Legislators Starting To Log In To Social Networking Sites

State Rep. Randy Fischer (R-Fort Collins) counts "hands-on intensive carpentry" among his hobbies.

Assistant Senate Minority Leader Steve Johnson (R-Fort Collins) has worked as a box boy at a Fort Collins Bath and Body Works since last November.

And Deputy House Majority Whip Andrew Casso (D-Denver) is apparently a fan of the Star Wars soundtrack.

These are among the personal, albeit mundane, facts that can be gleaned from state legislators' MySpace pages.

Though most Colorado state legislators still only have little or no idea how online social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook work, an increasing number are starting pages to reach out to younger constituents  -- or to just have fun.

Johnson, who has had a MySpace profile for about 4-5 years as well as a Facebook account, is perhaps the Statehouse's most active social networker.

In his MySpace profile, Johnson goes by the title "Salty Senator Steve," and his profile photo shows him wearing an apron reading "joy to the girls."

Johnson said the "salty" title refers to a salt company t-shirt he often wore when he taught at Heritage Christian High School in Fort Collins. One day, his students decided to start a MySpace page for him.

"I kind of became addicted to it," said Johnson, who checks his profile almost daily.  "It's a place where you can just have fun and be a little creative and get a little crazy."

Perhaps a little too crazy at times, Johnson added - such as when he added a former intern as a MySpace friend.

Johnson's profile picture at the time featured the senator coming out of a pool shirtless, baffling the intern.

"He didn't know it was me," Johnson said. "(He said,) ‘I dunno, I just got this shirtless picture of this guy coming out of the pool.'"

Social networking sites aren't just used for fun, though. Johnson said he plans to start a separate MySpace page for his County commissioner campaign.

"It's a great way to network with the younger-generation-type," he said.

State Rep. John Kefalas (D-Fort Collins) has a MySpace page that was started and maintained by his college-age staffers as a way to correspond with his younger constituents.

"(My staffers) have indicated that there's value in having a MySpace page in term of interacting with younger people," Kefalas said. "And I think that's important because young people need to be informed and their opinions matter."

Kefalas admitted he doesn't "have the best handle" on MySpace, as the demands of this year's legislative session offer little time for him to surf the Internet.

"But I think we'll certainly be using (MySpace) more, because it has benefits," he added. "And benefits to the public - that's the whole point, I think."

But only a handful of state legislators have a MySpace or Facebook profile; most lawmakers have only a vague idea of what such sites are about.

"I thought they were just for teens to put stuff on," said state Rep. Jack Pommer (D-Boulder).