{"id":2596516,"date":"2026-04-29T07:59:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T11:59:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-this-conservative-group-is-breaking-the-bureaucratic-bloat-wrecking-red-states\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T08:02:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T12:02:49","slug":"how-this-conservative-group-is-breaking-the-bureaucratic-bloat-wrecking-red-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/how-this-conservative-group-is-breaking-the-bureaucratic-bloat-wrecking-red-states\/","title":{"rendered":"How This Group Is Breaking The Bureaucracy Wrecking Red States"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">20<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fhow-this-conservative-group-is-breaking-the-bureaucratic-bloat-wrecking-red-states%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2596516&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article argues that many Republican-led states are not actually governed in a way that reflects conservative priorities. It explains that this concern helped motivate the State leadership Initiative (SLI),launched in February 2025 by conservative leaders,to investigate and challenge what it calls bureaucratic sabotage in GOP-run states.<\/p>\n<p>SLI claims it discovered a pattern in which \u201cleft-wing\u201d bureaucratic networks-sometiems presented as nonpartisan-work across states to standardize policies, draft regulations, influence grant activity, and shape agency culture.The article cites a \u201cShadow government\u201d report and a 2025 index from SLI that, it says, show implementation of conservative-versus-liberal policy differences is often constrained by a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >largely unchanged left-leaning administrative framework<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It also describes early efforts and partial successes. In indiana and West virginia, SLI partnered with governor\u2019s offices to identify boards and commissions it says promote ideologies contrary to Republican voter goals, leading to legislation and reforms. The article claims that in West Virginia, one SLI-backed effort helped eliminate dozens of redundant or underperforming boards and commissions, and that similar shutdowns and reforms occurred across the two states.<\/p>\n<p>despite these wins, the article says SLI has faced resistance from entrenched institutions-described as a \u201cstate swamp\u201d-that have notable power and inertia. SLI founder Noah Wall argues that reform is tough because some organizations may be necessary but allegedly operate in ways that undermine the states\u2019 stated goals.<\/p>\n<p>Looking ahead, SLI says it plans to expand to more Republican states, working with additional partners and developing state-specific \u201cplaybooks\u201d for new GOP leadership. the proposed strategy relies heavily on working with governors\u2019 offices and using executive action where possible, with the claim that withdrawing from or reforming such organizations could also reduce costs for taxpayers.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The general political consensus is that, because a state is run by Republicans, it\u2019s automatically governed better than Democrat-run states. And while that may be true in some areas of public policy, in others, the situation is just as bad. <\/p>\n<p>It was that realization that <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/19\/meet-the-group-writing-the-blueprint-for-dismantling-bureaucracy-in-every-red-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">spawned<\/a> the State Leadership Initiative (SLI). Launched in February 2025 by an alliance of conservative leaders, SLI embarked on a mission to root out bureaucratic malfeasance in Republican-run states. In essence, it sought to ensure that red states are actually governed like red states. <\/p>\n<p>Now, a year after its creation, SLI is sounding the alarm that the bureaucratic sabotage of conservative governance in these Republican-run states isn\u2019t simply bad. It\u2019s worse than originally thought.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe thought that there were a lot of structural problems that the conservative movement hadn\u2019t been able to get around to yet. And that all turned out to be true, and way truer than I even believed at the time,\u201d SLI Founder and President Noah Wall told The Federalist. <\/p>\n<h2>Identifying the Problems<\/h2>\n<p>The problems infecting red-state governments quickly became evident in the months following SLI\u2019s launch. <\/p>\n<p>The conservative group <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/15\/report-left-wing-bureaucracies-are-quietly-subverting-red-state-governance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released<\/a> a <a href=\"https:\/\/stateleadership.org\/shadow-government-report\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201cShadow Government\u201d report<\/a> uncovering how <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/report-left-wing-bureaucracies-are-subverting-red-states\/\" title=\"...: ...-Wing Bureaucracies Are Subverting ...\">left-wing bureaucracies<\/a> are undercutting conservative priorities in GOP-run states. The analysis more specifically noted how \u201cnational associations of state officials,\u201d which often masquerade themselves as \u201cnonpartisan\u201d while advancing \u201cprogressive governance,\u201d accomplish this goal by issuing \u201cpolicy templates, draft[ing] regulations, broker[ing] federal grants, and shap[ing] the internal culture of government agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Among the organizations flagged in the report are the Environmental Council of States, <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/12\/18\/exclusive-new-report-shows-how-dei-snuck-its-way-into-georgias-medicaid-program\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">National Association of Medicaid Directors<\/a>, and National School Boards Association. The latter group gained nationwide fame in 2021 after it <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/09\/30\/leftist-school-boards-association-begs-biden-to-use-domestic-terrorism-laws-to-target-concerned-parents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">practically begged<\/a> the Biden administration to use domestic terrorism laws to target parents protesting against racial indoctrination and unscientific Covid policies at school board meetings. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese are networks of bureaucrats that are coordinating between [states like] California, New York, and Illinois in standardizing and creating best practices that are highly political and left-wing [and] that are controlling how red state governments operate,\u201d Wall said. \u201cThese associations are all political. They\u2019re all incredibly left leaning, and they\u2019re using their power as bureaucrats to rig the rules of how government programs are run.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>SLI followed up its Shadow Government report with a <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/08\/20\/exclusive-new-report-shows-red-state-institutions-are-just-as-left-wing-as-their-blue-counterparts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 index<\/a> ranking states on a variety of policy areas (\u201cgovernance,\u201d \u201ceconomic vitality,\u201d and \u201ccultural strength\u201d). The group discovered that while red states differed on major issues (ex. gun rights and tax policy) from their blue counterparts, the implementation of such policies \u201coften operate within a [left-wing] framework that remains fundamentally unchanged.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wall noted that the types of alliances outlined in SLI\u2019s reports often fly under the radar because many conservatives don\u2019t even realize they exist. He contrasted this dynamic with conservative-led efforts in recent years to push better tax and pro-life policies in red states, and said that while progress in these areas has been \u201camazing,\u201d the lack of focus on the leftist infiltration of red-state bureaucracies has allowed the problem to thrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been our goal to make this an entire movement priority because it\u2019s something that pretty much the entire movement agrees on,\u201d Wall said. \u201cThe bureaucratic control that the left has is a huge problem \u2026 and so we\u2019re trying to give [the conservative movement] a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/joe-biden-only-has-one-thing-on-his-schedule\/\" title=\"Joe Biden&#039;s schedule is focused on one thing\">laser-focused strategy<\/a> for [combatting] this.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Applying the Solutions and Encountering Challenges<\/h2>\n<p>At the same time it was helping identify this bureaucratic bloat, the State Leadership Initiative\u2019s team of activists were working alongside officials in its <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2025\/02\/19\/meet-the-group-writing-the-blueprint-for-dismantling-bureaucracy-in-every-red-state\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">five inaugural states<\/a> to help implement solutions addressing such problems, according to Wall. <\/p>\n<p>SLI partnered with the governor\u2019s offices in Indiana and West Virginia to pinpoint state boards and commissions that promoted <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/dei\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DEI<\/a> and other left-wing ideologies that ran counter to the will of Republican voters. These governors then purportedly took SLI\u2019s recommendations and shepherded them into <a href=\"https:\/\/iga.in.gov\/legislative\/2026\/bills\/house\/1003\/details\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legislation<\/a> that ultimately passed and have since become law.<\/p>\n<p>According to a <a href=\"https:\/\/governor.wv.gov\/article\/governor-morrisey-signs-key-legislation-strengthen-workforce-protect-communities-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a> from Gov. Patrick Morrisey\u2019s office, for example, the SLI-backed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wvlegislature.gov\/Bill_Status\/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=5364&#038;year=2026&#038;sessiontype=RS\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bill<\/a> in West Virginia \u201celiminated 25 state board and commissions that were either redundant or barely met.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Wall said that a \u201ccombined result of more than 100 boards and commissions are being shut down and reformed\u201d across the two states \u201cas a result of our recommendations to them.\u201d He added that SLI is also working alongside its allies (like the State Freedom Caucus Network and American Legislative Exchange Council) in its other target states to enact similar reforms. <\/p>\n<p>While SLI has enjoyed its early successes, it\u2019s also run into its share of challenges, however, <\/p>\n<p>Wall told The Federalist that while governor\u2019s offices and state freedom caucus legislators have been \u201ctremendous\u201d and receptive to SLI\u2019s efforts, the reality is that \u201cevery state has a swamp\u201d that is resistant to reforming or cutting bureaucratic organizations that \u201chave a lot of institutional power.\u201d He noted that such lack of cooperation has made it difficult to unravel longstanding problems and fix \u201cassociations that are probably necessary but are engaging in \u2026 policies that are against the goals of these states.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTackling some of these organizations has been challenging because these are big organizations that have a lot of institutional inertia behind them,\u201d Wall said. \u201cSo, that\u2019s sort of been the problem in dealing with the state swamp and some of the state legislators in each of these states. But that kind of gives you an idea of the power that these [bureaucratic associations] have.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>The Year Ahead<\/h2>\n<p>Beyond identifying bureaucratic associations in need of reform or cutting, Wall said SLI is looking to expand its reach into more red states across the country throughout the next year. <\/p>\n<p>The group has already established a working relationship with the Louisiana Department of Health and is working on putting \u201ctogether a program\u201d with recommendations on which left-wing associations \u201cto withdraw from,\u201d according to Wall. SLI also recently held a \u201ckickoff call\u201d with the Missouri Republican Party and is similarly developing a blueprint \u201cto partner with their executive offices\u201d on such efforts in the Show-Me State.<\/p>\n<p>The SLI founder said the group\u2019s game plan for the next year also includes developing these individualized programs and recommendations for red states where there will likely be new Republican leadership. Citing freedom caucus and conservative candidates running for governor in Arizona and Alabama, he noted that the idea is to \u201chand them a playbook and say, \u2018This meets your goals,\u2019 and \u2018Here\u2019s a way to tackle this issue straight off the bat.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGetting [these new governors] briefed and getting the toolkits ready for them to be able to execute executive orders to withdraw from the shadow government organizations or to commit to reforming them is going to be a critical measure of success,\u201d Wall said. \u201cA lot of this can be done through executive order. We don\u2019t need to get 51 votes in a state legislature that requires a ton of lobbying. We can just go to a governor\u2019s office; we can convince their team of the [issue\u2019s] importance and the political win that can be involved in doing this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cStates all pay for these associations themselves, and so it can save the taxpayer substantial amount of money,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He is a co-recipient of the 2025 Dao Prize for Excellence in Investigative Journalism. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics and RealClearHealth. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Consensus claims GOP-run states govern better-but SLI finds bureaucratic sabotage is still widespread in red states<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":539,"featured_media":2596517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Regulations.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15016,51418,24097,40565],"class_list":["post-2596516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-bureaucracy","tag-governance-2","tag-organizing","tag-political-reform"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Regulations.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/539"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2596516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2596520,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2596516\/revisions\/2596520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2596517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2596516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2596516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2596516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}