(The Center Square) – Easy fit is an understatement for the North Carolina state representative billing himself the BullDOGEr in a play off the acronym for the agency led by Elon Musk on government efficiency in President Donald Trump’s administration.
Results, just as in Washington, will ultimately determine how to really call the action.
Republican state Reps. Keith Kidwell of Beaufort County and John Torbett of Gaston County are cochairmen of House Speaker Destin Hall’s interim Select Committee on Government Efficiency. Their job, similar to Musk and staff in Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, is to “examine state and local government operations for potential waste, duplication of services, mismanagement, and violations of constitutional liberties,” a release says.
In a social media post earlier this week, Kidwell told the state Department of Administration, “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Seems you’re choosing the hard way. You’re going to underestimate my determination? This should be interesting.
“Just call me the BullDOGEr.”
Thursday brought an update from him reading, “Seems they’ve had a change of heart. Funny how that happens.”
Officially, DOGE was created by Trump on Inauguration Day via executive order. A week after Election Day, he said Musk and former presidential candidate rival Vivek Ramaswamy would lead the creation; Ramaswamy eventually stepped aside and is considered a potential 2026 gubernatorial candidate in Ohio.
“Unnecessary government bloat and waste hurt North Carolina taxpayers’ wallets and divert funds that could be used for core functions such as public safety and education,” Hall said.
He hopes the committee restores “state and local governments across North Carolina to their proper, limited roles.”
Hall’s release says the panel will look at policies on diversity, education and inclusion; excess state property; and potential wastes of taxpayer dollars.
“Unfortunately, our government agencies and public universities have been bogged down by bad policies and programs, like DEI, limiting their ability to enact their core purpose: serving citizens,” Torbett said.
Kidwell, who bills himself a Christian conservative Republican, said the Trump administration is right to take aim in Washington at wasteful spending and inefficient bureaucracy.
“It is time for us in Raleigh to do the same,” he said. “This committee will investigate ways our state government can maximize value for North Carolina taxpayers, protect constitutional rights, and end weaponization of state power.”
According to published reports, similar efforts are at varying levels in Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Texas and Wisconsin. Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, in her Condition of the State speech last month, says consolidation, centralization and regulatory reform the past two years is evidence, “We were doing DOGE before DOGE was a thing.”
And, she added, a DOGE advisory body is being launched.
Hall’s release says the committee of Kidwell and Torbett is authorized to consider legislation during the long session of the General Assembly. Organizational meetings are anticipated in the coming months.