The lighter side of the state Capitol.

Lawmakers have returned to the state Capitol for the 2025 session, and it’s already off to a funny start.

Let’s begin with the State of the State on Jan. 9.

Former House Speaker Alec Garnett will apparently do ANYTHING to get his name mentioned these days. The new VP of Government and Regulatory Affairs at UC Health scored a seat to the governor’s State of the State address on Thursday, and just because he whined he was feeling ignored (j/k), he donned sunglasses designed for the speech.

The governor donned something simple for the speech, contrary to his usual flair that often features socks branded with Colorado logos.

New state Reps. Sean Camacho of Denver and Jacque Phillips of Thornton have come up with an intriguing challenge to each other during the 2025 session.

Pushup! And none of those namby-pamby easy pushups: Camacho, an Air Force veteran, demonstrated his ability to do military pushups (you keep your elbows close to your body to emphasize the triceps). 

Initially they said they plan to do three sets of 10, and kindly demonstrated their prowess. But by this week they had upped it to three sets of 20. That’s dedication!

New caucuses!

Dog caucuses are nothing new at the Capitol, and if you’re a regular reader you know how much space this column has devoted to dogs over the years.

But new Rep. Dusty Johnson of Fort Morgan has a new idea for a dog caucus: one focused on what the dogs want!

Where’s the best place to take a walk? Where’s the best place to ahem, relieve oneself? Who’s got the best dog treats? (I see a competition coming!)

Another not-really-caucus, and it’s unofficial, but you take what you can get around here: the music therapy trio!

New Rep. Rebekah Stewart of Lakewood is a music therapist, specialty voice. And she happens to be the very first music therapist ever to hold elected office. The other two folks are former music therapists: lobbyist Sundari Kraft (violin) of Ascent Strategies and Capitol M (harp). We rule!

Junior Livestock Auction fundraising is on!

Friday, Jan. 24 is the National Western’s Junior Livestock Auction and the challenge is on. Senate Republicans are challenging Senate Democrats.

Rep. Karen McCormick of Longmont is leading the effort over in the House. 

Fines, they are a flyin’

New President Pro Tem Sen. Dafna Michaelson Jenet was quick to hand out fines on Tuesday to everyone and as fast as possible, but was chided into a fine on herself by Sen. Julie Gonzales of Denver, when she referred to the Senadora as a representative (Gonzales has never served in the House). Oh, the horror!

Props for 2025

In December, Polis donned protective eyewear to demolish a pile of old executive orders with a table saw. The shredded paper was to be turned into a piece of artwork. During last week’s State of the State, that artwork showed up, hung prominently on the wall of the governor’s office. The artist donated the work, according to the governor’s staff.

Best prop of 2025 so far, however, has to go to the Senate Republicans.

It’s a stack of $4,500 in $100 increments, demonstrating how much money they hope to save each and every Coloradan with some of their bills this year. Everytime a bill gets killed by Democrats, money will come out of that tower. Given that the laws the GOP hopes to repeal were sponsored by Dems, it’s probably going to be a short stack by session’s end.