The lighter side of the state Capitol. Really.

Saturday marks the 60th day of the General Assembly. YAY!

The state Senate was gifted with a piano this week, which allowed Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, to show up his chops. Seriously. The guy is pretty darn talented. 

Senate President Leroy Garcia, D-Pueblo, giving the Senate’s new piano a try-out. 

Marianne Goodland

The one thing that Capitol M is aware of is that people like to joke around musicians. If I’ve heard “play Freebird,” once I’ve heard it a thousand times. And yes, that could be heard in the Senate chambers on Monday. 

That came from Sen. Jeff Bridges, D-Greenwood Village, who observed Garcia’s playing this week. His response: “Read the music at length!”

The pogo goes on, and on, and on, and on….

If you’re of a certain age … pogo sticks were first invented in 1947. It’s not something you see much these days, except … in the Colorado House, where there is apparently a pogo stick caucus. 

Let’s go back to the beginning of the 2020 session, or rather, the day before. House Minority Leader Patrick Neville, during a legislative preview with the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, commented that he wanted transportation dollars to go to expanding highways, not “pogo stick” lanes. 

That earned Neville a pogo stick, courtesy of Rep. Susan Lontine, D-Denver, on Day 1. 

Apparently that’s led Neville to start up a pogo stick caucus, or at least advocate for them.

Last week, during a debate on Senate Bill 61, requiring motorists to yield to bicycles in bicycle lanes (yes, that’s a problem), Neville said he had “real concerns” with the bill. As its sponsor, Speaker of the House KC Becker of Boulder, looked on in puzzlement, Neville explained that a large community is being left out. He offered an amendment, and Becker’s look changed from puzzlement to laughter. 

The amendment would allow pogo stickers (is that even correct?) to use the bike lanes. Even Lontine voiced her support for the amendment. 

Becker said that while she’s very “pro-pogo stick,” the rest of the law around pogo sticks is “not yet fully developed,” and said the pogo stick was better suited for a separate bill. Shockingly, the amendment failed. 

From the files of “hand washing for 20 seconds” tied to COVID-19

There’s been lots of creative suggestions on the notion that everyone should wash their hands for 20 seconds. Suggestions abound on how long 20 seconds is, ranging from one round of the “Happy Birthday” song, to the first 20 seconds of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, to two rounds of the alphabet song. 

Then there’s what you might NOT want to do, and it involves, not surprisingly, Pueblo chiles.

A meme floating around the intrawebs this week showed the following:

“wash your hands like you’ve been chopping jalapeños and you have to remove your contact lenses.”

Rep. Bri Buentello, D-Pueblo, has a slightly different, and she would say, better take on the public service announcement.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, it’s ALWAYS about Pueblo chiles.