Editors note: This story was published on Valentine's Day 2017. Click here to follow along with 2018 #ARlegValentines posts.
This Valentine’s Day, love (and legislation) is in the air.
Arkansas lawmakers have convened for the 91st General Assembly to consider a bevy of new bills. And today, reporters, lobbyists and legislators alike are commenting on those bills — and other political quirks — by dusting off a beloved tradition: #arlegvalentines.
On Twitter, people compose poems and puns to commemorate the day of love while also commenting on the goings-on at the Capitol.
The hashtag was started during the 2013 session by Andrew DeMillo, a former Democrat-Gazette reporter who now covers the Capitol for the Little Rock bureau of The Associated Press.
DeMillo said he got the idea in the midst of a busy day where everyone seemed a bit harried. So he started making some “really bad jokes” on Twitter under that hashtag, and other people picked up on it, he said.
[#ARlegvalentines: View some of the best tweets above or in a larger version here]
The posts became an annual staple in Arkansas. Some people use the tradition to blow off some steam about touchy subjects, DeMillo said, though he always tries to remain neutral.
The jokes range from pretty clever to total groaners, DeMillo said. One of the favorites that he’s written just said: "(This Valentine has been exempted from the Freedom of Information Act.)"
When he started the valentines, DeMillo said he hoped folks would join in, but he did not expect the practice to spread as far as it has. Mississippi, Kansas, Indiana and Idaho now have their own hashtags.
And aside from other lawmakers, DeMillo’s wife, Hilary DeMillo, takes part in the tradition, too. They’re going out to celebrate Valentine’s Day more formally this weekend, he said. But tonight, DeMillo said they’ll eat some pizza, drink some beer and scroll through the list of #arlegvalentines together.