State GOP chairman appeals for unity

ROGERS — State Republican Party Chairman Cody Hiland appealed for party unity Thursday while speaking to the monthly meeting of the Benton County Republican Committee.

“No external threat from the left is greater than disagreements with each other,” Hiland said. “There’s been some fracturing in the Republican Party.”

The problems are mainly personality conflicts and growing pains, he said in an interview after the speech, not ideological rifts.

“Growing pains are good,” he said. “It means you’re growing.”

State Sen. Josh Bryant, R-Rogers, said there have been some disputes between longtime Republicans and newer arrivals. Republicans were in the minority and mainly centered in Northwest and Central Arkansas until the 2012 election, the first time the Democrats lost control of both chambers of the Legislature since the 19th century. Now Republicans enjoy a super-majority with 26 of the 35 state senators and 82 of the 100 House seats.

“Things are better today than they were two years ago” in party unity, Bryant said in an interview after Hiland’s speech. Hiland also said in his interview that the growing pains he referred to involved bringing in “new folks” to a greatly expanded party.

Still, Hiland warned the county committee against letting minor disputes fester.

“We don’t have a lot of time for squabbling with each other over the color of the carpet in the church,” Hiland told the crowd of about 126, which gathered in the New Hope Assembly of God in Rogers. The meeting began with a chili supper and dessert auction at 5:30 p.m., followed by the county committee’s business meeting.

“Disunion and division is more damaging than anything the left can do to us,” Hiland said.

The state party will depend on county committees for candidate recruitment, Hiland said. County Chairwoman Barbara Tillman praised the state party’s outreach to counties in her introduction of Hiland.