About the Council for Modernized Governement
The Council to Modernize Government is...
a non-partisan organization that educates policymakers, thought leaders, and the American public on the principles of reducing the power of the administrative state. We are made up of a group of former government officials, lawyers, and policy experts who believe that the administrative state can better serve its constituents, the American people, by modernizing and improving the performance of several basic government functions. The Council will produce and present intellectual research, policy analysis, and real-world data to drive innovative solutions.
Leadership
Curtis Schube
Executive Director
Curtis Schube spent over twelve years as an attorney before joining Council to Modernize Governance. During that time, he spent seven years practicing administrative law and election law working for the state of Missouri. As an Assistant Attorney General, Curtis had key numerous victories that furthered economic freedom, including defending the State’s decision to issue a license to Tesla, which was challenged by traditional car brands. He also handled cases involving Medicare/Medicaid, professional licensing issues such as police use of force cases, citizen ballot initiatives, and worker’s compensation.
Curtis then joined the Pennsylvania Family Institute, where he both litigated and advocated for laws in legislative settings related to pro-life issues and religious liberty. Notably, Curtis spent considerable time appearing in front of local government counsels arguing against unconstitutional counseling bills.
From there, Curtis joined the Fairness Center, where he litigated so-called Janus cases, where public sector employees had left their union, but were still being forced to pay union dues. He also handled matters where non-members were treated unfairly by unions because of their status as non-members.
Curtis’ final stop prior to joining Council to Modernize Governance was at Dhillon Law Group. There, Curtis practiced constitutional law, election law, defamation law, and other liberty-minded issues. Notably, Curtis was involved in defending January 6 Committee subpoenas, conducted a public records request investigation which uncovered examples of election officials “curing” ballots, and many other notable issues.
Curtis’ goal is to achieve regulatory reform so that government is restrained. He is committed to making government regulation more efficient and fair so that citizens and businesses have the ability to understand what is required of them under the law and the freedom to make decisions without the fear of breaking those laws.
Board of Advisors
David L. Bernhardt
Advisory Council Member
The only person to ever be confirmed by the U. S. Senate to serve as secretary of the Interior, deputy secretary (chief operations officer) and solicitor (chief legal officer) of the Department of the Interior in its 174-year history.
While serving as the 53rd secretary of the Department of the Interior, David led a U.S. cabinet department with an asset portfolio that exceeded $300 billion, a $16 billion annual budget and nearly 70,000 employees through a period of transformational improvement and change.
A creative problem solver, David focused his efforts to further conservation stewardship, expand opportunities for access to hunting and fishing on public lands, drove regulatory change, and worked to enhance our nation’s energy independence.
Among other duties, he led the Trump administration’s effort to enact the Great American Outdoors Act and President Trump tasked him with playing a key role on initiatives such as addressing the threat to the domestic supply chain from reliance on critical minerals from foreign adversaries and serving as co-chair of the One Trillion Trees Interagency Council.
Before serving as secretary, David served as deputy secretary at Interior, where he led many significant initiatives ranging from: creating and implementing policies and practices to address a systemic culture of harassment in the workplace; modernizing business processes related to permitting authorizations and denials; dramatically improving the ethics program; and developing one of the most diverse leadership teams in the department’s history.
David currently serves as part time senior counsel at the Brownstein law firm and is involved in many nonprofit endeavors. For example, David is the Chairman of the Center for American Freedom with the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) and serves on the advisory board for Advancing American Freedom (AAF).
In addition, David’s memoir entitled, “YOU REPORT TO ME, Accountability For the Failing Administrative State“ was released in bookstores and online in May of 2023.
Dr. Stephen Hollingshead
Advisory Council Member
Dr. Stephen Hollingshead helps create jobs in tough spots by using technologies to improve and extend the administration of property rights.
A former financial regulator and cabinet-level economic advisor, he founded ChangeInEx to address the global derisking crisis (banks pulling back from developing markets because of post-9/11 regulation) and created the Secured Special Economic Zone (SSEZ) model for investment in post-conflict environments.
Both these tools emerged from his work to address genocide and the refugee crisis, and they share a common theme: The only enduring solution to the crisis is to give families the dignity of productive work. To do this, we must give basic property rights—identity, title, and exchange—to those most in need; and we must improve property rights for investors and entrepreneurs where investment is most needed.
Gregg Renkes
Advisory Council Member
A member of the Alaska bar for over 30 years, Gregg Renkes has served in the federal legislative and executive branches of government and as a senior state executive. He served in the U.S. Senate in various capacities including Chief of Staff for U.S. Senator Frank Murkowski and Majority Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources. Mr. Renkes was Alaska’s fifteenth Attorney General where he led a department including 400 attorneys and bringing an increased focus on prosecuting crime and protecting and developing the Alaska’s energy resource wealth. He also served as a member of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council and the Alaska Permanent Fund Board. He was appointed Co-Chair, along with the U.S. Attorney for Alaska, of the federally created Alaska Rural Justice and Law Enforcement Commission.