This is the second in a series of interviews of District Captains. Laurie came to Convention of States as a brand-new District Captain in March 2021 for District 33. Already she has held two Q & A meetings, sounded out to her representatives (with either zero or negative response from them), and held an in-person meeting with a former Washington state representative 1967-1974 and King County councilman 1974-1994, Paul Barden, who has pledged assistance and support to COS. She continues to find signatories for the Article V Petition as well, in her quest to build her own corps of passionate and connected volunteers.
Laurie seems to have a natural knack for finding and communicating with the many frustrated Americans looking for a viable solution to our current troubles. It is obvious that she is blessed with the necessary virtue of patriotism as well as intelligence, sincerity, and enthusiasm, and that she is not shy about fighting ‘the good fight’ to restore our Constitutional Republic.
KG: I'm here with Laurie Hagedorn, and we were just getting started talking about Convention of States. So, I can't remember where we were now. I think you were going —
LH: To tell a story! I got excited about Convention of States while watching either Flashpoint with Gene Bailey or Victory News on the Victory Channel on YouTube. I think it was Mark , who was introducing the Convention of States proposition. And something clicked in my head. I thought, “That's the answer!” Because last year, the question that kept coming up for me was ‘What can I do to help save the United States of America?’ Every day, I’d asked myself this. I said it many times out loud to my very supportive husband too.
You know, I knew about a week into February 2020 that something was . . . goofy. Something was seriously wrong in our country. So when I saw that show, I went online right away to sign the petition, and my husband signed it then, too. I said- “Jim, put yes!” when the form asked if we wanted to volunteer. We both clicked “yes,” even though we didn't really know what the responsibilities would be.
But when I was looking at the list of volunteer opportunities on the Convention of States website - this is what I was just about to tell you. When I signed up as a volunteer, I put down that I wanted to be a content writer. I have studied content writing under American artists and Writers Inc. And, you know, marketing materials, things like that.
KG: Oh, wow.
LH: Anyway, about a week later my husband got a text, and he says, “You know, they invited me to be District Captain of our district.” I said, “Say yes!” He was taking his time analyzing it. So, anyway, he didn’t do it! At least not in those first five minutes. While he was considering it, I was saying stuff like, “I’ll support you! I’ll help you! Do it! Do it! Do it!” A few minutes later, I got a personal text from the State Director, Eric Minor. “We’ve filled the Content Writer positions already. Do you want to be a District Captain instead?” it said. Well, I answered before Jim could and beat him out of the job!
KG: Excellent!
LH: So that was kind of cool and Eric (the State Director) was awesome. I asked – “What do I do as District Captain?” And he said, “Oh, make some phone calls. Can you do that?” Well, yes.
I’ve been a professional tour guide and reservation specialist. I can be on the phone. I don't mind making phone calls, or having people call me. So Eric helped me learn about my job, and connected me to COS resources. He also gave me access to all the training online at COS University and I dove right in. He invited me the National COS Tuesday night weekly calls, too, and I got to be on the state video conference call where I saw and heard the awesome people I get to work with in my state! But what really kicked me into gear was getting trained in Citizen Builder, where I found the list of people in my district who have signed the petition for Convention of States over the years.
KG: That’s awesome! So now you are “plugged in,” so to speak, to what a District Captain does. You are calling people. You are meeting them face-to-face. Anyway - how has your response been so far?
LH: Well, the Q & A we just finished is positive.
KG: Yes, it is!
LH: And what’s more, no one from the petition list was even here today! These were all new people who are just now learning about Convention of States. The volunteers who had said they would come to today’s meeting needed to reschedule but they did say, “Let me know when the meetings are,” that kind of thing. They want to be here. When people have work, and busy lives — well, I meet them where they are.
KG: That’s great. Because that’s just what is needed. Can you tell me about your first contact?
LH: The first person that I actually got to talk to was Shannon, a woman who had just signed the petition. And I was able to talk to her the very same day. We texted a little bit, and we had a nice phone conversation, so I-I kind of had success on my first conversation which was helpful. I wasn't getting rejection, you know, first call and all.
KG: That sounds like a great technique. Call an interested person as soon as possible, while it’s fresh in their mind – like you did - no time lag, so the person doesn’t forget or get too busy, and you’re more likely to get a positive response?
LH: Yes, exactly so.
KG: So, are you working your way through the list of volunteers, then?
LH: I am, and I’m getting tremendous response from people I run into just living my daily life, with people who haven't signed up yet. I’m getting this response by doing this work, like right now. I'm not even doing calls every day, like I kind of expected to do.
KG: How many volunteers are you looking to have with you? What kind of numbers do you want as a core team?
LH: Oh, that's a good question. It says in the manual to have one hundred. And that's kind of big. I felt very overwhelmed. Seriously, I was not going to say yes to the job if I had to manage one hundred people. I have managed ten children before and it's a nightmare helping them all stay alive! You know managing one hundred adults would be like managing ten children from my heart’s point of view, right? And so, no, I thought that would be impossible. I brought my concerns to Eric. He is so even keeled, and his answers are not overwhelming or stressful. You know, I just really, really appreciate him and his character. He told me I could just make it ten for now. Once I get to a group of ten who want to participate, learn more, write letters together, or whatever else is on the Convention of States volunteer menu - we will see progress in Washington State towards passing our application. Since our legislators are not as easily accessible in person as we’d like, I want to have letter writing sessions asking for their attention to the Convention of States.
KG: That sounds terrific!
LH: Also, I want to have a phone bank session. And that will work if I can spread people out. So, I’m kind of, you know, thinking about that. We could have get-togethers just to make the phone calls and get through our long list faster, and it could be kind of fun.
I like watching the Convention of States videos to get other ideas. One District Captain had a community walk with his district’s team to doorbell while wearing COS hats and shirts to be official to find interested people. That sounds like fun to me, so I’ll be proposing it to our people, too.
LH: And I’d like to mention Joe, one of my first contacts as a new DC. He attended the first meeting I had, and he was super excited to get connected. He is busy working and looking for work. He wanted to be here today, but he said he would take a third of our district’s list and work on making those phone calls.
KG: So, Joe was going to be at your meeting today, couldn’t make it, and still found a way to help. Oh wow, that's great!
LH: I was really, really blessed that he offered to do that. My husband, Jim, also offered to do a third. You know, if we can get a small army gathered out of those people who like to spend time together and can behave, you know . . . it would be great.
LH: You know Portland has had crazy stuff going on. Have you been to Seattle lately?
KG: I have no desire to go right now.
LH: That breaks my heart. I was a tour guide in Seattle, you know I would do city tours and -
KG: OK. Yeah.
LH: The bustle of the city is gone. Seattle and its streets are almost vacant midday. Not at all like it used to be. Oh yeah, there's plywood. There's one whole bank, boarded with plywood. And of course, the graffiti. I haven't been to Westlake. I haven't gone up there, but I’m afraid it's decimated and it's going to take what, 20 years just to make it be back to what it was in 2019. It's just heartbreaking what they’ve done to us.
KG: It is. You know – that quote from the meeting last night. There's the one about, you don’t get what you want, you get what you fight for; make the choice to fight forward, right?
LH: Yes, all right – that’s so good!
KG: Which I see you doing. And the other one that sort of occurred to me is, we're all sitting here listening to you and watching the video. There's some gravitas to what you are doing here. That connection that you are making with people – that’s where things are happening. I’m here, writing about what you are doing with Convention of States, because this is the leading edge of the fight to save the Republic. You, and the other District Captains, are where it’s happening.
I love that Convention of States has built the structure over so many years, and that their plan comes from Article V of our own Constitution, right?
LH: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
KG: As Americans we have a heritage, we have a history and a way to recover our rights to self-governance. With Article V we can exercise positive change for the country, assuming people are willing to step up and fight for it, willing to take the risk, right?
LH: Yep, it is risky. There is risk.
KG: You are a district captain and not only are you in that role, but you strike me as somebody who is able, for whatever reason, personal charm or charisma, I don't know, but you're able to get people to meet. And talk to you, right? I can see you really having a lot of impact way outside to what you think you're doing. You’ve said that you see your job as talking to the legislators, convincing the legislators. And yes, maybe that is your job, but it seems like something even more important is happening here. And that is the bonds that you form with those people, right here in this room. That's going to get people warmly committed, right? To this dream of restoring our self-governance.
LH: Yeah, it's really good.
KG: I'm hopeful and excited, you know, that you're doing this, and all of this is why I wanted to interview you! To celebrate how you are strengthening the grassroots army.
LH: Thank you!
You can contact Laurie at Laurie.hagedorn@cosaction.com.
This is the second in a series of interviews of District Captains. Laurie came to Convention of States as a brand-new District Captain in March 2021 for District 33. Already she has held two Q & A meetings, sounded out to her representatives (with either zero or negative response from them), and held an in-person meeting with a former Washington state representative 1967-1974 and King County councilman 1974-1994, Paul Barden, who has pledged assistance and support to COS. She continues to find signatories for the Article V Petition as well, in her quest to build her own corps of passionate and connected volunteers.
Laurie seems to have a natural knack for finding and communicating with the many frustrated Americans looking for a viable solution to our current troubles. It is obvious that she is blessed with the necessary virtue of patriotism as well as intelligence, sincerity, and enthusiasm, and that she is not shy about fighting ‘the good fight’ to restore our Constitutional Republic.
KG: I'm here with Laurie Hagedorn, and we were just getting started talking about Convention of States. So, I can't remember where we were now. I think you were going —
LH: To tell a story! I got excited about Convention of States while watching either Flashpoint with Gene Bailey or Victory News on the Victory Channel on YouTube. I think it was Mark , who was introducing the Convention of States proposition. And something clicked in my head. I thought, “That's the answer!” Because last year, the question that kept coming up for me was ‘What can I do to help save the United States of America?’ Every day, I’d asked myself this. I said it many times out loud to my very supportive husband too.
You know, I knew about a week into February 2020 that something was . . . goofy. Something was seriously wrong in our country. So when I saw that show, I went online right away to sign the petition, and my husband signed it then, too. I said- “Jim, put yes!” when the form asked if we wanted to volunteer. We both clicked “yes,” even though we didn't really know what the responsibilities would be.
But when I was looking at the list of volunteer opportunities on the Convention of States website - this is what I was just about to tell you. When I signed up as a volunteer, I put down that I wanted to be a content writer. I have studied content writing under American artists and Writers Inc. And, you know, marketing materials, things like that.
KG: Oh, wow.
LH: Anyway, about a week later my husband got a text, and he says, “You know, they invited me to be District Captain of our district.” I said, “Say yes!” He was taking his time analyzing it. So, anyway, he didn’t do it! At least not in those first five minutes. While he was considering it, I was saying stuff like, “I’ll support you! I’ll help you! Do it! Do it! Do it!” A few minutes later, I got a personal text from the State Director, Eric Minor. “We’ve filled the Content Writer positions already. Do you want to be a District Captain instead?” it said. Well, I answered before Jim could and beat him out of the job!
KG: Excellent!
LH: So that was kind of cool and Eric (the State Director) was awesome. I asked – “What do I do as District Captain?” And he said, “Oh, make some phone calls. Can you do that?” Well, yes.
I’ve been a professional tour guide and reservation specialist. I can be on the phone. I don't mind making phone calls, or having people call me. So Eric helped me learn about my job, and connected me to COS resources. He also gave me access to all the training online at COS University and I dove right in. He invited me the National COS Tuesday night weekly calls, too, and I got to be on the state video conference call where I saw and heard the awesome people I get to work with in my state! But what really kicked me into gear was getting trained in Citizen Builder, where I found the list of people in my district who have signed the petition for Convention of States over the years.
KG: That’s awesome! So now you are “plugged in,” so to speak, to what a District Captain does. You are calling people. You are meeting them face-to-face. Anyway - how has your response been so far?
LH: Well, the Q & A we just finished is positive.
KG: Yes, it is!
LH: And what’s more, no one from the petition list was even here today! These were all new people who are just now learning about Convention of States. The volunteers who had said they would come to today’s meeting needed to reschedule but they did say, “Let me know when the meetings are,” that kind of thing. They want to be here. When people have work, and busy lives — well, I meet them where they are.
KG: That’s great. Because that’s just what is needed. Can you tell me about your first contact?
LH: The first person that I actually got to talk to was Shannon, a woman who had just signed the petition. And I was able to talk to her the very same day. We texted a little bit, and we had a nice phone conversation, so I-I kind of had success on my first conversation which was helpful. I wasn't getting rejection, you know, first call and all.
KG: That sounds like a great technique. Call an interested person as soon as possible, while it’s fresh in their mind – like you did - no time lag, so the person doesn’t forget or get too busy, and you’re more likely to get a positive response?
LH: Yes, exactly so.
KG: So, are you working your way through the list of volunteers, then?
LH: I am, and I’m getting tremendous response from people I run into just living my daily life, with people who haven't signed up yet. I’m getting this response by doing this work, like right now. I'm not even doing calls every day, like I kind of expected to do.
KG: How many volunteers are you looking to have with you? What kind of numbers do you want as a core team?
LH: Oh, that's a good question. It says in the manual to have one hundred. And that's kind of big. I felt very overwhelmed. Seriously, I was not going to say yes to the job if I had to manage one hundred people. I have managed ten children before and it's a nightmare helping them all stay alive! You know managing one hundred adults would be like managing ten children from my heart’s point of view, right? And so, no, I thought that would be impossible. I brought my concerns to Eric. He is so even keeled, and his answers are not overwhelming or stressful. You know, I just really, really appreciate him and his character. He told me I could just make it ten for now. Once I get to a group of ten who want to participate, learn more, write letters together, or whatever else is on the Convention of States volunteer menu - we will see progress in Washington State towards passing our application. Since our legislators are not as easily accessible in person as we’d like, I want to have letter writing sessions asking for their attention to the Convention of States.
KG: That sounds terrific!
LH: Also, I want to have a phone bank session. And that will work if I can spread people out. So, I’m kind of, you know, thinking about that. We could have get-togethers just to make the phone calls and get through our long list faster, and it could be kind of fun.
I like watching the Convention of States videos to get other ideas. One District Captain had a community walk with his district’s team to doorbell while wearing COS hats and shirts to be official to find interested people. That sounds like fun to me, so I’ll be proposing it to our people, too.
LH: And I’d like to mention Joe, one of my first contacts as a new DC. He attended the first meeting I had, and he was super excited to get connected. He is busy working and looking for work. He wanted to be here today, but he said he would take a third of our district’s list and work on making those phone calls.
KG: So, Joe was going to be at your meeting today, couldn’t make it, and still found a way to help. Oh wow, that's great!
LH: I was really, really blessed that he offered to do that. My husband, Jim, also offered to do a third. You know, if we can get a small army gathered out of those people who like to spend time together and can behave, you know . . . it would be great.
LH: You know Portland has had crazy stuff going on. Have you been to Seattle lately?
KG: I have no desire to go right now.
LH: That breaks my heart. I was a tour guide in Seattle, you know I would do city tours and -
KG: OK. Yeah.
LH: The bustle of the city is gone. Seattle and its streets are almost vacant midday. Not at all like it used to be. Oh yeah, there's plywood. There's one whole bank, boarded with plywood. And of course, the graffiti. I haven't been to Westlake. I haven't gone up there, but I’m afraid it's decimated and it's going to take what, 20 years just to make it be back to what it was in 2019. It's just heartbreaking what they’ve done to us.
KG: It is. You know – that quote from the meeting last night. There's the one about, you don’t get what you want, you get what you fight for; make the choice to fight forward, right?
LH: Yes, all right – that’s so good!
KG: Which I see you doing. And the other one that sort of occurred to me is, we're all sitting here listening to you and watching the video. There's some gravitas to what you are doing here. That connection that you are making with people – that’s where things are happening. I’m here, writing about what you are doing with Convention of States, because this is the leading edge of the fight to save the Republic. You, and the other District Captains, are where it’s happening.
I love that Convention of States has built the structure over so many years, and that their plan comes from Article V of our own Constitution, right?
LH: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
KG: As Americans we have a heritage, we have a history and a way to recover our rights to self-governance. With Article V we can exercise positive change for the country, assuming people are willing to step up and fight for it, willing to take the risk, right?
LH: Yep, it is risky. There is risk.
KG: You are a district captain and not only are you in that role, but you strike me as somebody who is able, for whatever reason, personal charm or charisma, I don't know, but you're able to get people to meet. And talk to you, right? I can see you really having a lot of impact way outside to what you think you're doing. You’ve said that you see your job as talking to the legislators, convincing the legislators. And yes, maybe that is your job, but it seems like something even more important is happening here. And that is the bonds that you form with those people, right here in this room. That's going to get people warmly committed, right? To this dream of restoring our self-governance.
LH: Yeah, it's really good.
KG: I'm hopeful and excited, you know, that you're doing this, and all of this is why I wanted to interview you! To celebrate how you are strengthening the grassroots army.
LH: Thank you!
You can contact Laurie at Laurie.hagedorn@cosaction.com.
This is the second in a series of interviews of District Captains. Laurie came to Convention of States as a brand-new District Captain in March 2021 for District 33. Already she has held two Q & A meetings, sounded out to her representatives (with either zero or negative response from them), and held an in-person meeting with a former Washington state representative 1967-1974 and King County councilman 1974-1994, Paul Barden, who has pledged assistance and support to COS. She continues to find signatories for the Article V Petition as well, in her quest to build her own corps of passionate and connected volunteers.
Laurie seems to have a natural knack for finding and communicating with the many frustrated Americans looking for a viable solution to our current troubles. It is obvious that she is blessed with the necessary virtue of patriotism as well as intelligence, sincerity, and enthusiasm, and that she is not shy about fighting ‘the good fight’ to restore our Constitutional Republic.
KG: I'm here with Laurie Hagedorn, and we were just getting started talking about Convention of States. So, I can't remember where we were now. I think you were going —
LH: To tell a story! I got excited about Convention of States while watching either Flashpoint with Gene Bailey or Victory News on the Victory Channel on YouTube. I think it was Mark , who was introducing the Convention of States proposition. And something clicked in my head. I thought, “That's the answer!” Because last year, the question that kept coming up for me was ‘What can I do to help save the United States of America?’ Every day, I’d asked myself this. I said it many times out loud to my very supportive husband too.
You know, I knew about a week into February 2020 that something was . . . goofy. Something was seriously wrong in our country. So when I saw that show, I went online right away to sign the petition, and my husband signed it then, too. I said- “Jim, put yes!” when the form asked if we wanted to volunteer. We both clicked “yes,” even though we didn't really know what the responsibilities would be.
But when I was looking at the list of volunteer opportunities on the Convention of States website - this is what I was just about to tell you. When I signed up as a volunteer, I put down that I wanted to be a content writer. I have studied content writing under American artists and Writers Inc. And, you know, marketing materials, things like that.
KG: Oh, wow.
LH: Anyway, about a week later my husband got a text, and he says, “You know, they invited me to be District Captain of our district.” I said, “Say yes!” He was taking his time analyzing it. So, anyway, he didn’t do it! At least not in those first five minutes. While he was considering it, I was saying stuff like, “I’ll support you! I’ll help you! Do it! Do it! Do it!” A few minutes later, I got a personal text from the State Director, Eric Minor. “We’ve filled the Content Writer positions already. Do you want to be a District Captain instead?” it said. Well, I answered before Jim could and beat him out of the job!
KG: Excellent!
LH: So that was kind of cool and Eric (the State Director) was awesome. I asked – “What do I do as District Captain?” And he said, “Oh, make some phone calls. Can you do that?” Well, yes.
I’ve been a professional tour guide and reservation specialist. I can be on the phone. I don't mind making phone calls, or having people call me. So Eric helped me learn about my job, and connected me to COS resources. He also gave me access to all the training online at COS University and I dove right in. He invited me the National COS Tuesday night weekly calls, too, and I got to be on the state video conference call where I saw and heard the awesome people I get to work with in my state! But what really kicked me into gear was getting trained in Citizen Builder, where I found the list of people in my district who have signed the petition for Convention of States over the years.
KG: That’s awesome! So now you are “plugged in,” so to speak, to what a District Captain does. You are calling people. You are meeting them face-to-face. Anyway - how has your response been so far?
LH: Well, the Q & A we just finished is positive.
KG: Yes, it is!
LH: And what’s more, no one from the petition list was even here today! These were all new people who are just now learning about Convention of States. The volunteers who had said they would come to today’s meeting needed to reschedule but they did say, “Let me know when the meetings are,” that kind of thing. They want to be here. When people have work, and busy lives — well, I meet them where they are.
KG: That’s great. Because that’s just what is needed. Can you tell me about your first contact?
LH: The first person that I actually got to talk to was Shannon, a woman who had just signed the petition. And I was able to talk to her the very same day. We texted a little bit, and we had a nice phone conversation, so I-I kind of had success on my first conversation which was helpful. I wasn't getting rejection, you know, first call and all.
KG: That sounds like a great technique. Call an interested person as soon as possible, while it’s fresh in their mind – like you did - no time lag, so the person doesn’t forget or get too busy, and you’re more likely to get a positive response?
LH: Yes, exactly so.
KG: So, are you working your way through the list of volunteers, then?
LH: I am, and I’m getting tremendous response from people I run into just living my daily life, with people who haven't signed up yet. I’m getting this response by doing this work, like right now. I'm not even doing calls every day, like I kind of expected to do.
KG: How many volunteers are you looking to have with you? What kind of numbers do you want as a core team?
LH: Oh, that's a good question. It says in the manual to have one hundred. And that's kind of big. I felt very overwhelmed. Seriously, I was not going to say yes to the job if I had to manage one hundred people. I have managed ten children before and it's a nightmare helping them all stay alive! You know managing one hundred adults would be like managing ten children from my heart’s point of view, right? And so, no, I thought that would be impossible. I brought my concerns to Eric. He is so even keeled, and his answers are not overwhelming or stressful. You know, I just really, really appreciate him and his character. He told me I could just make it ten for now. Once I get to a group of ten who want to participate, learn more, write letters together, or whatever else is on the Convention of States volunteer menu - we will see progress in Washington State towards passing our application. Since our legislators are not as easily accessible in person as we’d like, I want to have letter writing sessions asking for their attention to the Convention of States.
KG: That sounds terrific!
LH: Also, I want to have a phone bank session. And that will work if I can spread people out. So, I’m kind of, you know, thinking about that. We could have get-togethers just to make the phone calls and get through our long list faster, and it could be kind of fun.
I like watching the Convention of States videos to get other ideas. One District Captain had a community walk with his district’s team to doorbell while wearing COS hats and shirts to be official to find interested people. That sounds like fun to me, so I’ll be proposing it to our people, too.
LH: And I’d like to mention Joe, one of my first contacts as a new DC. He attended the first meeting I had, and he was super excited to get connected. He is busy working and looking for work. He wanted to be here today, but he said he would take a third of our district’s list and work on making those phone calls.
KG: So, Joe was going to be at your meeting today, couldn’t make it, and still found a way to help. Oh wow, that's great!
LH: I was really, really blessed that he offered to do that. My husband, Jim, also offered to do a third. You know, if we can get a small army gathered out of those people who like to spend time together and can behave, you know . . . it would be great.
LH: You know Portland has had crazy stuff going on. Have you been to Seattle lately?
KG: I have no desire to go right now.
LH: That breaks my heart. I was a tour guide in Seattle, you know I would do city tours and -
KG: OK. Yeah.
LH: The bustle of the city is gone. Seattle and its streets are almost vacant midday. Not at all like it used to be. Oh yeah, there's plywood. There's one whole bank, boarded with plywood. And of course, the graffiti. I haven't been to Westlake. I haven't gone up there, but I’m afraid it's decimated and it's going to take what, 20 years just to make it be back to what it was in 2019. It's just heartbreaking what they’ve done to us.
KG: It is. You know – that quote from the meeting last night. There's the one about, you don’t get what you want, you get what you fight for; make the choice to fight forward, right?
LH: Yes, all right – that’s so good!
KG: Which I see you doing. And the other one that sort of occurred to me is, we're all sitting here listening to you and watching the video. There's some gravitas to what you are doing here. That connection that you are making with people – that’s where things are happening. I’m here, writing about what you are doing with Convention of States, because this is the leading edge of the fight to save the Republic. You, and the other District Captains, are where it’s happening.
I love that Convention of States has built the structure over so many years, and that their plan comes from Article V of our own Constitution, right?
LH: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
KG: As Americans we have a heritage, we have a history and a way to recover our rights to self-governance. With Article V we can exercise positive change for the country, assuming people are willing to step up and fight for it, willing to take the risk, right?
LH: Yep, it is risky. There is risk.
KG: You are a district captain and not only are you in that role, but you strike me as somebody who is able, for whatever reason, personal charm or charisma, I don't know, but you're able to get people to meet. And talk to you, right? I can see you really having a lot of impact way outside to what you think you're doing. You’ve said that you see your job as talking to the legislators, convincing the legislators. And yes, maybe that is your job, but it seems like something even more important is happening here. And that is the bonds that you form with those people, right here in this room. That's going to get people warmly committed, right? To this dream of restoring our self-governance.
LH: Yeah, it's really good.
KG: I'm hopeful and excited, you know, that you're doing this, and all of this is why I wanted to interview you! To celebrate how you are strengthening the grassroots army.
LH: Thank you!
You can contact Laurie at Laurie.hagedorn@cosaction.com.
This is the second in a series of interviews of District Captains. Laurie came to Convention of States as a brand-new District Captain in March 2021 for District 33. Already she has held two Q & A meetings, sounded out to her representatives (with either zero or negative response from them), and held an in-person meeting with a former Washington state representative 1967-1974 and King County councilman 1974-1994, Paul Barden, who has pledged assistance and support to COS. She continues to find signatories for the Article V Petition as well, in her quest to build her own corps of passionate and connected volunteers.
Laurie seems to have a natural knack for finding and communicating with the many frustrated Americans looking for a viable solution to our current troubles. It is obvious that she is blessed with the necessary virtue of patriotism as well as intelligence, sincerity, and enthusiasm, and that she is not shy about fighting ‘the good fight’ to restore our Constitutional Republic.
KG: I'm here with Laurie Hagedorn, and we were just getting started talking about Convention of States. So, I can't remember where we were now. I think you were going —
LH: To tell a story! I got excited about Convention of States while watching either Flashpoint with Gene Bailey or Victory News on the Victory Channel on YouTube. I think it was Mark , who was introducing the Convention of States proposition. And something clicked in my head. I thought, “That's the answer!” Because last year, the question that kept coming up for me was ‘What can I do to help save the United States of America?’ Every day, I’d asked myself this. I said it many times out loud to my very supportive husband too.
You know, I knew about a week into February 2020 that something was . . . goofy. Something was seriously wrong in our country. So when I saw that show, I went online right away to sign the petition, and my husband signed it then, too. I said- “Jim, put yes!” when the form asked if we wanted to volunteer. We both clicked “yes,” even though we didn't really know what the responsibilities would be.
But when I was looking at the list of volunteer opportunities on the Convention of States website - this is what I was just about to tell you. When I signed up as a volunteer, I put down that I wanted to be a content writer. I have studied content writing under American artists and Writers Inc. And, you know, marketing materials, things like that.
KG: So you are a writer yourself. What happened?
LH: Anyway, about a week later my husband got a text, and he says, “You know, they invited me to be District Captain of our district.” I said, “Say yes!” He was taking his time analyzing it. So, anyway, he didn’t do it! At least not in those first five minutes. While he was considering it, I was saying stuff like, “I’ll support you! I’ll help you! Do it! Do it! Do it!” A few minutes later, I got a personal text from the State Director, Eric Minor. “We’ve filled the Content Writer positions already. Do you want to be a District Captain instead?” it said. Well, I answered before Jim could and beat him out of the job!
KG: Excellent!
LH: So that was kind of cool and Eric (the State Director) was awesome. I asked – “What do I do as District Captain?” And he said, “Oh, make some phone calls. Can you do that?” Well, yes.
I’ve been a professional tour guide and reservation specialist. I can be on the phone. I don't mind making phone calls, or having people call me. So Eric helped me learn about my job, and connected me to COS resources. He also gave me access to all the training online at COS University and I dove right in. He invited me the National COS Tuesday night weekly calls, too, and I got to be on the state video conference call where I saw and heard the awesome people I get to work with in my state! But what really kicked me into gear was getting trained in Citizen Builder, where I found the list of people in my district who have signed the petition for Convention of States over the years.
KG: That’s awesome! So now you are “plugged in,” so to speak, to what a District Captain does. You are calling people. You are meeting them face-to-face. Anyway - how has your response been so far?
LH: Well, the Q & A we just finished is positive.
KG: Yes, it is!
LH: And what’s more, no one from the petition list was even here today! These were all new people who are just now learning about Convention of States. The volunteers who had said they would come to today’s meeting needed to reschedule but they did say, “Let me know when the meetings are,” that kind of thing. They want to be here. When people have work, and busy lives — well, I meet them where they are.
KG: That’s great. Because that’s just what is needed. Can you tell me about your first contact?
LH: The first person that I actually got to talk to was Shannon, a woman who had just signed the petition. And I was able to talk to her the very same day. We texted a little bit, and we had a nice phone conversation, so I-I kind of had success on my first conversation which was helpful. I wasn't getting rejection, you know, first call and all.
KG: That sounds like a great technique. Call an interested person as soon as possible, while it’s fresh in their mind – like you did - no time lag, so the person doesn’t forget or get too busy, and you’re more likely to get a positive response?
LH: Yes, exactly so.
KG: So, are you working your way through the list of volunteers, then?
LH: I am, and I’m getting tremendous response from people I run into just living my daily life, with people who haven't signed up yet. I’m getting this response by doing this work, like right now. I'm not even doing calls every day, like I kind of expected to do.
KG: How many volunteers are you looking to have with you? What kind of numbers do you want as a core team?
LH: Oh, that's a good question. It says in the manual to have one hundred. And that's kind of big. I felt very overwhelmed. Seriously, I was not going to say yes to the job if I had to manage one hundred people. I have managed ten children before and it's a nightmare helping them all stay alive! You know managing one hundred adults would be like managing ten children from my heart’s point of view, right? And so, no, I thought that would be impossible. I brought my concerns to Eric. He is so even keeled, and his answers are not overwhelming or stressful. You know, I just really, really appreciate him and his character. He told me I could just make it ten for now. Once I get to a group of ten who want to participate, learn more, write letters together, or whatever else is on the Convention of States volunteer menu - we will see progress in Washington State towards passing our application. Since our legislators are not as easily accessible in person as we’d like, I want to have letter writing sessions asking for their attention to the Convention of States.
KG: That sounds terrific!
LH: Also, I want to have a phone bank session. And that will work if I can spread people out. So, I’m kind of, you know, thinking about that. We could have get-togethers just to make the phone calls and get through our long list faster, and it could be kind of fun.
I like watching the Convention of States videos to get other ideas. One District Captain had a community walk with his district’s team to doorbell while wearing COS hats and shirts to be official to find interested people. That sounds like fun to me, so I’ll be proposing it to our people, too.
LH: And I’d like to mention Joe, one of my first contacts as a new DC. He attended the first meeting I had, and he was super excited to get connected. He is busy working and looking for work. He wanted to be here today, but he said he would take a third of our district’s list and work on making those phone calls.
KG: So, Joe was going to be at your meeting today, couldn’t make it, and still found a way to help. Oh wow, that's great!
LH: I was really, really blessed that he offered to do that. My husband, Jim, also offered to do a third. You know, if we can get a small army gathered out of those people who like to spend time together and can behave, you know . . . it would be great.
LH: You know Portland has had crazy stuff going on. Have you been to Seattle lately?
KG: I have no desire to go right now.
LH: That breaks my heart. I was a tour guide in Seattle, you know I would do city tours and -
KG: OK. Yeah.
LH: The bustle of the city is gone. Seattle and its streets are almost vacant midday. Not at all like it used to be. Oh yeah, there's plywood. There's one whole bank, boarded with plywood. And of course, the graffiti. I haven't been to Westlake. I haven't gone up there, but I’m afraid it's decimated and it's going to take what, 20 years just to make it be back to what it was in 2019. It's just heartbreaking what they’ve done to us.
KG: It is. You know – that quote from the meeting last night. There's the one about, you don’t get what you want, you get what you fight for; make the choice to fight forward, right?
LH: Yes, all right – that’s so good!
KG: Which I see you doing. And the other one that sort of occurred to me is, we're all sitting here listening to you and watching the video. There's some gravitas to what you are doing here. That connection that you are making with people – that’s where things are happening. I’m here, writing about what you are doing with Convention of States, because this is the leading edge of the fight to save the Republic. You, and the other District Captains, are where it’s happening.
I love that Convention of States has built the structure over so many years, and that their plan comes from Article V of our own Constitution, right?
LH: Yeah, yeah, yeah!
KG: As Americans we have a heritage, we have a history and a way to recover our rights to self-governance. With Article V we can exercise positive change for the country, assuming people are willing to step up and fight for it, willing to take the risk, right?
LH: Yep, it is risky. There is risk.
KG: You are a district captain and not only are you in that role, but you strike me as somebody who is able, for whatever reason, personal charm or charisma, I don't know, but you're able to get people to meet. And talk to you, right? I can see you really having a lot of impact way outside to what you think you're doing. You’ve said that you see your job as talking to the legislators, convincing the legislators. And yes, maybe that is your job, but it seems like something even more important is happening here. And that is the bonds that you form with those people, right here in this room. That's going to get people warmly committed, right? To this dream of restoring our self-governance.
LH: Yeah, it's really good.
KG: I'm hopeful and excited, you know, that you're doing this, and all of this is why I wanted to interview you! To celebrate how you are strengthening the grassroots army.
LH: Thank you!
You can contact Laurie at Laurie.hagedorn@cosaction.com
