Rep. Randy Baumgardner recently had shoulder surgery and wears a sling.

When the Hot Sulphur Springs Republican is asked what happened, he likes to say that all the arm-twisting at the Capitol has taken its toll.

When you read a headline really, really  fast this is what you read:

"Sonnenberg steps in it at GOP breakfast."

Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg? The guy with the contagious laugh and the great sense of humor? The farmer from Sterling? What did he do? 

It turned out he filled in for Sen. Josh Penry, the GOP candidate for governor, who couldn't make it to Sterling for a campaign event because of the weather, according to an article in the Sterling Advocate-Journal.

A more careful reading of the article revealed the headline didn't say "Sonnenberg steps in it at GOP breakfast." It read "Sonnenberg steps in at GOP breakfast."

It was only a matter of time before our Bill Owens got confused with their Bill Owens. It happened this morning on NBC's The Today Show.

A graphic about the hotly contested congressional race in New York showed a picture of the very Republican Bill Owens, a two-term governor from Colorado. It was supposed to be a picture of Democrat Bill Owens, who is running for the seat.

The Owens from Colorado had this to say to 9News' Adam Schrager:

"I wondered when I saw my own picture, I said 'Why the hell would I want to be a congressman from upstate New York when I've been governor of Colorado... ' A lot of my friends around the country have been e-mailing and texting me wondering, 'Did you move?' 'Have you lost your mind?' The answer's 'no' to all those things."

No word yet on whether the New York Owens took offense.

Rep. Sal Pace reports he's been busy in the off-legislative season, attending an interim committee on workers' compensation, working on a water bill, teaching an intro poli sci class and, of course ,changing diapers.

His son, Carlo Ezekiel Valdez Pace, was born in April.

The Pueblo Democrat sent his electronic newsletter with the following subject line: Fighting for workers, water ... and changing diapers.

State employees, many of whom are set to take four furlough days this year, will see four more unpaid days in 2010.

That was the message from Jim Carpenter, Gov. Bill Ritter's chief of staff, in an email to state employees this morning.

"Because you all have already done so much, it makes it even more difficult to have to let you know that today the governor’s office will announce four more mandatory furlough days for state employees for the remainder of the 2009-2010 fiscal year, January through June," Carpenter said in the email. "To those of you on the front line of providing services, it is no secret that our state government, like many other businesses and families across the country, continues to deal with a serious fiscal situation.

"Of course, the unique challenge of state government is that the demand for many of our services actually increases when the economy turns down. The governor also this week will announce additional measures needed to close a budget gap for this fiscal year totaling nearly $270 million. Next week he will lay out his budget proposal for fiscal year 2010-2011, which will include additional cuts, requiring more sacrifices by state employees. These actions are in addition to the $1.8 billion budget gap already closed in the current fiscal year."

The furlough days are slated for:

· Jan. 15, the Friday before the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend;

· Feb. 12,  the Friday before the President’s Day weekend;

· April 2, Good Friday; and

· May 28, the Friday before Memorial Day.

State employees still have two furlough days left to take this year:

· Nov. 27, the Friday after Thanksgiving; and

· Dec. 31, 2009, the Thursday before New Year's Day.

When the time came to talk about recommendations at the Long-Term Fiscal Stability Commission this morning, Amy Oliver Cooke, a conservative talk show host who sits on the panel, decided she'd hedge her bets.

"Sen. Morse has said he will shoot down any of my ideas," she said, referring to Senate Majority Leader John Morse, D-Colorado Springs, "so I'm going to suggest we do away with TABOR."

The facetious remark tickled Morse, a key critic of the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights in the state constitution, which limits state spending and requires that tax increases be approved by voters.

When his turn to speak came later, he deadpanned, "I agree with Amy Oliver Cooke that we probably should do away with TABOR."

You gotta love Dick Wadhams, chairman of the Colorado Republican Party. Well, Pat Waak doesn't have to but ...

Let's hear it for a guy who writes the following headline on his blog: "Colorado GOP chairman Dick Wadhams named NFL Player of the Week."

Wadhams' brief explanation" "Yes, this is an absurd headline but no more absurd than 'Obama Given Nobel Peace Prize.'"

A Florida congressman outraged Republicans when he said the GOP version of health care is “Don’t get sick,” but that’s old news in Colorado. Just ask Pueblo District Attorney Bill Thiebaut.

Thiebaut in 2002 was Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rollie Heath’s running mate.  Heath was trying to unseat GOP Gov. Bill Owens, who had selected Jane Norton, then the state’s top health official, as his running mate.

On the campaign trail, Thiebaut, then a state senator, questioned why Norton and the rest of the Owens administration hadn’t done more to more to help hundreds of thousands of uninsured Coloradans find a health policy.

 "The governor's solution to health care is, don't get sick,"  Thiebaut said.  

Wham!

Owens didn’t demand an apology, probably because polling showed he was about to be re-elected in a record landslide.

But congressional Republicans have asked Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla., to apologize for his remarks.  "The Republican health care plan: don't get sick," he said. “If you get sick America, the Republican health care plan is this: Die quickly!"

 He skiis! He legislates! He dances with the stars! Oh wait, he is one of the stars.

Sen. Dan Gibbs is participating Saturday night in the 2nd annual Dancing with the Mountain Stars, a fundraising event hosted by the Summit Medical Center Foundation.

“I thought running for office is scary, but this is the scariest thing I’ve done so far,” Gibbs said, in a news release.  

“Whether it’s running or rumba, I’m happy to support this great cause.”

During the event at the Keystone Lodge, 10 local celebrities will be paired with professional dancers to strut their stuff in the dancing competition.

UPDATE: Gibbes tied for first place after he came out in a red jacket, black fedora and sequined white glove and danced to "Billie Jean."

Craig Welling keeps making the news, and not because he works for Gov. Bill Ritter.

Welling, deputy legal counsel for Ritter, is also an amateur sports photographer who snaps pics at Rockies games. His picture of Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes' run-and-tumble catch Sunday during a game with the St. Louis Cardinals made TV news and has been posted widely on the internet.

The picture appears to show that the ball hit the ground as Barmes was attempting to catch it, though it was believed Barmes had caught it, making a magnificent defensive play.

"I’ve been going to the games and taking photos for several years," said Welling, who posts his pics at http://www.rockiesphotos.blogspot.com

"This is the first time that anyone has cared that much about a photo I posted."

But Welling's time in the media spotlight doesn't end there. A month earlier, he was quoted in a Denver Post story about a harrowing experience on I-25 near Broomfield as drivers avoided a Jeep going the wrong way on the highway.

The driver died in a crash with another vehicle, and
Welling was one of the drivers who had to avoid the Jeep.

"He was just cruising straight down that lane of traffic as if it was his lane," Welling said of the errant driver in the Aug. 23 story.

"It was a pretty frightening experience," Welling said in the story. "I was definitely happy to see my wife and daughter when I got home."

Said the overexposed Welling:

"I consider it a pretty decent accomplishment that I have found myself mention in the paper twice in the last year and neither time did it have anything to do with working at the Capitol."