who has been waging a PR war with millions of dollars in dark money for almost a decade. COS is creating the impression that Americans are demanding a “convention of states” under Article V, while most Americans have no clue what an Article V Convention (A5C) is.

“Grassroots”—From the Top Down?!

In 2011—while Meckler was still with the Tea Party and just getting involved in the convention deception, he joined Eric O’Keefe’s John Hancock Committee of the States (JHCOS) as a Director and President. O’Keefe is known as the front man for the Koch brothers’ money. He is also Chairman of the Board and co-founder of Meckler’s Citizens for Self-Governance (CSG)—parent to COS.

In its 2011 IRS filing signed by Meckler, JHCOS reported over $1.8 million in anonymous contributions (pg. 1), and almost one million dollars in expenses to public relations & lobbying firms (pg. 8).[ii] At least 38% of the contributions can be traced to Donors Trust, the “dark money ATM” of the Right.

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