By Mark Ambrogi
Carmel resident Diane Gomez is at the forefront of the Convention of States movement.
“Our group calls for proposing amendments to the Constitution to limit the federal government, because they will never call for an amendment to limit themselves,” said Gomez, who serves as Indiana director for the Convention of States Project.
Indiana became the sixth state to call for a Convention of States to propose amendments under Article V of the U.S. Constitution Feb. 29.
“It was a big day,” Gomez said.
Indiana’s House of Representatives passed the resolution 61-36.
“We actually got bipartisan support, so we were really happy with that,” Gomez said.
The Senate previously passed it 34-16 Feb. 2.
The Convention of States calls for a convention to propose amendments on the following topics: imposing fiscal restraints on the federal government, limiting the power and jurisdiction of the federal government and limiting the terms of office for its officials and for members of Congress.
“States would like the power to override Supreme Court decisions, because I think both sides of the political aisle would agree that the Supreme Court gets it wrong sometimes,” Gomez said. “We need to have a say.”
Other states to pass the Article V resolution so far are Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee.
“We have to get to 34 states,” Gomez said. “We are active in dozens of states.”
Gomez said if the group gets to that point, each state chooses delegates and they go to a convention where they propose amendments.
“This gives the state equal footing, because Congress can propose amendments,” Gomez said.
She said it might take a couple more years to reach the 34 states needed.
“We do have a lot of momentum behind us,” Gomez said. “We’re going to take what we’ve done here and share it with other states so they can replicate what we’ve done.”
The Convention of States terms its strategy as trying to restore checks and balances. Florida Sen. and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio has come out in support of the Convention of States.
Gomez left her full-time job as an office manager to be a full-time volunteer state director for the organization.
For more, visit ConventionofStates.com.
