BRRR It was so cold that….If you had to pick the most miserable-looking person at Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Marade, the winner, hands down, would be Gov. John Hickenlooper. (I would definitely make the top 10 because I fell on the ice and have bruises all over to prove it.)

Not because he didn’t want to be there. The governor is completely devoted to the cause, so much so that he marched from Denver’s City Park all the way to Civic Center park – nearly 3.5 miles – with soaking wet feet in 20-degree weather.

Hick made a bit of a mistake, one he owned up to when talking to reporters Tuesday.

The plan was to be decked out  in Colorado garb. That included a pair of gloves with big Colorado “C’s” on them, two pairs of socks, one of them Smart Wool socks, made in Colorado; and a pair of locally-made Allbird shoes. The shoes have a solid sole, the governor reported, but wool fabric uppers, something of a cross between a sneaker and a dress shoe. Hickenlooper said he figured there was no way they’d get wet. Terrible mistake. By the time he had walked about 10 blocks from City Park, his feet were soaking wet. By the time they reached City Park, Hickenlooper looked miserable. “It was an accurate reflection of the internal turmoil. Can I walk with feet this cold, or disrespect Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.?” the governor said.

The press corps added in the faux headline for a possible abandonment: “Governor leaves march!” Hickenooper went a bit further: “Governor claims frostbit toes but won’t show them.”

Did you know? Rep. Jim Wilson of Salida makes a return visit to Capitol M this week, showing off an unexpected talent as an auctioneer. For the past week, Wilson worked on collecting donations from lawmakers to buy an animal that would be sold in Friday’s junior livestock auction at the National Western Stock Show. Wilson daily beseeched his colleagues in both the House and Senate to contribute to a fund, and Thursday demonstrated his fast-talking, best auctioneer style.

Lawmakers last year raised $10,000 to buy a steer. According to Morgan Unks, Director of Scholarship Events for the auction, close to 100 animals are auctioned off every year, with 75 percent of the proceeds going to the exhibitor, usually to help with college expenses, and another 10 percent that goes directly to a Stock Show scholarship fund. Last year’s auction raised more than $900,000.

Wilson is not a licensed auctioneer but does it on a volunteer basis for several local organizations for fundraisers.

He demonstrated his style by auctioning off the tie of a staff member in the House Republican office.

Faces in the crowd: When you’ve been at the Capitol as long as I have, seeing former lawmakers is (almost) always a treat. This week: the treat came from former Rep. Debbie Stafford of Aurora, known during her time in the House as the woman of many occupations but with a very good sense of humor about it.

Stafford served in the House from 2000 to 2008. In 2007, she left the Republican Party, or as she put it back then, “The Republican Party has left me,” and switched to Democrat. She was the first lawmaker in 20 years to do so.  

During her time in the House, Stafford was famous for talking about her many occupations. “When I was [insert occupation],” she’d say in the well of the House, became kind of a standing line for her. It also was one that Democrats poked fun at one year in the annual Hummers speech (an end-of-the-session tradition of satirical skits). The good-natured Stafford laughed just as much as everyone else.

She’s still a Democrat today, and still a wearer of many hats. Among her talents, Stafford has been an ordained minister for many years, an auctioneer, and a domestic violence counselor, now for more than 25 years. “I’m doing the things in life I want to do,” she said with her always-present smile.

Sometimes the dog bites you and sometimes you bite the dog or something. If you walk into the office of Senate Majority Leader Chris Holbert of Parker, you’ll see many things: a framed photo of Jesse Owens, whom Holbert calls an inspiration, and photos of his family and his son, who is a deputy.*

You’ll also see something that stands out a bit: a framed photo of “the Hateful Eight.” Not the Quentin Tarantino film from 2015 (which was partly filmed in Telluride and the nearby San Miguel Mountains), but a framed photo from a ColoradoPols blog post from 2016.

The blog referred to a Colorado Statesman op-ed from January of 2016 penned by Sen. Vicki Marble of Fort Collins. The Marble article was in response to one from the Denver Post that criticized eight Republican senators for voting against their Senate president, Bill Cadman of Colorado Springs. The origin of that moniker “Hateful, Dissident Eight,” which showed up only in the headline, appears to be lost to time; Marble doesn’t remember if she coined it or not.

No matter. The next thing was the ColoradoPols blog lambasting the eight lawmakers along with a colorful Photoshop picture.

That picture now graces the offices of the seven senators who are still in the legislature (Sen. Laura Woods lost a re-election bid in 2016). And funny enough, all seven are now part of Senate leadership, including President Kevin Grantham, Holbert; Sens. Kent Lambert of Colorado Springs and Kevin Lundberg of Berthoud, both on the Joint Budget Committee; Senate President Pro tem Jerry Sonnenberg of Sterling; Sen. Randy Baumgardner of Hot Sulphur Springs, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee; and Marble, the Senate Majority Whip.

Holbert noted recently that since they’ve taken the reins, 60 percent of the bills introduced in the Senate become law. So maybe the joke is on you, ColoradoPols. Or not.

Finally: one of my favorite axioms is the first law of holes. When you’re in a hole, stop digging. This is a law that Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton has not yet learned, apparently.

*Correction: the photo of the young man in uniform in Holbert’s office is his son, a deputy (who I mistook for the senator. They look a lot alike).