GOP in the House uses social media to advance goals

House Speaker Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, is active on Twitter. He meets daily with reporters, compared with previous speakers, who did so less frequently.
House Speaker Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, is active on Twitter. He meets daily with reporters, compared with previous speakers, who did so less frequently.

— The House Republican Caucus has been visibly active since the 2012 fiscal session, with a website, a consultant and its own plan to govern Arkansas.

House Republican Caucus members pledged to address six issues, which they called the Simple Plan, if voters gave them majority control of the House in 2013. They have begun filing bills to cap spending, restructure taxes, restrict abortion, increase education options, limit lawsuit damages and save money by reducing waste and fraud in Medicaid. Several candidates campaigned on a promise to implement the plan.

Republicans secured a tenuous one-seat majority in November, giving them control of the House Speaker’s chair and chairmanships of several key House committees. This is the first session in more than 138 years where Republicans have held a majority of seats in both chambers.

Along with the majority and the Simple Plan is a communications apparatus that didn’t previously exist for any of the Legislature’s four partisan caucuses.

The House Republican caucus has its own website, arhouse.org, where it posts daily videos from Republican members and information about legislation the caucus supports. A political consultant, paid for by the caucus’s political action committee, has been at the Capitol nearly every day since the session began Jan. 14. Last week, House Republican leader Bruce Westerman began a series of Monday morning press conferences to discuss what the caucus expects for the week.

Westerman said caucus members created their own way to reach the public because they recognized going into the election cycle that they needed to be organized and have a way to communicate their message.

“It came from the idea that we were very likely going to be in the majority and we wanted be prepared and we wanted to organize with the ability to lead,” Westerman said.

House Speaker Rep. Davy Carter, R-Cabot, is active on Twitter. He meets daily with reporters, compared with previous speakers, who did so less frequently.

Senate President Pro Tempore Sen. Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, also used the micro-blogging site frequently, summing up the day in 140 characters or fewer.

Senate Republicans have been less public about their plans for the session, as have Democrats in both chambers.

House Democratic leader Greg Leding said the caucus will release a list of priorities for the session this week related to jobs and education, but said he doesn’t expect a slate of specific bills to be tagged as Democrats’.

“They’ve been working on that for months. We’ve been focused on the election. We came in with reduced numbers, which changed a few things,” Leding said. “They had made promises that they had intended to keep. We’re going to come out swinging, too.”

Leding said House Democrats will hire staff members to develop a better communications structure. They have a Twitter feed and a Facebook page.

“A lot of us have jobs and obligations back home, so we do feel that we could be more effective if we did have a few sets of extra hands helping us,” Leding said.

Much of the Republican Party’s gains in Arkansas have occurred in the last two general elections.

“Historically the House Democratic Caucus hasn’t really needed a lot of infrastructure, so we’re starting obviously behind where our Republican colleagues are, but we are working at putting all of that in place,” Leding said. “In the past where we had 70, 75, 80 Democrats you didn’t necessarily need to worry about the minority party. Now with things being competitive and very evenly divided, we need that infrastructure.”

The House and Senate employ nonpartisan staffs.

The House has a 21-person full-time staff, with a communications person and legislative analysts. It also has 49 employees who work only during the session. The Senate has a 12-person full-time staff including a public information officer and four people to help lawmakers reach constituents. It also has 44 employees who work during the legislative session.

Over the past 20 years, more state legislatures have moved to partisan staffs, said National Conference of State Legislatures’ legislative management program director Brian Weberg.

“There is a very slow, quiet trend that way,” Weberg said. “It’s a different kind of relationship between the members and the staff. It’s not better or worse, it’s just different.”

He said there is a range from a largely partisan legislative staff in Virginia to a staff that doesn’t align with a political party in Wyoming and gradients in between.

The House has worked to become more accessible over the past few years, including placing videos of House proceedings and committee meetings online and managing its own Twitter feed. It also helps members communicate with constituents by writing policy- related columns and drafting speeches for members.

Senate Republican Whip Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot said having 40 new House members (22 Democrats and 18 Republicans) may make it more important for House caucuses to have an organizational structure.

With only 35 Senators, there is less of a need for that organization in the Senate, he said.

“We’re a much smaller group. It’s just an easier body to get your message out to,” Williams said. “Things move much slower down here. It’s just the nature of the Senate.”

The Arkansas Republican Senate Caucus has a Twitter feed and a Facebook page.

Senate Democratic Whip Keith Ingram of West Memphis said he’s concerned about lawmakers finding common ground if they approach each other from a partisan perspective. The Democratic Senate Caucus does not have a Facebook page or a Twitter account.

“You have to be very careful and not become too partisan in how you go about such things as websites. And if you’re not careful, you begin to follow down the road to what’s happened in Washington and none of us want that,” Ingram said. “We have to be very careful about putting parties ahead of what is best for the state of Arkansas, and I think that is the fine line that we walk. I don’t want to get in that position that I’m for something just because a Democrat introduced it or I’m against something just because a Republican introduced it.”

Westerman called the House Republican Caucus’ plan and its effort to organize a way to pool the members’ ideas.

“We’re trying to do this as a tool and a service and a method to be organized and get good legislation out there,” Westerman said. “It seems like a pretty effective way to communicate. It seemed like the natural thing to do to me, and our caucus seems to be supportive. There’s no reason that all the other caucuses can’t have that.”

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/04/2013

Upcoming Events