Advocating for COS in the SD House
Training diligently in the Fall of 2023 for his new role, no one would have 
guessed that brand new District Captain Manny Steele was once a state legislator for South Dakota. When Steele first learned about COS around 2014, he signed the petition and was representing District 12 in the southwest part of Sioux Falls, striving to get the COS resolution passed in the state house. Determined, Steele carried the resolution that same year and was COS’s prime sponsor.
Steele worked with lobbyist and regional director Dave Schneider where both devised strategies together to host committee meetings and worked with the house majority speaker and the speaker of the house in pursuit of passing the vote. Schneider claimed that he was “very open to working with [Steele] as far as the spreading of information and doing events” and “became good friends with [Steele]” in the process. Moreover, Schneider is grateful for Steele’s committed engagement with the team, applauding that Steele is a “very busy legislator but gave us the support necessary to make it [COS] a big deal. His attendance as a legislator is a big deal.”
After all of Manny's persistent efforts, he managed to get the resolution to the house floor, but despite his wishes, lost.
COS Fallacies in the Legislature
One of the most prevalent predicaments he noticed with the legislators was that most feared that America would lose its constitution if a convention of states was called. However, it's important to note that this apprehension is fundamentally misconceived: Calling a convention would be the first step to proposing restricted amendments that would then need ¾ of the states to approve: these heavily reviewed amendments would then restore proper application and protection of the constitution by intercepting abusive use of federal power.
Although Steele did not sponsor or co-sponsor the resolution again, he still continued to vote for COS and educate several people over the years, endeavoring to dispel the COS myths in the process.
Retiring and Starting New
Later on, as another candidate was preparing for election in his district, Steele was planning to retire as state representative. During the transition leaving office, and after inspiration from talks with state director Shirlee Meier, Steele pondered on his growing frustration with the deteriorating condition of the country. “We keep going downhill and losing our freedoms and our republic,” Steele indignantly shared. “To me, the only possible chance that I can see is through the convention of states.” After this revelation, Steele joined the COS team, and commenced his training with Shirlee Meier to be a district captain.
Next Steps
Steele sees a beam of hope for the country through the work done 
volunteering with COS to pass the resolution; he intends to immediately work with Shirlee to get the resolution passed in South Dakota. “We need to get to the senate,” Steele says, “the house is not a problem. That’s our challenge for this year.” He explained that the team needs to convince 2-3 people in South Dakota’s senate to secure South Dakota as one of the 34 states needed to pass the convention of states resolution.
Steele once worked diligently in South Dakota’s legislature, and now, he generously brings his skill and hope for our nation to work assiduously with COS to restore America. It can’t be denied that Manny Steele’s story inspires many and demonstrates how everyone can make an impact to save the country.
