The lighter side of the Capitol, usually.

St. Paddy’s Day and the handing over of the green jacket

This week was St. Patrick’s Day, and both chambers of the General Assembly had something to celebrate.

For House Speaker Julie McCluskie, it was handing over (or getting rid of) the green-ish jacket that has been passed on to House members of Irish descent since 1974.

The Speaker then launched into a list of bribes she is willing to accept for the green jacket, such as washing her car, buying her a meal, or something “exotic.” The Speaker said the coat may not leave the Capitol grounds, as it is “sacred and contains the true luck of the Irish. Its power shall never be used for partisan advantage,” she continued. When the holder’s public service is done, it is passed on to its next wearer.

Rep. Mike Lynch of Wellington, who is no longer in the House, awarded the speaker the jacket last year. He reminded her on Monday that it was time for her to consider passing it along. She is term-limited next year, so technically, she could keep it another year. But why keep it when such good bribes are in the making?

McCluskie intends to announce who will inherit the jacket by the end of the week, sadly not in time for this publication.

As a reminder, the jacket comes with notes passed along from one wearer to the next. Those notes originally were stuffed into the pockets but got to be so many that a notebook now holds those memories.

During the tribute to those of Irish descent, the Speaker noted that the MC caucus has diminished a bit. For reasons that aren’t exactly clear, Rep. Shannon Bird of Westminster was labeled an “intruder” by Rep. Karen McCormick, despite the fact that the JBC Vice-Chair is 98% “pure-blooded” Irish: Her mother is a first-generation immigrant from Ireland, and her family lineage includes names like Malone and Gallagher.

The members of the House, even those not of Irish or Seven Nations descent, made up for the diminished MC caucus. Many garbed in various shades of green won kudos from the Speaker for being so finely dressed, with special recognition to Reps. Steven Woodrow, Ryan Gonzales, and House Reading Clerk George Schiebel.

The most spectacular in green on Monday was Rep. Jenny Willford of Northglenn.

In the Senate, they celebrated with a special guest on March 14: former Senate President Pro Tem Kerry Donovan, who brought along with her Irish Senate President Mark Daley. 

In Gaelic, that’s Cathaoirleach of Seanad Éireann. If you want to know how not to mangle that, ask Sen. Jeff Bridges of Greenwood Village, who did an credible job of pronouncing it during the Senate’s tribute. 

The charming senator from Kenmare, County Kerry, has served in the Irish Senate since 2007 and was recently re-elected to another term as Senate President. He also took third place in the 2002 Irish reality competition show Treasure Island (something akin to the Survivor show in the United States).

Capitol M had the pleasure of meeting Sen. Daley at the Denver Press Club on March 13, where he was funny and gracious and fascinating and spoke of what it takes to get elected to the Senate. And while that conversation was off the record, there may be no more convoluted system for winning a Senate election than the one in Ireland. Here’s a look at how that works.

The wearing of the green was pretty spectacular around the Capitol on Monday. Many things saluting the Emerald Isle were worn by lawmakers, staff, lobbyists, and visitors, Irish or not (hey, everyone is Irish for a day).

Sadly, the press corps did not rise to the occasion, except for yours truly. Seth Klamann of the Denver Post pointed out his blood is green (he’s of Irish descent), so that’s how as far as he goes.

Most notable in the Senate was the green jacket, a thrift store find worn by Sen. Kyle Mullica of Thornton. It is so dazzling that Sen. Byron Pelton said Mullica was the largest leprechaun he’d ever seen. Mullica’s response cannot be printed in a family paper (but it was funny).

Mullica also showed off his kids on St. Paddy’s Day.

Once more from Rep. Lisa Feret

Monday, the House adopted a resolution honoring Future Farmers of America Day, and all that our next generation of farmers will bring to Colorado.

The resolution passed on a vote of 61-1. Who would be so against young farmers to vote against them? None other than Rep. Lisa Feret of Arvada, who has now twice* voted “no” when she meant to vote “yes.” However, the Arvada representative was positively indignant about this and insisted she voted “yes” to the resolution, which has since been corrected.

Perhaps someone should put a piece of tape over the “no” button, just in case…

Poetry, or something like it, in the House

Monday, the House took up bills that the Senate had amended, and people came prepared.

Usually, when a House member asks that the House concur on Senate amendments, it gets a hearty chorus of gobbling (that turkey noise) or honks from the toy pigs. They’ got really good at it Monday, since all six bills that came over with Senate amendments got requests for concurrence.

However, Monday, the House members with bills on the agenda came with poetry. The winner: Rep. Jaqueline Phillips of Thornton (Thornton had it going on Monday!).

With apologies to Prince, obviously:

“Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to get through this thing called life. Electric word, life, it means forever, and that’s a mighty long time. But I’m here to tell you, there’s something else. And the other thing is HB 1091, where we’re identifying the state mushroom as the Agaricus Julius, formerly known as Prince.”

Rep. Naquetta Ricks of Aurora, who was voting remotely, gave her “yes” vote in a Prince-like fashion. The bill now moves on to the governor for signing.

Critters in the building

And no, this isn’t about the mice in the basement press room.

Monday was also Butterfly Pavilion Day, and the Pavilion staff brought an eight-legged friend, the kind you see along Highway 50 in southeastern Colorado during the fall.

Whips, of the dairy and leather kind

Reps. Matthew Martinez of Monte Vista and Elizabeth Velasco of Glenwood Springs are the majority co-whips.

Martinez has taken to bringing a bullwhip to the House. When asked if he had used it, he told Capitol M “the day is still young.”

The whips also have other whips, of the dairy kind, red, the “bad” whip for Martinez, and blue, the “good” whip for Velasco.

And finally, the obligatory dog section

Humane Colorado (formerly the Denver Dumb Friends League) brought some of their charges to the Capitol Wednesday for hugging and pets and licks and all the things that come with PUPPIES!

Editor’s note: corrected to note that Rep. Feret has actually misvoted twice, not three times, as was in a previous version.